Farmers use crowdfunding to combat drought

But when rains do come, because of insufficient rainwater harvesting infrastructure, they may just return to the same dismal situation again. 

Seeing this desperate situation, Suryodaya Parivar, an NGO, came forward with the idea to build a canal bordering their fields. 

They designed the canal to be 8 km long, 15 feet deep, and 60 feet wide, so that it becomes a giant reservoir for the farmers. 

The target was to build the canal with a budget of Rs 6 lakh. The farmers could muster up about Rs 3 lakh for the project. The question was, where would the remaining money come from? 

This was when they met with folks from city-based Fueladream.com, a crowd funding marketplace for people, who introduced the concept of crowdfunding to them. 

Initially, the farmers were sceptical of the idea, wondering why people whom they didn’t know, would want to give them money for this. Nevertheless, they started a campaign to raise the funds in 45 days so they could build the canal in time for monsoons. 

The campaign received overwhelming response from contributors on the platform and overshot the target in just 10 days. The villagers were speechless that so many unknown generous people, from across India, reached out to help them. 

They started the work in disbelief and completed the work in early June, and started waiting for the rains. The premonsoon showers arrived in the second week of June, and the canal started to fill with farmers being overjoyed. 

A villager involved in the campaign said, “We have never seen this much water being collected in this area, all for our use. Every farmer here, and their next three generations, won’t forget this episode. Our sincere gratitude to all those who supported us.”

Speaking about the success, Ranganath Thota, founder and CEO said, “We are thrilled to have been a part of this project. And, more importantly, humbled by the generosity, this campaign has seen from people across the country. We have witnessed India standing up for Horti, we salute all the contributors.”

Strengthened by this response, Suryodaya Parivar is raising money for another similar canal in the drought hit village of Murta in Osmanabad which has already reached 75 per cent of its Rs 3 lakh goal. 

With two such canals almost funded, Suryodaya Parivar is also focusing on the children, who have been orphaned in the drought disaster — not just their fathers, even their mothers have committed suicide, unable to bear the misery. They have set up an orphanage for 31 such kids in Sangola, near Latur. 

Fueladream.com is a crowd funding marketplace for people and organisations that aim to raise funds for creative ideas, causes, and charities. Founded in mid-2015 and based in Bengaluru, the start-up aims to impact 2.2 billion people in India, Africa and South East Asia. Fueladream.com has raised USD 250,000 in an initial round of funding over the last 8 months from a clutch of individual investors from the corporate world.