Inspired by examples of farmers earning ample returns through various techniques of chemical-free farming, a farmers’ produce company in Rajkot is writing a new chapter on sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid zones. Hiren Kumar Bose explores the revolution wrought by Future Farms.
Neetu Patel, an agri-entrepreneur, has strong opinions about the kind of farming she endorses. She says, “Farmers who are forced to sell tomatoes for ₹1 for a kilo, or onions for 50 p, and end up destitute have become the norm. That’s not the kind of farming we believe in. We are into growing medicinal plants, and even crops like wheat, castor, sesame,
moong,
arhar, etc., by strictly following organic farming.”
The feisty director of Future Farms—which counts Patanjali Ayurved, Himalaya Drug Company, and Zandu Pharmaceuticals as clients—was speaking at her organic food store in a residential neighbourhood in Rajkot. The shop stores a range of products, from alfalfa capsules to organically grown lentils. In 2016, it supplied 750 tons of castors grown in Kutch’s Bhachau region to Gandhidham-based Castor Products Company for pressing into oil, which was exported to Wala Heilmittel GMBH in Germany. With 100 acres adding up every other month, the farmers’ produce company is writing a new chapter on sustainable farming in the country’s arid and semi-arid zones.
A recent study, titled
Development of Optimal Crop Plans (OCPs) for sustainable groundwater management practices in Saurashtra region, and conducted by agricultural scientists of Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU) in two villages each of Jamkandorna taluka of Rajkot and Wankaner taluka of Morbi, both in Gujarat, revealed that farmers cultivate water-intensive groundnut and cotton because of high gross returns compared with other crops that consumed less water.
The study suggested that in order to improve crop diversification and lessen farmers’ dependency on high water intensity crops, suitable crops be suggested after duly considering their income generating capacity.
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A moringa crop is ready for harvest at a farm near Rajkot town. (Photo Source: Hiren Kumar Bose)[/caption]
Encouraging uptake
The good news is that scores of farmers have already taken up the initiative as suggested by the researchers, and Neetu Patel’s Future Farms is one of them, holding 8,000-odd acres in Gujarat’s Saurashtra and Kutch regions, and benefitting around 3,500 small and marginal farmers.
While most land holdings in Saurashtra’s Surendra Nagar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Rajkot, Morbi, Wankaner, and Jamnagar districts are within the range of 3-5 acres, the landholdings are bigger in Kutch due to its sandy soil and less rainfall.
A sort of disruptive farming is being witnessed, as scores of
kheduts (farmers) abandon chemical-based farming and adopt organic farming. They use drip irrigation techniques, moving away from farming which relies heavily on over-exploitation of ground water and increased dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These farmers feed the nascent market for organically grown crops, like wheat and lentils, besides fuelling the demand for herbal and medicinal crops, which go into making wellness products.
Regained fertility
Future Farms has been reaching out to small and marginal farmers, organizing workshops commending the virtues of cow bio-waste-based organic farming, and giving demonstrations on making compost, organic fertilizers, and pesticides. “Each month, we get two to three requests from farmers for organizing workshops,” K. E. Chandravaidya, Associate Professor at Mangrol-based BRC College, who has held workshops on behalf of the farm produce company in villages of Rajkot, Junagadh, and Mangrol, told VillageSquare.in. “Those who have followed our advice have found that the land which had lost its fertility has regained it, and lessened their dependence on chemical inputs.”
In fact, ever since Subhash Palekar, the originator of Zero Budget Natural Farming (
ZBNF), was awarded the Padma Shri, his day-long workshops held in villages of Saurashtra have been attracting huge participation. “Though we have been popularizing organic farming through our extension programme within our university campus and through Kisan Vikas Kendras spread in the 10 districts of Saurashtra, it has been Palekar’s workshops which have helped change the mindset of farmers,” Amrutlal M. Parakhia, Director, Extension Education, Junagadh Agricultural University, told VillageSquare.in.
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Rows of aloe vera fed through drip irrigation. (Photo Source: Hiren Kumar Bose)[/caption]
Better produce
Farmers are slowly realizing that soils rich in organic matter produce more nutritious food with higher levels of antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamins, and minerals. An increase in soil organic matter leads to greater biological diversity, thus controlling the spread of plant diseases and pests.
Saurashtra’s soil has a lower percentage of humus content, low nitrogen availability, medium potassium levels, and high phosphorous levels. From the point of fertility, the land is poorly supplied with plant nutrients. To get a reasonable yield each year, the farmer is forced to increase his dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. With the government withdrawing subsidy on fertilizers except urea, farmers have realized the futility of chemical-based farming.
From initiating the process of enriching the soil to post-harvest sale, Future Farms handholds the farmer for three years. It offers a fixed price to its associates (the farmers) decided at the beginning of the season.
“We begin harvesting the tender leaves once the moringa plant is four months old. Repeating the cycle every 45 days, we do not allow them to flower or bear fruits. We dry the leaves on our solar drier channel for two days, readying them for sale,” says Neetu. She is at a 160-acre farm in Vinaygadh village in Than taluka of Morbi, 55 km. from Rajkot town. The farm has rows upon rows of aloe vera, rose plants, and shoulder-high moringa, all irrigated by drip. The drip alternately provides water and a fermented concoction of cow urine, dung, jaggery, and powdered lentils.
Soon, Future Farms plans to host free residential workshops at its Vinaygadh farm. These will target farmers willing to take up natural and ecosystem-based (NatuEco) farming method. “We make around ₹1 lakh per acre from
sargawah (moringa) and aloe vera,” associate Narbheram Vermoda told VillageSquare.in. “Our wheat fetches around ₹800 per quintal, which is ₹200 more than those grown with chemical fertilizer inputs.”
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Representational Image (Source: By Ananth BS (originally posted to Flickr as Annadatha) [
CC BY 2.0],
via Wikimedia Commons)[/caption]
Ecosystem networking
Deepak Suchde’s
NatuEco works on the premise that one can create a micro-climate for self-sufficiency. It follows the principles of ecosystem networking of nature in our farming systems. NatuEco emphasizes harvesting through a critical application of scientific inquiries and experiments using neighbourhood resources. It depends on developing a thorough understanding of plant physiology, plant geometry of growth, plant fertility, and plant biochemistry.
Most farmers fence their farms with medicinal herbs like
kakaj, senna, prickly pear,
jaljamini,
shatavri, neem, akado,
guggul, gliricidia, etc. Besides creating a micro-climate of sorts, these fences prevent the ingress of pests. They also bring in additional income to the farmers through the sale of their leaves and fruits.
“Prickly pear, from the cactus family, grows in the arid zones of the US and Mexico, as well as India. Through our research, we have been to establish what Ayurveda literature has long claimed. The fruit is good for anaemic patients,” says Sanjay Chauhan, Associate Professor of Pharmacy at Nadiad’s Dharamsee Desai University. “This makes our product unique.”
Gujarat has become the ninth state in India to declare a policy for organic farming. The government has made a promise to offer a subsidy to those pursuing organic agriculture. Thus, it’s likely that more and more farmers will take to sustainable farming in the near future.
(The author is a journalist based in Thane, Maharashtra. He doubles up as a weekend farmer.)
Adapted from an article originally published on VillageSquare. Subscribe to VillageSquare’s weekly update on the website for more stories from rural India.
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Traditional meal in Karnataka—ragi balls with lentil curry. To die for.[/caption]
The gentleman immediately tells his wife, “She doesn’t look like she eats ragi.” I interject, almost indignant, that my grandmother insists on eating ragi at least once a week, and I love it. The family immediately warms to me, and we spend almost two hours talking.
For those of you who’ve had the chance to read about the Indian Caste System, you might know how food is deeply entrenched in its maintenance and reproduction. Now, I don’t mean to generalise or reduce the practices of a heterogeneous South to one vignette, but finger millet is traditionally the diet of the farming classes and castes. The so-called “upper castes” (Brahmins) or land-owning castes usually consume rice and wheat as it is more expensive to grow (this is before the public distribution system’s implementation in India).
At the family farm on the Karnataka-Andhra border where I spent my summers as a child.[/caption]
This was an interesting positional moment for me. I’m from a Tamil Brahmin family from urban Bangalore. However, the paternal side has some roots in agricultural life, as most families across castes had some farmland for subsistence. I spent most of my summers as a child in paddy fields with my grandfather. I grew up eating ragi like my family, and never once realised that what I ate could have so many connotations to it.
Meeting with women farmers of Pokhrar.[/caption]
During the initial discussions, I asked some of the women why the popularity of millet had taken a hit. There were a lot of interesting and practical reasons that surfaced—the Public Distribution System (PDS), cooking time, gas consumption, etc. The one that struck me, however, was when a lady said that children refuse to eat finger millet rotis because it is “black” in colour. They fear that consuming it would turn them dark, taking the “you are what you eat” adage quite literally. Now, what can I say to that?
My first internal reaction was anger. How can we have such prejudice about race, and towards our own people? Is the colonial hangover so strong that we’d imbue it to food, at the risk of losing out on precious nutrition? This is where an anthropological approach comes in handy. Understanding my own context, and the larger context of a nation in the process of forming its own post-colonial narrative, helped me greatly.
I couldn’t very well have a chat with them about race and caste relations in the world, and how it is wrong. That would be condescending and insensitive of me, especially when I could also be guilty of implicitly (sometimes explicitly) partaking of this way of thinking. Who am I to pontificate my own thoughts, acquired after years of conditioning and textbooks, in the reality of others? I think most fellows fresh out of academia would identify with this.
Mela organized by the Gene Campaign.[/caption]
The mela’s immediate plan of action was to pictorially, and through theatre, establish strong positive associations to finger millet. The power of the arts is long-standing and effective. Another way was to market our millet sweets as “barfis” or “chocolates” to appeal to the youngsters. I am very happy to say that the mela attendees polished off my 40 thick sweets in seconds.
Race and caste are just two contextual aspects of my experiences with millet. These are only some issues we are attempting to navigate. Now that we know the many contextual nuances of something like millet consumption, we have multiple approaches to tackle issues. This is just one of the facets of my work here.
Gene Campaign, my host organisation, promotes sustainable agriculture in Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh. I work in Orakhan village, Nainital district. The primary focus of my Fellowship is to promote millet consumption in Kumaoni villages. We create products using mountain grains which the women farmers of Kumaon would eventually manufacture and market.
Find out more about the Gene Campaign and how you can help here.
Sachin Kale
In 2007, Sachin also started his PhD in developmental economics. This was when the spark of entrepreneurship ignited in his mind. Thoughts like why he was working for someone else and not for himself kept disturbing him while he was still climbing the ladder of success in his corporate life.
Photo Source - 
Sachin started tilling his land alone.
Sachin works with the latest technologies at his farms.
Sachin and Kalyani Kale.
If you wish to know more about Sachin’s venture you can call him at 9425530260 or mail him at infoagrilife@gmail.com
Amar Singh[/caption]
Amrita Murrabba[/caption]
Amrita Murabba[/caption]
Amar also continues to grow plum, brinjal, chilli, tomato, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, mustard and wheat. He has also built a farm pond, installed solar panels, drip-irrigated the land and installed a biogas plant in his farm. He happily trains farmers who come to ask him the art of Amla farming and processing. The horticulture department also invites him to give training sessions to the farmers. Amar believes that hard work and dedication can help anyone to achieve their dreams.
A moringa crop is ready for harvest at a farm near Rajkot town. (Photo Source: Hiren Kumar Bose)[/caption]
Rows of aloe vera fed through drip irrigation. (Photo Source: Hiren Kumar Bose)[/caption]
The initiative will encourage people across the state to start cultivating and consuming organic food. Kerala Bhavan plans to start organic farms in identified lands of 1 acre each in all 14 districts of Kerala. Twenty enthusiastic farmers in each district will grow food using organic methods of farming.
While the farmers sow the seeds, beside the fields, like in the times of Vellari Nadagangal, theatre enthusiasts will attend workshops and practise their plays. And the farmers and artists are not mutually exclusive groups, they will participate in both activities and also take the local community along. The local community can buy seeds at subsidised rates, get their hands dirty in the farms along with the farmers, learn organic practices and also be a part of the play rehearsals.
Agricultural entrepreneur Basudeb Sarkar (right) with Sukumar Sarkar, who conceptualized the food and agriculture integrated development action programme. (Photo by Dhruba Dasgupta)[/caption]
