An effective model for small farmers

One of the biggest development issues not only in India but globally is that of strengthening sustainable livelihoods of small farmers. It is only on the strength of such satisfactory and stable livelihoods that other important objectives – of significantly and truly reducing rural poverty, hunger and malnutrition; improving availability of healthy food, protecting rural ecology and ensuring a robust climate response – can be ensured. In India as well as in other countries there is concern regarding the growing crisis, indebtedness and gradual or sudden loss of land by small farmers, which in turn can result in discontent.

This can be prevented only by strengthening sustainable livelihoods of small farmers. Several voluntary organizations have been making sincere efforts in this direction, and important lessons have emerged from this which can be taken forward further for greater achievements. One such effort has been that of the Srijan organization whose work reaches out to hundreds of villages in various parts of central India. One important aspect of this work is that it has moved steadily in the direction of promoting natural farming. The desirability of following the path of natural farming is increasingly emphasized even in statements of senior leaders and officials, even though they may not be entirely committed to implementing such policies. It is also interesting that several leaders of unions and organizations of farmers have also recently spoken in favour of natural farming. Despite this increasing recognition, however, at the ground level the achievement is not great at the national level.

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The work carried out by Srijan that establishes the success of natural farming at a practical level, with its benefits and creativity, is important both for its achievements and learning experiences. Srijan takes forward this work in democratic ways, not imposing this on any farmer, but introducing its benefits to farmers, while facilitating its adoption in numerous ways and providing the example of small farmers who made a success of this in the middle of difficulties, in conditions in which normal farmers live and work. One such way is to facilitate some farmers to set up natural farming promotion centres (sometimes called bio-resource centers) within villages. These prepare organic fertilizer and pest repellants based on cow dung and urine; leaves of some local plants, some jaggery, etc. Thus farmers who cannot produce their own organic inputs can purchase from here at a price much lower than that of commercially sold chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Some of these centres also keep implements and tools for farm and crop processing work so that farmers can hire these at a low cost. Another sound strategy followed by Srijan is to integrate increasing fertility of land in natural ways with improved water conservation in interesting and creative ways. Many villages have tanks that have silted up heavily over the years. Cleaning and de-silting them helps to increase their rainwater-retaining capacity and makes available more water to villagers. At the same time when huge mounds of highly fertile accumulated silt are brought out from tanks, these can be carried away by farmers to deposit in fields so that fertility is improved to increase the possibility of success of natural farming. Similarly water conservation can be improved by digging ditches of certain requirements (called dohas) in natural rainwater drainage channels, making it possible for more rainwater to be retained, and here again the accumulated fertile silt can be deposited in fields or used to prepare bunds. In addition, repair of existing but damaged water works also contributes to improving water availability.

Sometimes with the deposition of fertile silt and availability of more water, even land which was unproductive earlier can start giving good yield. There are several villages where cultivation of land has increased in a big way in a few years. Thus the Srijan model is based not just on approaching individual farmers but even more on mobilizing communities as important tasks such as desilting and water conservation involve mobilization at a broader level. Srijan has also involved other leading voluntary organizations like the ABSSS and Arunodaya in these mobilization and implementation efforts. Within various communities Srijan places more emphasis on weaker sections including dalit, tribal and other backward or poorer communities.

Among these communities, there is more emphasis on women. The response of several women farmers has been extremely encouraging and creative. I have spoken to several people who have taken up natural farming under these initiatives on all or part of their farmland. Some of them stated clearly that they are already getting higher yields. Some said that the initial period may be difficult, but after some time the yield obtained earlier with chemical fertilizers is regained. Some said that even if initially there is somewhat reduced yield, on the basis of higher quality of produce they can make up the loss of income. Some farmers tend to switch over to natural farming over a period of some years, experimenting and taking notes all the time. However I did not meet any farmer who criticized natural farming, or regretted his efforts in this direction. All farmers stated that costs of farming are reduced significantly with natural farming, and this is very important for small farmers.

Another initiative of Srijan is that farmers are encouraged to devote a part of their farmland to grow small orchards of fruit trees and multi-layer vegetable gardens using natural farming methods. Even on such small orchards and gardens, these farmers are often able to grow about 20 kinds of vegetables and three-four types of fruits in a year. This helps to bring in some cash income throughout the year, and what is no less important, increases the nutrition of the family with vegetables and fruits becoming available at home in plenty. This brings us to another very important part of these efforts – the extent to which these have increased hope, enthusiasm, happiness, creativity and experimentation among farmers, including women.

This is a far cry from the stories of debt, depression and tension we hear from several areas. While this model has created positive results at an early stage, these are likely to increase further with the passage of time as results of water and soil conservation, better pollination and increasing biodiversity manifest themselves. In addition these efforts also contribute a lot in terms of climate response, both mitigation and adaptation aspects. If additional funds are given to these farmers due to this contribution, then the success of these efforts will be even greater. At some places, farmer producer groups of women and companies based on them are being formed so that they can take up processing and value addition work, resulting in higher income for farmers.

(The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, A Day in 2071 and India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food. )