Our work03 EnableRavi valley, Chamba · Himachal Pradesh
Where terrain creates barriers, community infrastructure creates possibility.
51 villages · 826 women · 186 farmers · 2 FPOs · 15 irrigation systems
In the hamlets of Chamba district, fields sit on terraces hours from a road. Arpana's work here is the least visible of its programmes and the most physical: villagers building their own irrigation, organising into groups, and selling through two farmer producer organisations they own.
Irrigation
Water reached the fields. Cultivation more than doubled.
Six village irrigation systems — storage tanks and pipelines to the fields — were completed this year in six remote villages, built by the villagers with Arpana's facilitation. The number of households cultivating rose from 41 to 70. Land under cultivation rose from 1,442 to 3,474 biswas. Subsistence farmers earned cash income for the first time.
Cultivated land in six villages, biswas · Himachal Programme Report 2025-26
Before → after, six villages · +141%
- 9
- Irrigation systems, to 2023
- 6
- Completed this year
- 15
- Total by March 2026
- 41 → 70
- Households farming, six villages
Farmer producer organisations · since 2016, with NABARD
Farmers who own their market.
Members sell produce to their FPO, which markets it in towns at the best price and pays on time. General meetings decide dividends, apple saplings and new members.
| Measure | Ravi Valley FPO | Gajnoi FPO | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Members, March 2026 | 388 | 336 | 724 |
| Growth this year | 364 → 388 | 321 → 336 | |
| Member savings | ₹1,94,000 | ₹1,60,000 | ₹3,54,000 |
| Dividends distributed, 2025 | ₹1,20,000 |
218 women from the self-help groups took up vegetable cultivation and sold ₹64.1 lakh of produce collectively through the FPOs this year. Five training and planning meetings were attended by 292 farmers.
August 2025
When the rains came, the groups were already there.
Heavy rainfall in August 2025 caused landslides, flooding and crop loss across the project area — homes lost, soil eroded, fields under water. Affected families were identified through door-to-door visits by group members and Arpana staff, and relief was planned and delivered through the same village networks that manage savings and irrigation.
Story · Guwani, Chamba
Pooja Devi grows the income that keeps three daughters in school.
Radishes, cucumbers and seasonal vegetables from her own fields earn ₹60,000-70,000 a year, sold through the farmer producer organisation. Her story is one of 218 women who took up vegetable cultivation this year.
Read her story →