India's Women Farmers Show Way to Organic Future

[Guest guest]

KHAKROLA, H.P., India (September 7, 2006): Away from media glare,

the farmers of Khakrola village in Himachal Pradesh - a mere blip on

India's geographic radar - have been working tirelessly to usher in

a new green revolution.

 

For the last three years, these agricultural workers, most of them

women, have been shunning pesticides and chemical fertilisers to

cultivate organic grains, fruits and vegetables with the help of

herbal sprays and vermicompost.

 

As a result of these eco-friendly organic practices, not only have

these 150 farmers improved their yield and enhanced its

marketability, but all of them - each with a family land holding of

between 60 and 100 bighas (1 bigha = 2,500 square metres) - have

also become eligible for OneCert Asia certification on the quality

of the organic produce.

 

The Khakrola experiment is part of a Rs 15 million (US $22,000)

model project initiated in 2003 by the M R Morarka Foundation. This

Rajasthan-based NGO is working with the Himachal Pradesh State

Agricultural Department, which is funding the initiative, to switch

the whole state over to organic farming. And the success of the

project in Khakrola village - which has a population of 1,200 - now

serves as a beacon of hope to other farmers in the state.

 

The farmers in Khakrola are, in fact, among a pool of 5,657 farmers

registered under Morarka Foundation's organic farming scheme, which

is being implemented in nine blocks of Simla district - Narkanda,

Jibbal, Rorhu, Chirgaon, Chaupal, Mashobra (of which Khakrola is a

part), Vasantpur, Theog and Rampur.

 

'MISSIONARY ZEAL'

 

"The organic farming methods initiated by us have worked very well,

especially in Khakrola," elaborates Divender Chaudhury, Project

Coordinator, Morarka Foundation, "largely because the women farmers

here took to it with a missionary zeal."

 

Women farmers are in the majority in this region. These women say

that they have an added incentive for using a method that saves them

money because any money that is saved can be funnelled into

household expenditures.

 

The Foundation also has a tie-up with OneCert Asia, which will issue

certificates to farmers whose organic produce measures up to

international ISO standards. This will help the farmers' produce

move faster - and with an augmented price tag - both in the domestic

and international markets. So far, about 1,300 farmers in the nine

blocks of Simla have become eligible for the OneCert ISO

certificates.

 

With an enhanced brand equity for their produce - and the

coveted 'organic' label within their reach - Khakrola's women

farmers are naturally upbeat. Says Bhagmati, whose family owns 75

bighas of land in the area, "Not only do organic farming methods

work out cheaper than the chemical ones, but they also improve the

produce's taste, which further enhances their market value."

 

Adds Sunehri Devi, another farmer eligible for the OneCert Asia

certification, "Without putting in any extra effort - except perhaps

making organic compost ourselves, rather than picking it up

readymade from the market - our product has gained so much more in

terms of value. Organic farming has worked like a big boon for us."

 

SHEER ECONOMICS

 

Morarka Foundation Project coordinators admit that what worked most

in the project's favour was the sheer economics of it all. Both

vermicompost and herbal sprays (used as pest repellents) can be

easily rustled up at home by the farmers using locally-sourced

ingredients.

 

Sprays, for instance, can be prepared by using earthworms.

Vermiwash - the liquid collected after the passage of water through

a column of activated earthworms - works effectively as an organic

spray for all kinds of crops. Panchagavya, a growth promoter, can

also be easily produced by mixing cow dung, cow urine, cow's milk,

curd and ghee in suitable proportions.

 

Earlier, the villagers had to trudge to the city market to buy

chemical fertilisers, whose spiralling cost and lack of easy

availability had even impacted productivity in the area.

 

Not that the women farmers of Khakrola - most of who have studied up

to high school - needed much persuasion to switch to organic

farming. The Morarka Foundation field workers, who had put in place

a procedure to identify farmers willing to switch over to organic

farming, divulge that since these women had some basic education,

they were already aware of the benefits that could accrue from such

farming methods.

 

EVIDENT BENEFITS

 

All that the foundation had to do was distribute literature on the

subject and follow it up with a few sessions to clarify the farmers'

doubts.

 

"Once the benefits were evident," says Chaudhury, "like improved

taste of the crops, bigger-sized vegetables and fruits and a better

price in the market, the farmers were all set to take it up with

gusto." The Foundation also plans to arrange market tie-ups for

farmers to sell their crops through an organised distribution system.

 

According to Sandeep Bhargava, CEO, OneCert Asia, "Not only are

organic practices easy to follow, but a farmer's input costs also

plummet by half by following them, leading to improved yield and

greater profitability."

 

The proof of the change, according to the state's agricultural

department, is evident from the plummeting sale of pesticides for

Simla district as a whole - from Rs 240 million in 2002 to Rs 140

million in 2006.

 

Sunehri Devi, had the last word: "I have been farming for 21 ears, I

wonder why this marvellous experiment wasn't started earlier!"

 

SOURCE: People & Planet. Women's Feature Service -- SUCCESS STORY:

India's women farmers show way to organic future, by Neeta Lal,

07 Sep 2006

URL: http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=2834