The Hindu Business Line : Growers in North Maharashtra begin switching over to organic farming

DEEP in the Wardha district of Maharashtra, where Gandhiji stayed since 1936 and experimented with the idea of rural self-reliance, another quiet revolution is taking place. This time, too, the enemy is of foreign origin; the local farmers have taken on farm products of foreign origin. Increasingly, a number of mid-sized farmers here are taking a stance against seeds, fertilisers and pesticides of foreign origin by opting for organic farming in a big way.

And playing a crucial role in this has been Vidarbha Organic Farmer Association (VOFA) that advocates farming that is free of chemicals and biotechnology inputs. Started in 1995, VOFA now boasts of some 1,000 members.

According to Mr Prakash Kochar, who began practising organic farming in 1990, conventional farming was giving him low returns; at the same time, soil fertility of the farm was getting eroded.

"Earlier, I used to get 18 quintals of wheat from an acre of irrigated land. This got reduced to a measly four quintals after prolonged use of conventional fertilisers and insecticides. Now, I have shifted from wheat to horticulture and taken up organic farming," he said.

It was a gradual shift. Mr Kochar first stopped the use of urea before reducing the dosage of other chemical fertiliser. Highly toxic insecticide was an immediate casualty; it took a while to wean off hybrid seeds usage. Then came the breakaway move as he began to use seeds produced in his own farm, which significantly brought down input costs.

Once a seed grower for the National Seeds Corporation Ltd, Mr Kochar was familiar with hybrid seeds and was quick to realise that the high quality standards needed for hybrid seeds were getting diluted.

"Multiple seed varieties, not adhering to any bio-safety standards, have been mushrooming in the market. It has become more a way of looting farmers. It took 17 years to develop H4 hybrid cottonseed, which gave revolutionary results to farmers. Today, in one year four varieties are released," Mr Kochar said.

He uses cow urine and soil from ant mounds, which is very rich in minerals and trace elements for treatment of seeds. Following the Fukuoka method, he does not till land with tractors. He believes that tilling kills the earthworms and insects that actually do the tilling and aeration.

"When we use very heavy instruments on the wet soil, it becomes compact and hard and it is of no use to the farmers," Mr Kochar said. He also uses innovative methods for rainwater management. To check the flow of fast flowing rainwater, he uses small check dams and soak pits, which help rainwater percolate down and prevents the runoff of micro-nutrients from the farm.

In a region where farmer suicide rates are on the high side, mainly on account of high input costs and relatively lower returns, organic farming may be a viable alternative. At least some 1,000 farmers here believe it is so.

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