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Society
The Farmer's In Her Den
by Aparna Pallavi
The tiny plot
is a 'suryamandal' - a circular plantation in which eight papaya
trees and six banana trees are planted alternately with 16 small patches
of vegetables to capture maximum sunlight. Vaishali Mali's figure of Rs
8,000 (US$1=Rs 42.2) annual income from this plot is impossible to
swallow. Aren't farmers around Maharashtra committing suicide, unable to
make that much out of a whole acre - that is 40 times as big?
But Vaislali, who is in her mid-thirties, has figures to back up her
claim. "Each papaya tree yields 65-75 fruits a year, which I sell in the
market for an average of Rs 15 each," she counts off briskly, "That
comes more or less around Rs 7,000 per year. Each banana tree yields
fruit worth Rs 300 to Rs 350 - so that's another Rs 1,800. Subtract Rs
1,000 for the fruit we eat ourselves. And I sell about half the
vegetables, which I grow round the year in the other patches. Now you
calculate."
If open-mouthed awe is your reaction, on this experimental farm in the
Bhogaon village in Solapur district of Maharashtra, you are likely to
get more of it. Three women - from various nomadic tribes - living on
this farm, have been consistently, for the last eight years, been
earning Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 annually, from as little as 12 'gunthas'
(one 'guntha' is around 1,089 sq. ft., or one-fortieth of an acre) of
land. These women grow a variety of crops - food as well as cash - in
small quantities, and ensure excellent yields through various natural
farming practices related to soil and water conservation, optimum
sunlight harvesting and other natural yield-enhancing techniques. Apart
from the above-mentioned cash income, the 12 'gunthas' of land also
supply the three families with nearly all their food requirements
throughout the year.
The farm was born in 1998 out of the vision of veteran activist couple
Balakrishna and Sharada Renake - in their sixties - who were looking for
ways to make small land-holdings sustainable to help nomadic tribes -
who either don't own any land or very small holdings - settle down.
"After working for the rights of nomadic tribes for 30 years, we
realised that the only way their children can access education and
better prospects is by settling down," says Sharada. "We also decided to
recruit the women for the farming work, because among nomadic tribes,
where there is land, women have traditionally looked after the farming."
The couple acquired 25 acres of highly degraded land in this
water-starved district under their organisation, Timirbhed. Sharada
started the work of building sustainable 12-'guntha' models with the
help of the first three settlers, Lata Gaikwad, Vaishali Mali and
Lakshmi More.
"Initially, I could not believe that I could make any kind of living in
such conditions," says Lata, the first tenant farmer on the land. "The
soil had all been scrapped up by brick kiln owners, leaving just bare 'murum'
(thick gravel). And there was hardly any water to farm the land."
Eight years down the line, Lata, a divorcee in her mid-40's, is thinking
of sending her daughter to college, and is convinced that very small
quantities of land, water, inputs and labour can yield high returns,
provided the farming is handled right.
According to Lata, the crop pattern is based on two principles - small
is beautiful, and variety is of the essence. Each of the women
cultivates grain, pulses and legumes, a wide variety of vegetables and
fruits, spices, onion, rhizomes such as ginger and turmeric, and even
medicinal herbs, animal fodder, trees yielding firewood, and flowers. No
crop is grown on more than one 'guntha' of land, and crop rotation and
inter-cropping are a must.
To ensure maximum yield, dry mulching and green composting is done
frequently to keep the soil rich. Vermicompost and cow dung are added in
rich quantities. "The layer of soil that you see on this land," says
Lakshmi, who is in her 30s, "is something we have created, and we keep
adding to it every few months."
This practice gives rich results in terms of yield. The yields of the
two main crops on the farm - turmeric and ginger - are between two to
two-and-a-half kilograms per square foot and the average income per 'guntha'
is Rs 14,000. Even in case of cereal staples - 'jowar' and wheat - the
yield is a whopping 80 to 90 kilograms for one 'guntha'. "The grain from
two 'gunthas' is sufficient to sustain a family of five for six to eight
months," says Lakshmi, who has three children, "The rest of the grain we
buy from the sale of vegetables and fruits."
The three families are also self-sufficient in pulses - 'moong', 'urad',
'tur' and 'chana', as well as in onion, garlic, and spices such as
mustard, chilly, fennel and aniseed. A variety of vegetables are also
grown on the farms all year round, out of which about 50 per cent is
consumed by the household and the rest is sold. "We do not need to buy
any vegetables except for potatoes," says Lata, "In the city, we could
never afford to have vegetables, but now we have sufficient vegetables
at every meal." The women also grow around 10 varieties of fruit, of
which there is enough left to eat after sales worth Rs 10,000 to Rs
15,000 per year.
There are other techniques to maximise yield. The fences on this farm
are made of Ghaipat, a hard, thorny grass that can also be sold to
rope-makers; bamboo; and Gillishidi, a fast-growing, abundantly leafy
tree that yields fodder, fast-degrading biomass, and firewood. Where no
fences are required, wooden frames are erected along the narrow
footpaths between plots on which vines yielding medicines and vegetables
are grown. Each of the women is maintaining one cow on the farm
byproducts, and it is possible to also maintain four goats each on the
green fodder they grow, they say.
The three mini-farms have never suffered any serious setback. The
reason, explains Sharada, is the refusal to have a bumper crop of
anything. "A small plot of land is easier to care for and protect from
weather fluctuations. A variety of small crops coming at different times
of the year ensure a year-round income, instead of just the once-a-year
bumper thing that may very well turn into a disaster if the market turns
hostile."
The concept of small crops round the year also cuts down on labour cost.
On this farm, the three women perform all their cultivation activities,
including sowing and harvesting, themselves, with help from each other
and occasionally, from their families. "A family can eke out a decent
livelihood and educate its children if the woman cultivates the land and
her husband has a job," says Sharda, "This was our basic vision when we
started this farm."
The Renakes plan to take the experiment further by helping more such
families to settle down on this land. Sharada says, "Leaving out land
for common resources, the remaining land can sustain around 25 - 30
families. If we can make this a success with those other families, this
experiment can serve as a valuable model for settlement of nomadic
tribes as well as an effective argument against the corporate argument
that small farms are unsustainable."
August 3,
2008
By arrangement with
WFS
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