Bharat Dogra has been trying to meet farmers who have adopted natural agriculture methods, and document their work and experience in remote villages, given that the problems of climate change have greatly increased the value of such efforts. Here, he profiles one such farmer who is able to provide healthy food to his family all through the year, apart from earning money for other essential expenses
At a time when many of the bigger farmers are complaining of debts and non-viability of their livelihoods, while also contributing to ecological ruin, a Dalit farmer has shown the way forward by combining a highly creative, satisfying livelihood with environment protection. He is very happy working on his farm with his wife and other relatives. He is able to provide healthy food to his family all through the year, apart from earning money for other essential expenses. He is able to educate his two sons in city colleges. He also helps many other farmers adopt similar natural farming methods. And he stays away from liquor and other intoxicants, holding these responsible for many problems in villages.
Meet Balchand Ahirwar. Though I was introduced to him earlier, I got an opportunity recently to go back to his village, Lidhoratal, in Jatara Block of Tikamgarh District (Madhya Pradesh) and learn more about his work. A key element of Balchand’s effort is that he and his wife Guddi have been able to reduce their farming expenses to a great extent. Though the prices of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and weedicides have increased very sharply over the last few years, Balchand avoids these expenses by making natural fertilisers and pest repellants using local resources. He uses the dung and urine from his own cattle as manure, adding some besan (legume powder/ gram flour) and jaggery to it. He mixes the bitter-tasting leaves from local trees with the cow dung and urine to make natural pesticides. While market-bought chemical products cost Rs 6000 an acre, Balchand needs to spend only Rs 500. He saves an additional Rs 2000 per acre on irrigation as the use of natural fertilisers requires less water compared to chemical fertilisers.
Other farmers follow the widely prevailing trend of using tractors, but they are very costly to purchase or hire. Balchand uses a power tiller instead, which is several times cheaper and adequate for his small farm. In addition, he says, he is able to avoid the loss to soil fertility caused by tractors.
Balchand is also careful to utilise every inch of his two-acre farm in highly creative ways. In the two seasons of rabi and kharif, wheat and groundnuts are the two main crops. Wheat not only meets the main needs of his family through the year, he is also able to sell some of it and earn money for other needs. Groundnut is mainly a cash crop. He also cultivates a wide variety of vegetables, legumes, fruits, millets, spices and flowers – at least 44 crops in a year. He has created a multi-layer garden, using bamboos to support creepers, and growing the more vulnerable plants in the shade of bigger and sturdier ones. Trees which will be yielding fruits soon also provide shade and moisture to soil. Plants and trees on bunds add to the greenery as well as to water and soil conservation. As he took me around the field, Balchand turned up the soil to show me the many earthworms at work.
Balchand is deeply committed to his work, and is constantly thinking of ways to utilise every bit of his farm. To him, farming is not drudgery. He enjoys it. In fact, he is so committed, he has shifted his residence from the main village settlement to the farm itself. However, there is only one small well to meet his irrigation needs and, at times, such as in this year’s heat wave, water scarcity is a problem.
Integral to the success of this farm are the animals – four cows, four calves, four goats and one buffalo. Cows are essential not just for the good quality milk but also for manure. Balchand’s family does not sell the milk from their cattle – they keep it to supply their diet requirements. Balchand has been helped in his efforts by Srijan, an organisation that has been trying to spread natural farming with special emphasis on multi-layer vegetable gardens and fruit orchards.
Farmers like Balchand who show special ability and enthusiasm are selected for setting up natural farming centres on their farms, like the Palak Natural Farming Centre that Balchand and Guddi have created. Such centres are also used to make natural fertilisers and pest repellants on a larger scale than required by a single farm. These can then be purchased by other farmers at a modest price, less than half the cost of chemical inputs.
While Balchand and Guddi shoulder most of the responsibilities of the farm, their elders also lend a helping hand. The couple has two sons who are studying nursing and pharmacy courses in Chattarpur and Bhopal. Balchand has motivated his two brothers, each of whom own two acres of land, to take up natural farming too. Balchand has been honored by the district administration and his services are frequently sought for training other farmers. A training room is available at his Palak Centre.
The greenery and absence of agro-chemicals provides a very healthy ambience for many species of birds, bees, earthworms and other friends of farmers. This type of farming promotes biodiversity and is very useful for climate change mitigation. While trees and porous soil with high and increasing organic content contribute to carbon absorption, eschewing chemical fertilisers and pesticides leads to big decrease of fossil fuels. Mixed farming, greater moisture absorption and reduced expenses all lead to climate change adaptation and increasing resilience. Farmers adopting such techniques deserve significant economic support and this in turn will help to put many other farmers on the path of similar farming methods.
(The writer is a senior freelance journalist and author who has been associated with several social movements and initiatives. He lives in New Delhi.)
from Webdoux