Activity Update December 2016: Tadoba

Highlights:

The full report

Field Staff: -

Conservation Officer – Prameek Kannan            

Field assistant – Kishor Dudhbarai

Highlights

·      6 check dams were built in Katwal (5) and Mudholi (1), with the help of 94 village youths

·      1 a classroom lecture in Katwal with 60 students

·      A presentation about wildlife biology and conservation and our work at Tadoba to the faculty and students of the Zoology Department of the Sardar Patel Mahavidyalaya College in Chandrapur

·      Mobile Health Unit treated 408 patients in 6 villages

·      A 5-day organic farming training session with Bank of India’s R-SETI with 40 candidates from Katwal, Khutwanda and Mudholi

·      4-wheeler driver’s training programme with 40 candidates concluded this month and all candidates passed their permanent license test

Conservation

A total of 5 check dams were built in the jungle around Katwal between 14^th and 16^th of December and another was built near Mudholi on the 30^th of December. A total of 94 villagers volunteered to help us build these.

Education

Prameek gave a presentation and address to the faculty and students of the Zoology Department of the Sardar Patel Mahavidyalaya College in Chandrapur. Students in their final year of BSc Zoology and MSc students were present for the talk. The talk included issues pertaining to wildlife and environmental conservation, how students can approach a career in the same, and topics that would make for a good Master’s thesis study around Tadoba.

Employment Cell

An organic farming training programme was conducted from the 6^th to the 10^th of December with Bank of India’s Rural Self Employment Training Institute (R-SETI). The programme covered how to use lower numbers of higher yielding varieties of livestock, and how to use them on a smaller, self-sustaining plot of land. This kind of agriculture covered both goat and chicken farming, both on smaller, self-sustaining plots of land. Herein, villagers who adopted this technique would be able to earn more money off their livestock, and not encroach and graze their livestock in the forest areas, as they would be limited to a smaller, fenced in plot.

Bank of India provides low interest loans for purchase of animals and equipment for villagers who intend to adopt this form of farming. The training session was capped off by a field visit to a model plot in Guggus, where organic chicken and goat farming was demonstrated.

Our 4-wheeler driver’s training programme, which began on the 21^st of November, concluded on 20^th of December, with all candidates passing the test for a permanent license.

Mobile Health Unit

A total of 6 camps was held in December.