This is the Unviersity of Ottawa's chapter of the newly formed charity OneProsper International. OneProsper harnesses innovation to help end poverty and extreme poverty by providing Drip Irrigation to smallholder farmers in India. These farmers (defined as having less than 2.0 hectares of land by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) own less than 33% of the farming land, yet they const
itute approximately 78% of the farming population. By providing these farmers with drip irrigation kits that give water directly to the roots of the plants, we not only increase the farmer's income by up to $400 per annum, but conserve water at the same time. With more than 400 million people in India living off rain-fed agriculture and the effects climate change decreasing the amount of rain farms are receiving, many have turned to the use of groundwater and about 15% of the food is watered using an unrenewable extraction of groundwater. Drip irrigation kits help reduce the amount of water needed to grow crops and helps to create a more sustainable way of farming. Help us in our fight to empower these small societies, and improve the living conditions for the smallholder farmers! Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the economist
