mahindra kisan mitra

http://www.mahindrakisanmitra.com/mahindra-samriddhi/your-stories

uccess story of a progressive farmer from Maharashtra

Rajesh Patil is one of the progressive farmers of Jalke village and probably the most educated, as he has acquired a masters degree in Physics. He has almost 100 acres agricultural land in which he grows less labour intensive crops like banana, papaya, turmeric and cotton. For summer cotton he grows saplings of cotton from seeds and after a light shower in the month of June, transplants the saplings in the field. Rajesh uses drip system for complete irrigation of his farm. Since he has a big farm to irrigate, buying conventional drip systems would have required huge investments. So Rajesh has invested in buying KB Drip for a very large area, which is connected to an electric pump lifting the water from a deeply dug well. Rajesh is very happy with KB drip as he is now able to cultivate the entire farm, which he could not do earlier. He experienced better quality and quantity of bananas by using drip. He pointed out that if there was a proper system of rewinding KB drip system it would be very helpful in its storage.

Rajesh got associated with IDEI when he bought KB drip. But his committed presence as opinion leader in IDEI conducted farmer meetings, stems from his passion to work for fellow farmers who are less fortunate. He uses the farmer meetings as a platform to share his experience with KB drip. He talks about the technological aspects, and how even very poor farmers can suitably use it on their small plots to increase productivity. He gives various other agronomical inputs to them and answers their queries on seed varieties, germination, transplantation etc. Lately Rajesh has started motivating the farmers to produce organic fertilizers through vermicomposting to reduce their cost of inputs and also to improve on the soil quality. Various exposure visits to his farm has been organized for farmer groups as a demonstration site for KB drip and Vermicomposting.

Three years back Rajesh attended a training program on producing organic manure organised by an organic farming group. He learnt that organic manure can replace use of commercial fertilizers completely. It conserves natural resources like soil and water and also the produce can command a much better price

Being an educated and a progressive farmer, he sought more information and started with a Vermi composting unit in his farm. Rajesh has now completely shifted to organic farming, using the vermiwash as a micronutrient, he delivers it through the drip system. He saves on about Rs 60-70 thousand which was spent earlier on the chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Rajesh has recently made about 20 cemented structures for vermicomposting, and a very efficient system of collecting vermiwash from them through a network of pipes.

Rajesh plans to form an organic farming group by motivating the smallholder farmers to produce organic fertilizers through Vermicomposting on their own farm. This will help them to enhance their incomes as it reduces the cost of inputs considerably and also the organic produce can get better returns through proper output linkage. The mandate of "Mandal"or the group will be to train farmers to produce organic manure and biological means of pest control.

Two years back, Rajesh started cultivating turmeric which is not very common in the region and therefore commands a good price. Turmeric is grown in the months from June to February, and Rajesh uses drip during the last three months, when the rainy season is over. He plans to work specifically with small farmers to train them to grow turmeric as a high value crop and also provide them with turmeric seeds.

IDEI looks at these progressive farmers like Rajesh as partners in facilitating the process of integration of the poor farmers with the market systems effectively as micro-entrepreneurs. Revered and looked upon by the local farmer community as icons in the field of agriculture, these farmers are well aware of the local farming needs of the poor farmers. They can suitably mobilize and guide the poor farmers to increase their productivity, so that they can rise above subsistence agriculture to a small scale commercial farming.

He may be contacted through :

Bhubaneshwar
Tapan PatanayakChief General Manager (Orissa, West Bengal & Chattisgarh)International Development Enterprises, 
India (IDE I).A-6, Nilakantha Nagar,
Behind Pollution Control Board
Unit -8, Nayapalli
Bhubaneswar - 751012
Orissa
Tel : +91 - 674 - 2561727
Fax: +91 - 674 - 2561717
Email: ideors@ide-india.org

Mushroom cultivation became a new hope for success

A Successful farmer Sri Arjun Prasad Yadav of village Banauli, P.O: Rajadih, Dist: Munger was sent by ATMA Munger to Hyderabad with 20 other farmers for five days training and exposure visit. After coming back he went to Bombay and got training on Mushroom cultivation for 3 days by paying Rs. 500/-. He bought spawn and other materials from Bombay and started cultivation of Oyster Mushroom in 105 bags. He cultivated it successfully and got 800-1200 gms of Mushroom from each bag. He sold it Rs. 60/- per kg at the local market of Kharagpur. This has not only given him fame but has also gained him financially.

He may be contacted through :

Mr. Anand Vikram Singh (Project Officer)

ATMA Office, Near: Collectorate Building, Fort Area,

Munger - 811 201 (Bihar) INDIA.Phone : 91 - 6344 - 226607

New method to grow Pomegranate

Sri Sanjay Gugawad is a progressive agriculturist from Gandhinagar, Bellary, Karnataka. He has done M.Sc. in agriculture and has also done training through training institute KAR-TFBTL. Being so well educated, he started Agro-Midas Enterprises cultivation of pomegranate and also establishing vermicompost unit. The number of villages covered under this are 8 and the number of farmers are 30. His average income per month is hovering around Rs. 8000 – 10,000/-.

He has his own training Institute named M/s. Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres Cell, Terra Firma Biotechnologies Ltd.,104, Ranka Park, No.5, Lalbagh Road, in Banglore-27.

He may be contacted through :

Sri. Sunjay Gugawad

85-B, 2nd Cross, Gandhi Nagar,

Bellary - 583 101. Phone: 08392-71514
Email: gugawad@yahoo.com

Off Beat Farming System Changed Economy of Tillers

Israel has set the trends to achieve this goal. The new ways will not only boost the cultivation of cash crops but will also promote agro-based industry. 

In this context, I visited Israel during Nov. 96 on invitation of M/s M aharal, Ronit and Offer, renowned farmers in the field of flower growing and agriculture products, with the object of gaining know how and application of the advanced techniques to promote agriculture. 

I have also the first hand experience of undertaking a massive programme for the cultivation of industrial and medicinal plants on an area of more than 500 acres in Kukanet and Dharampur villages of Hoshiarpur District of Punjab. This was a real success story of converting the undeveloped land into a profitable agriculture venture. After having raised the nurseries for poplar at Pinjore and Piarewala (Haryana) we set up an orchard of Mango, Litchi and Chickoo over an area of 15 acres, besides raising a vegetable seed farm covering about 10 acres of land at Pinjore (Haryana). In addition to this, the traditional crops like wheat, rice, sunflower etc. are also being grown on a sizeable chunk of land.

My experience has also been enriched from a Agro Research Farm at Baragaon on the Kullu-Manali highway. As an experimental measure, efforts are being made to raise nurseries under natural conditions for Strawberry, Celery, Chicory and some other exotic plants at above mentioned farm with the objective of further transplantation of such plants in plains. Cultivation of off-season vegetables and cash crops including the high value crop like Saffron for the first time in Manali area was another feather to the cap in the plantation programme.

Our Research and Development (R & D) team of agriculture scientists surveyed various agriculture universities of Haryana, Punjab Himachal Jammu and U. P.. Their mission was to know about the relevant research and other choices of type of plants to be grown, and suitable Land Use System to be adopted. After proper experimentation, R & D wing identified Amla as main crop along with other marketable medicinal plants for Kukanet and Dharampur villages of Hoshiarpur District. 

Introduction of Amla crop on an area of about 300 acres and medicinal plants like Ashwa-gandha, Sarp-gandha, Akarkra, Occimum, Asparagus, Piper-longum and Lemon grass on an area of 200 acres through inter-cropping system was done. We adopted at Kukanet and Dharampur the State-of-art technology (“”SALT”- LAND USE SYSTEM) that was a major step towards propagation and promotion of Amla culture in Kandi areas of Punjab to go in for plantation of Amla and medicinal plants. 

The plantation programme provided employment and self-employment opportunity to the rural peasants of the area and improved their economy in due course. There is a great market potential for Amla and Herbs. The Kandi area is sub-mountainous, sub-tropical and semi-arid with fertile soil is most suitable for cultivation of industrial plants like Amla, Neem, Khair, Harer, Bahera etc. It is a natural repository for medicinal plants. 

However to begin with, we undertook the cultivation of Amla as the main crop. In order to ensure success of massive plantation of Amla, plant material of improved cultivars like, NA-6, NA-IO, NA- 7, Francis, Kanchan, Krishna and Chakaiya had been arranged from the State Nursery of UP at Pratapgarh and N.D. Agriculture University, Faizabad (UP). Arrangements for systematised transplantation were also made at Kukanet and Dharampur. Top working on indigenous root stock was done with the plant material of the improve cultivars.

The Research and Development team, on the other hand, undertook the soil tests and raised a fascinating nursery of herbs and selected medicinal plants for multiplication of seed material at Kukanet. Massive programme for cultivation of herbs and medicinal plants was undertaken as inter-cropping with Amla.

The people benefited from this kind of agriculture are the rural masses belonging to agrarian section. In fact whole Kandi region had been declared backward area of state due to unproductive land status and lack of nursery and other facilities like transportation, communication, infrastructure and means of livelihood. 

Being sub-mountainous region with no facility for irrigation, traditional agriculture was totally dependent upon rain, with poor farm yields. Planting of industrial cash crops, herbs suited to the agro-ecology of the region under scientifically designed land use system not only ushered in an era of green revolution in this sub-tropical part of the state, but also definitely helped the hapless villagers to improve their lot. 

The state, in addition, had been enriched with valuable plant wealth for export with added benefit of over all development of the Kandi area.

Postal Address

Him VikasRegd. Office: E-10, Shant Lok, Housing Board Colony
Shimla-171002. Himachal Pradesh, India.
Working Office: Combermere Complex, Block-C
The Mall, Shimla-171001, Himachal Pradesh. India.
Tel/Mobile
Telefax: +91-177-5535730
Mobile: 094183-83243

Web Address 
http://www.himvikas.org

India's women farmers show way to organic future

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 ($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: Women's Feature Service : by Neeta Lal

Organic farming Success takes hold in Rajasthan

Large numbers of farmers have opted for a way of cultivation that does away with chemical pesticides, and most importantly, uses less water in a water-starved state. The dramatic results are nowhere more visible than in Rajasthan's Shekhawati belt, reports Deepa A.

21 March 2005 - Shekhawati, Rajasthan - When 55-year-old Banwarilal Jangir decided to turn to organic farming four years ago, he wasn't very sure of its benefits. He hoped it would improve the harvest in his 1.94-hectare farm in Nawalgarh, Rajasthan, where he cultivated wheat, fenugreek, chickpeas and isabgol. The yield wasn’t high in the first year, but he wasn’t disheartened. He struggled for a while, often selling the produce at market value, without making much profit.

Three years down the line, Jangir's efforts have finally paid off. Two companies have lined up to buy his crop this year and he’s hopeful of getting a good deal. “I am sure I will earn at least 20 per cent more,” says the elated farmer. 

His story is echoed across Rajasthan, where thousands of farmers have opted for a way of cultivation that does away with pesticides, and most importantly for a desert region, uses less water. Its dramatic results are nowhere more visible than in the Shekhawati belt, comprising regions such as Nawalgarh, Jhunjhunu,

Mandawa, Sikar and Churu. Standing in the middle of a farm, with large red roses blossoming on one side, and green wheat fields stretching on the other, it’s difficult to imagine that sand dunes can be found just a few miles away. 

Much of the transformation has been due to the work of the M R Morarka-GDC Rural Research Foundation, started in Jhunjhunu over a decade ago. The foundation is a non-profit organisation funded by the firm Gannon

Dunkerley and Company Ltd (GDC), and its founder-chairperson is industrialist Kamal M Morarka, also the head of GDC and currently the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Apart from promoting organic farming, the foundation works in areas such as micro-credit, primary healthcare and education, biotechnology, waste management and heritage conservation in the fresco-filled havelis of Shekhawati.

The foundation estimates that hundred thousand farmers across the country (with an average landholding of four acres) have switched to organic methods because of its efforts, and claims that farmers in Rajasthan make up half this number. It has helped them find a market for their products, while also facilitating exports. Its main contribution, though, is perhaps something more enduring: organic farming methods reduced the farmer’s dependency on rainfall. 

“Under the usual method of farming, if there is only 80 percent rainfall, then the output goes down by 50 percent. If there is 60 percent rainfall, there is no output at all, "explains says Mukesh Gupta, executive director of the foundation. But, for a farmer who has opted for organic techniques, the output remains at 100 percent even at 80 percent rainfall, and 50 percent at 60 percent rainfall. This is because organic methodology promotes conservation of water, and in general, improves soil conditions so that returns always remain high, says Gupta. 

The fact that pesticides are out of bounds in organic farming techniques is another reason the process requires less water. Use of chemical pesticides such as urea means that plants have to be watered more often, but organic farming — which uses only herbal pesticides — cuts back on at least 40 percent of the water usage. As a result, farmers are even able to cultivate crops that are high on water consumption, an avenue that wasn’t open to them earlier. 

The absence of chemical pesticides also automatically improves the market for the products, as they are thought to be healthier. Gupta says that an apple in Himachal Pradesh reaches the market after at least 40 applications of pesticides. Undoubtedly, munching into a gooseberry that has seen no pesticides is considered a better guarantee to keep the doctor away. Confirming this, the foundation avers that any farmer who has switched to organic farming has seen his exports go up from 30 to 300 percent. 

The ratio of exports, however, is still not clear as figures are not available. Usually, the products are sold to traders, who in turn market it abroad or in India. The Morarka Foundation estimates that 60 percent of all the farm products are exported. 

New technology is being adopted to further boost exports. For one, farmers get a US certification for their organic products, thanks to the foundation’s tie-up with a US agency called Winrock International. Secondly, plans are afoot to work out a way in which clients can see the products for themselves without even stepping on Indian soil. Explaining that this is not a fanciful proposition, Gupta outlines the strategy: “We are in talks with a US-based company to get electronic tags for fields, which will send out signals. Base stations will transmit these signals to satellites and we are hoping to show clients satellite images of the fields”. The cost of such a process has not worried the foundation officials, who insist the wherewithal — such as base stations currently used by cellular operators as well as companies specialising in satellite imagery — is already in place. 

Harpal Singh, who runs the beautiful Ganga Wadi farm in Sikar with his brother Madan Singh and other family members, is excited by the possibilities. Bel, roses and lime trees grow on the farm, as does wheat and several medicinal plants. His income has gone up tremendously ever since he opted for organic farming eight years ago (the income the farm makes is between Rs. 15-20 lakhs annually), and new technology can only send it soaring higher. He is also thrilled that the soil fertility has improved considerably. “We have cows and horses at home, so getting manure for vermiculture was never a problem", says Madan, whose farmhands show off the earthworms in compost pits with a measure of pride. 

Red roses bloom across a field in the farm, and Ganga Wadi has in fact made a name for itself because of the flowers. The roses, huge and fragrant, are a sell-out at a market nearby. But the rows of compost at one end of the farm, where vermiculture is carried out, get the most attention. The foundation, along with its partners produced 10 lakh tonnes of vermicompost last year. This year, by March-end, they would have produced 35 lakh tonnes. 

Though it has taken time for the foundation to mobilise farmers in the area, "it was not difficult", says Gupta. The Shekhawati belt is a politically active region, and awareness levels were high in general among people. And farmers, in fact, were eager for solutions that would boost produce at low costs. The foundation started with 123 villages in Jhunjhunu, addressing sectors such as primary healthcare and education. Realising that the best way to ensure self-sufficiency was to improve the livelihoods of a people whose mainstay was agriculture, a research centre was set up to study organic farming, among other things. 

Farmers were called in groups and shown the organic farming techniques, and its benefits were explained to them. The staff at the Foundation -- a spokesperson says it employs as many as 600 people -- fanned out and met people across the state, persuading them that organic farming would work best in semi-arid areas such as Shekhawati. Today, hearing the success stories of many farmers, people come to the Foundation to learn about organic farming. 

Buoyed by the success, most farmers in the area are now eager to adopt organic farming. In the initial transition phase, when vermiculture is introduced and chemical pesticide usage stopped, farmers often do face a low output. But as the cost of cultivation in organic farming is less, the income usually evens out. Some like Jangir, who didn't have enough herbal pesticides and manure when he started out, suffer more losses than others. But within three-four years, the farmers usually do well. 

The promise of organic farming is that it is considered to be better than Genetically Modified (GM) products. Up to now, GM has mostly been about ensuring that crops are resistant to pests, like Bt Cotton, for instance. But organic farming promises the same benefits without tweaking genes. "This method of farming creates an ecological balance, so that the soil is fertile and the plant is healthy. In such a situation, pests are simply unable to attack a plant," says Gupta. In the years to come, when people look for healthy food, they will automatically think organic, he adds. This is better news than what the farmers of Rajasthan may have hoped for.

Deepa A 

21 Mar 2005

Deepa A is a New Delhi based journalist. The Morarka foundation answers questions on organic farming, vermiculture and other related subjects.

Morarka Foundation
RIICO Gem Stone Park
Tonk Road, Jaipur-302011
Rajasthan. Tel: +91-141-2720202
info@morarkango.com 
http://morarkango.com

Commercial Goat Farming

Goat play a significant role in ensuring livelihood security to the millions of small and marginal farmers, landless labourers and rural folk. Goat rearing under intensive and semi-intensive system for commercial production is gaining momentum. A number of commercial goat farms have been established in different regions of the country. A progressive farmer, Shri Rohan Singh resident of Salempur village in Farah block of Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, who has been doing traditional farming, was inspired and motivated by the scientists of CIRG, Makhdoom to start goat farming for commercial production. Consequently he started a Goat Farm in his village in August 2006. Initially the farm was established with 68 Barbari does and 2 bucks and later on after 6 months 33 does and 1 buck more were added to the flock. The technical know-how on scientific goat rearing was provided by the CIRG, Makhdoom. The objective of this goat-rearing Project was to produce and market pure breed ‘Barbari' animals. The initial investment made on purchasing of the breeding stock and construction of sheds and equipments was Rs. 1.62 lakhs and another Rs.10,000 was used as working capital. The goats on this farm have been maintained under semi-intensive system of management by the two unemployed youths of the family. Besides grazing, the animals were provided supplementary concentrate feeding, mineral mixture, fodder, tree leaves lopping and guar straw. Total expenditure incurred on supplementary feeding of goats in a year worked out to Rs.10,700. The prophylaxis schedule included vaccinations against Enterotoxaemia, FMD and PPR diseases and twice medication against internal and external parasites. The expenditure on prophylaxis and treatment for whole of the flock was Rs. 3,500. Thus the total recurring expenditure other than family labour for a flock of 104 goats was Rs. 14,200 during one year.

 

During the last one-year 73 kids were born from 68 does. The present strength of the flock after sale of 50 grown up and adults is 105 goats. The returns from the sale of goats in one year were estimated to be Rs. 75,000. Moreover the goat manure valuing Rs. 4000 was produced and used in the agricultural farm of the owner. Thus the annual net returns to the family from goat rearing worked out to Rs. 64,800. It is interesting to note that this farmer sold his almost all the surplus animals (pure Barbari goats) for breeding purpose to the other goat farmers at the rate of Rs. 100 per kg live body weight. Concurrently the other traditional farmers of this area maintaining non-descript goats could fetch a market price of Rs. 60-65 per kg of live body weight for their goats sold mostly for meat purpose. Hence rearing of pure breed goats (Barbari or any other breed) always attracted incentive through better market prices. Learning from his own experiences and Transfer of Technology Programme of CIRG, Makhdoom the farmer is now able to manage his farm better as reflected by no mortality in his flock over the last 6 months. Further he purchased superior bucks and does from CIRG for breed improvement and has established credibility of producing good quality pure breed Barbari goats. Farmer is being considered as a successful goat farmer in the adjoining area.

 

(Source: Shalander Kumar, A.K. Goel and N.P. Singh, CIRG, Makhdoom:

C.I.R.G., Makhdoom,

P.O. Farah (Mathura)

UP-281 122.), Director  +91-565-2763380 (O), 2763245 (R),

Eco-Friendly, More Productive Farming Takes Root in India's Bread Basket

Across the vast fields of India's breadbasket, millions of farmers anxiously count the days between their wheat harvest and rice planting season. Too many lost days could cost them a month's salary. And farmers desperate for a fast crop turnaround often end up turning their fields into smoke stacks. Burning harvest residue is better than having to waste time plowing the land, they believe. But this isn't the right answer. “This is terrible for the environment and the land, but in their minds, it saves them money in the short term,” says Dr. Raj Gupta, India Director of the South Asia Rice-Wheat Consortium. 

Now a major agricultural transformation developed with the help of USAID is sweeping across India's northern rice and wheat growing belt and helping farmers save time as well as conserve precious natural resources. This method called zero-tillage utilizes a seed drill that can cut through crop residue. The seed is then dropped directly into the soil. Farmers no longer have to engage in expensive and time-consuming plowing. Nor do they have to resort to burning off harvest waste to decrease their time to next planting. This practice saves 75% or more on tractor fuel, obtains better yields and requires up to 30-50% less water. Farmers save at least $65 per hectare in production costs, which makes a big difference to their profit margins. 

Getting Farmers on Board 

Traditional farming communities are often skeptical of change. “Farmers want to see their gains right away,” says Gupta. In the case of the zero-till method, farmers couldn't help but respond to the results. Arun Bhaku, a farmer in Haryana in North India, has been using the zero-tillage method for 2 years now to plant his rice and wheat. “My total yield every season has increased by at least 20%, and it saves me so much money,” he says. “All my neighboring farmers have seen this and also have begun to use it.” 

Gupta says that the environmental benefit is just as high as the cost-savings. “Leaving a protective blanket of leaves, stems and stalks from the pervious crop on the surface is actually better for the long terms health of the crops and soil.” Residues provide a natural herbicide, retain nutrients in soil and moderate soil temperature. “By burning the residue, farmers were actually stripping the soil of microbes and moisture that are essential to a crop's long terms health,” he added.

Fine-tuning the methods 

1 YEAR back after launch of this mission, 1 million hectares of farmland was planted using the zero-tillage approach – which represents 10 percent of land farmed for rice and wheat and the livelihoods of 10,000 farmers living on the Indo Gangetic Plains of India. USAID provided $1,500,000 in research and development grants to engage private machine shops in adapting the seeder for several different crops. The seeder has already been modified to be used for chickpea, maize and sorghum. 

“Farming is tremendously important to India's economy and culture,” said US Ambassador David Mulford during a visit to Punjab. “The country will not prosper fully without a vibrant and dynamic agriculture sector.” With two thirds of India's billion people depending on farming for employment, the benefits of the zero tillage techniques will be widespread.

For More Details Contact:

India
USAID/New Delhi
Department of State
Washington, DC 20521-9000
Tel: 91-11-419-8000
Fax: 91-11-419-8612.

A Disabled Could Climb The Hill And Become A Prosperous Farmer

A Disabled Could Climb The Hill: The Self Expression Of Nabin Amanatya, A Polio Affected Youth In Koraput

Shri Nabin Amanatya, about 35 years of age is a polio affected person who lives in the village Jhadaput in Koraput. The case below captures his expressions after being involved with the IDEI programme.

"We are two brothers and one sister born to Kamal Lochan and Ratani, a very poor family in the village Jadaput under Boriguma block of Koraput district in Orissa. By the grace of God, one brother and the sister were born healthy, but I was affected by polio. Being the eldest son of the family all depended on me. My parents worked as daily wage earners and were able to educate me up to class seven. Although I wanted to study further, my parents could not afford to pay any more for my education.

My faith in God was very strong. I thought that my disability was a blessing from God in disguise, and an opportunity for me to do something different. I did not admit defeat at any stage. Time went by and I grew in age. I got Pramila as my life partner and was sure that the inspiration and guidance of my wife would change the course of my life. We both prayed to God for a better life.

One day a Village Agriculture Worker had visited our village. He advised me to purchase a KB pump and cultivate vegetables to make a good living. On hearing about this very affordable technology, I was excited. I saw it during a visit to the haat. Immediately I borrowed some money and purchased a KB pump by paying Rs 875/-. Usually polio affected people get two wheeler rickshaw for their movement but instead, I got a red colour KB pump which is operated manually and does not require any fuel or electricity for operation.

The villagers teased me and passed comments when they saw me operating the pump. Many people watched at me and discouraged me, yet I laboured on. It is said that where there is a will there is a way. The river Singari was flowing near my field. Water is available through out the year. I had only ½ an acre of land. I started by cultivating crops with low water requirement such as Cucumber, Kumuda, Ridge Gourd etc.

Initially I experienced pain in my legs after operating the pump. However my wife Pramila encouraged and inspired me. While I operated the pump she helped me in irrigating the plot through channels. My desire was to show people that I was capable of earning money by cultivating my own small plot. I did not look back and continued cultivating vegetables such as Kumuda, Ridge Gourd, Lady Finger and Cucumber by operating the KB pump. As the crop grew, my determination grew as well. I forgot all my pains and the comments of the people.

From the first crop I earned Rs. 6300/-. People who had teased me suddenly went quiet. I continued to use the KB pump and earned a good living. Within two years I could repay the loan of Rs 5000/- that my father had taken. However, while continuing with the vegetable cultivation I was also facing various other problems. Once the seeds I had purchased did not germinate. Moreover I had no idea about how to grow crops that would fetch me a good market price. I used to sell only in the near by local haats where the vegetables are sold at very low prices. At that time, I received immense help from the field staff of IDEI who put me in touch with a seed and fertilizer dealer in Jeypur for getting good quality seeds. More over they also took me for an exposure visit to a plot in Semiliguda where high value crops are being grown very well. I was really impressed to see such a plot and interacted with the farmer of that plot. On my return I applied the technique of using alternate channel irrigation to save labour and water. IDEI field staff also supplied me the Krishak Bandhu Magazine which contained relevant information on different aspects of vegetable cultivation. They also kept me informed of the market price of vegetables in different markets. With their help I sold vegetables twice in Jeypore market and got a good price. Though it is not always possible for me to reach the Jeypur market, I am aware that I can get good prices there.

I also attended a training programme organized by IDEI with the help of some of our local experts. The training was very useful in terms of giving me new ideas on high value crops, different practices such as crop rotation, multi-cropping, etc. I have now decided to plant some tree crops on the bunds of my field.

I have no problem with the KB pump. The only thing I do is to change the washer and the check valve of the pump when these get worn out. Spare parts of the pump are available with the local dealers of KB pump Moreover from time to time the field staff of IDEI visit my plot.

People in my village and even surrounding villages now visit my field to hear about my success. I have saved Rs 6500/- in the Koraput Panchabati Gramya Bank and hope to soon construct a tin roof over my father's hut. Last year I earned Rs 14,500/- from the sale of vegetables and I think this year I will be able to earn much more by adopting the new practices that I have learnt. Also, now my family members eat fresh vegetables and the domestic expenses are met out of the income from vegetable sales. I have plans to purchase a bicycle after constructing the house. I have also decided to get an electricity connection for our house. Today I am a happy man."

For more details:

International Development Enterprises (India)

BhubaneshwarTapan PatanayakChief General Manager (Orissa, West Bengal & Chattisgarh)
A-6, Nilakantha Nagar,
Behind Pollution Control Board
Unit -8, Nayapalli
Bhubaneswar - 751012
Orissa
Tel : +91 - 674 - 2561727
Fax: +91 - 674 - 2561717
Email: ideors@ide-india.org

The success story of Hariram Kushwaha from District-Hardoi, U.P

The Hariram Kushwaha Story

"After years of struggling with debt and poverty, Hariram Kushwaha is breathing a sigh of relief.  Finally there is a ray of hope in his life." 

The success story of Hariram Kushwaha from District-Hardoi, U.P.

Hariram Kushwaha is breathing a sigh of relief.  Finally there is a ray of hope in his life. With a little help from his KB Treadle Pump, he will soon be liberated from the debt trap he fell into eight years ago when he borrowed Rs. 16,000 from a local money lender to buy a small plot of land.  The interest charged was phenomenally high – 48 percent per annum, sadly, a common enough occurrence in rural India.

Since that day, Hariram has been struggling to repay both the loan and high interest amounts.  Unable to support his family by working on the farm. Hariram was forced to become a cycle rickshaw puller in the nearby town of Hardoi.  After a hard day’s work, he was able to earn between Rs. 60 – 100 per day, but it was still difficult to support his family.  Hariram had to sell off his buffalo to pay part of the interest on his debt.  Over the next two years, he paid another Rs. 10,000 to the money lender in four installments.  Life was definitely not easy for the family – they were caught in a debt trap with no way out.

One day, an IDE (India) staff saw Hariram’s wife engaged in the back-breaking work of pumping out water for irrigation the hand-pump. The IDEI Staff demonstrated the use of the 3.5" Metallic KB Pump, capable of pumping out three times more water than the hand-pump with less effort. The couple installed a treadle pump on their plot but sadly their first irrigated crop of potato was a failure. Not due to any lapses on their part but due to a virus attack.

Again IDE (India) came into picture and the local staff advised the family to go in for nursery raising, a move that would not only profitable but also optimize their locational advantage of being on the main road.  In the first year, on part of his farm, with the aid of the treadle pump, Hariram prepared a nursery for eucalyptus, rose and seasonal vegetables.  The response was good and soon, Hariram stopped pulling the rickshaw and become an entrepreneur.  He earned a net profit of Rs. 10,000 and therefore, could pay off his debt.  In the second year, Hariram converted his entire farm into a nursery and the family’s net income jumped to Rs. 45,000.  Hariram paid Rs. 25,000 as part of his debt and subscribed to a life insurance policy at the annual premium of Rs. 3,200.  He also invested in a rickshaw trolley to transport the plants.

Today, Hariram and his wife have become socially visible as successful entrepreneurs, a far cry from the days of being desperate and debt-ridden. Finally, Hariram has paid off most of his debt with only a small amount left.  The children are going to school and Hariram is planning to build a house once the loan is repaid.  Reminiscing about his life, Hariram becomes emotional “I am dreaming of brighter days for my family because of this KB pump.  In my life time, I will never let it go away from my field”.

For more details contact:

Lucknow
Pawan Kumar SinghChief General Manager (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar & Jharkhand)1/150, Vivek Khand, Gomti Nagar
Lucknow - 226010
Uttar Pradesh
Tel : +91 - 522 - 2303563, 4005678
Fax: +91 - 522 - 2397763
Email: ideup@ide-india.org

Need Based Interventions Make Farmers Confident On Adoption Of Technologies

Sucess Story:

Shri. M. Mohammed Haji ,(Farmer)

(Kalanad (V & PO),

Meleparamba

Chemnad Panchayat

Kasaragod District, Kerala

Age: 64 years

Education: Primary School

Family: Wife & two children

Holding size: 3 ha

Main crop: Coconut; arecanut

Crops grown: Coconut; arecanut; banana; fodder grass

Out of 250 coconut trees, 50 trees were lost due to stem bleeding disease. 

Not aware of control measures; but practiced application of common salt, neem oil etc., that are non-effective.

Local Krishibhavan Officer directed him to visit CPCRI, Kasaragod and subsequently, the KVK initiated an on-farm trial during 1998-2001.

There were 34 infected palms at the beginning of the trial, of which six trees were severely affected. 

The treatment of the disease involved the following components: 

(i) Chiseling out the decayed portions from the stem;

(ii) Smearing Tridemorph (Calixin) @ 5% and after a day, application of coal tar on that portion;

(iii) root feeding of Tridemorph @ 5% - 5 ml in 100 ml water;  and

(iv) drenching the basin with 0.1% Tridemorph (25 ml in 25 l water).

Other recommended practices of crop management should be followed.

At the end of the trial, 30 trees were fully recovered; 4  severely affected trees  died.   

Result :Acquired the skill on management of stem bleeding disease and now he acts as master trainer to impart the technology to other farmers.

For more details contact:

Director,Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, 

Kasaragod,671 124 Kerala, India ( Indian Council of Agricultural Research )

Phone : 04994-232 894-5

Kvk,S Knowledge Inputs Made Wonder For Farmers

There Are Various Farmers On Whom This Centre Feels Proud About Their Progress Based On The Advice Of This Centre. A Few Of Them Need To Be Mentioned Here.

Success Story Of Farmer.

Name                :   Sh. Kushal Pal Sirohi

Father’S Name  :   Sh. Harender Singh Sirohi

Village               :   Sirohi Farm, Chandana.

Sh. Kushal Pal Sirohi, Came In Contact With Kvk Kaithal In The Year 1999-2000. Till Then He Had Been Cultivating Traditional Crops Of Wheat, Rice And Sugarcane On As Usual Pattern. After Coming In Contact With Kvk Scientists He Had Started Cultivation Of These Crops On Scientific Basis. The Results In Terms Of Yield Were Found Encouraging. He Has Undergone Training On Bee Keeping, Mushroom Cultivation And Vermi-Compost From This Center. By The Encouragement Of Kvk Scientists, He Became The Member Of The Progressive Farmers Club, Kaithal. Diversification Process At His Farm Was Started Under The Guidance Of Kvk Scientists. Now The Farmer Has Established The Several Enterprises At His Farm Viz. Fish Farming, Vermi-Culture, Bio-Gas, Mushroom, Bee Keeping, Plantation Of Rose, Papaya, Aonla, Ber, Guava, Lemon Grass, Pama Rose, Jama Rose, Citronella, Kluns Etc. The Farmer Has Also Planted Poplar And Eucalyptus Plants On The Boundary Of His Farm.

In Addition, New Technologies Like Drip Irrigation, Green House Techniques For Nursery Raising With Micro-Nutrients, Solar Tube-Wells, Rose Distillation Plant, Implements Repair Workshop, And Service Station Are Successfully Run By The Farmer. In Field Crops The Farmer Has Diversified His Farm With Soybean, Arhar, Cowpea, Horse Gram, Til, Rajmah, Gram, Raya, Berseem Etc.  Organic Farming Of   Desi Wheat C-306 And Basmati Hbc-19 Have Also Been Undertaken On  Buy Back Arrangement With Private Firms.

On Water Management Point Water Cycle Has Been Established, The Bio-Gas Slurry Is Diverted To Fish Pond, Which Helps In Arrangement Of Food For Fish, This Pond Water Is Applied To Field Crops, Thus Nutrient Rich Water Is Applied For The Crops On The Farm. Pucca Water Channels Have Been Constructed Which Helps In Saving Of Water.

In Wheat, Sowing Is Done By Zero Tillage. In Rice, Resource Conservation Techniques Of Bed Planting, Direct Seeding And Transplanting Without Puddling Have Been Also Tried. Pulses Are Grown By Bed Planting Technique To Avoid Damage Of Crops By Stagnation Of Water.

With the creation of interest in farming by KVK, he has come a long way and now has become President of the Progressive Farmers Club of the district.  Keeping in view the progress of farmer and his interest in farming, KVK prepared his proposal for different national, state and district level awards. And he has been conferred upon with the following awards.

i)  Jagjivan Ram Rastriya Kisan Purashkar, 2002 Presented By Sh. Raj Nath Singh, Union Minister Of Agriculture,   Govt. Of India On 16.7.2003. (Citation + Shield + Rs. 1 Lac)

ii) Ch. Charan Singh Siromani Kishan Purashkar, 2002 Presented By Sh. Ajit Singh, Union Minister Of Agriculture, Govt. Of India On 23.12.2002 (Citation + Shield + Turban/ Shawl)

iii) Ch. Devi Lal Kisan Purashkar (Distt. Level) 2001 Presented By Sh. Dhirpal Singh, Minister Of Rural And Urban Development, Govt. Of Haryana On 15.8.2003. (Citation+ Momento + Rs. 25,000).

iv) Ch. Devi Lal Kishan Puraskar (State Level) 2002 Presented By Ch. Om Parkash Chautala, Chief Minister, Haryana On 25.09.2003 (Citation+Momento + Rs.100000)

Following dignitaries have visited his farm for seeing the progress.

i)  Dr. Hardeep Kumar, Director Agriculture, Haryanaii

ii) Dr. V.P. Ahllawat, Director, Horticulture, Haryana

iii) Dr. B.S. Sheoran, Director Fisheries, Haryana

iv) Dr. B.S. Dahiya, Director of Research, CCSHAU, Hisar.

v)  Dr. L.S. Suhag, Director of Extension Education, CCSHAU, Hisar.

vi) Dr. R.K. Malik, Dean, College of Agril. Engg. CCSHAU, Hisar.

vii)Dr. O.P. Rupella, Sr. Scientist, ICRISAT, Hyderabad.

viii)Dr. Mahabir Singh, Dy. Commissioner, Kaithal

ix) J.P.S. Dahiya, Managing Director, Sugar Mill, Kaithal

x)  Dr. R.K. Gupta, Sr. Scientist, CIMMYET, New Delhi

xi) Dr. R.S. Mehla, Addl. Director Agriculture, Haryana

xii) Dr. H.D. Yadav, Assoc. Director (FAS), CCSHAU, Hisar.

xiii) Sh. Rajiv Rajan, Addl. Dy. Commissioner, Kaithal.

xiv) Sh. M. K. Miglani, vice-chancellor, CCSHAU, Hisar

xv) Sh.K.S. Bhoria, Financial Commissioner and Secretary Agriculture.

xvi) Sh. Rajiv Arora, Director, Agriculture.

Different farmers’ groups from West Bengal , Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Punjab  and various districts of Haryana have also visited his farm for seeing the innovative work going on at his farm.

For details Contact:

Chief Scientist-Cum-Head

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kaithal (Haryana)

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Devegarh Farm, New Peoda Road,

Kaithal (Haryana)

Narayan Das,S Improved Agro-Forestry Practices Hailed Him As A Hero

Narayan Das popularly known as ‘Narayani’ is now hailed as a hero in his native village of Itwa, Dharhara Block, in Munger district About seven years ago, while growing Bajra in Kharif and Chick Pea in Rabi, like his father and other in the village, it downed on him that this mundane form of cultivation would lead him nowhere. It was time to shift gears. Not wasting time, he adopted improved agro forestry practice and planted trees in this farm bunds. Today there is no looking back for him as he cashes in on the roaring success of his wise decision.

His First step was to level the land and install a pump for irrigation from the nearby Nalha. Availability of water meant intensive agriculture with three cropping season a year. It also increase the range of crops that he could grow onion, potato tomato and several vegetables. Inspired by training at K.V.K, Munger and meetings and later on with ATMA official, Naryani planted 1000 seedlings of Gmelina arborca on the bunds of his five acre farm in 1996. Another 1000 seedling of Gmelina arborea were added the following year. Seedling were planted in a single row with about 2.0 m. between the plants. Because of irrigation facilities, about 95% of seedling survived.

To minimise shading of the adjacent crop field, lower branches of Gmelina arborea were pruned at the onset of the rainy season. As these trees did not affect the adjacent crop fields, neighbours did not object to having these trees on his field bunds. Narayan jee started harvesting Gmelina for poles in 2001. So far, he has sold about 1000 poles. A pole from a 40 months old Gmelina tree which can be used for making farm implements fetches Rs. 120/- Poles from trees older than 50 months fetches about Rs.150/- and are used for house construction. Farmers from nearby villages and traders from the Tehsil come to his farm to buy the poles. The branches and broken trunks are sold as firewood at the rate of Rs.2.00 per kg while the foliage is fed to cow and goats in the household. His total income from Gmelina so far is about Rs. 1,30,000/- and he has another 800 trees left in the field.

Contact for more details:

Sri. Narayan Das, Itwa,

Dharhara, Munger,

or Project Director,ATMA

ATMA Office,

Near: Collectorate Building,Fort Area,

Munger - 811 201 (Bihar) INDIA.

Phone : 91 - 6344 – 226607

Landless labourer from Bihar becomes a successful mushroom farmer

This post is about a simple village woman, Lalmuni Devi of Azadnagar village in Patna district. She was just a labourer but today she is a successful farmer. So successful in fact that this semi-literate woman from Bihar is among top 25 Asian farmers today. She was just a daily wage earner but when she turned to mushroom farming after she was taught the skill under a programme conducted by the Indian Council of Agriculture and Research (ICAR), she made it! The fact that she was successful inspite of owning no land of her own is very creditable. Even more creditable, she invested just Rs 500 and started out by growing mushrooms in her own house! And that too by using her own unique and original farming methods.

Her success brought her recognition. As the article in The Tribune says:Today her name figures among the top 25 Asians in Mexican Gallery of the CIMMYT, a well known Mexico based institute engaged largely in research for improvement of maize and wheat crops….Lalmuni says that she uses balls of wheat husks and rotten hay to grow mushrooms. Packed in polythene bags, the balls are arranged in rows under her thatched roof which nourish the oyster mushroom shoots in humid setting…

Mushroom farming is not easy. As this article explains:

Today her name figures among the top 25 Asians in Mexican Gallery of the CIMMYT, a well known Mexico based institute engaged largely in research for improvement of maize and wheat crops….Lalmuni says that she uses balls of wheat husks and rotten hay to grow mushrooms. Packed in polythene bags, the balls are arranged in rows under her thatched roof which nourish the oyster mushroom shoots in humid setting…

Between 1993 and 1998 at least 35 companies, including the Tatas, the Thapars, and Hindustan Lever, got into the business of mushroom farming. But within 5 years all the 35 companies have closed down. The reasons are not difficult to fathom. Mushroom farming in the first place is a 20-hour job in a day. Secondly, unless one is passionately involved in the cultivation of mushrooms, it is an uphill task to survive in this venture.

Lalmuni cannot dream of becoming a millionnaire. She has hardly any land to call her own. That is probably why she is being ignored by the Bihar government. But while Lalmuni may be making small amounts of money, today she can be proud of the fact that she has been internationally recognised as a successful farmer…and that makes her a role model for other women.

Intelligence shines everywhere, whether it is in the classrooms, in the jungles or in the fields. However it is those who shine in the classrooms who tend to walk away with tag ‘intelligent.’ But top academic honours only show one aspect of intelligence.

We shouldn’t be too surprised about the fact that even though Lalmuni has got international recognition for her work, she hasn’t got an awards from the Indian government. This inspite of the fact that agriculture and agro-based industries have been identified as critical in improving the economic scenario in Bihar. Lalmuni should in fact be invited to various forums by the Bihar government so that she can guide and inspire other people. Lalmuni’s story is inspiring, and already 22 other women from her village have taken up mushroom farming.

Ofcourse, Lalmuni cannot achieve what rich farmers like Malwinder Bhinder who own large tracts of land have achieved. He is making a lot of money from mushroom farming. after investing over Rs 6 crore! Today Bhinder grows mushrooms round the year and is exporting to western markets as that is where the money lies.

Gmed- Mango Industry Development Program

It has been a great leap forward for some of the very small tribal farmers of Gujarat and Maharashtra that the mangoes grown by them have found takers in the markets of England, Germany and Japan. It was not possible one year ago when they had only local mandi to sell his produce where he was at the mercy of the local vendors to decide the price of his produce irrespective of the quality of his produce. This change has not happened in one day but is the result of an intensive development program to link small holder mango farmers of India with the commercial value chains.

ACDI- VOCA, a Washington, D.C. based international development consulting group a non- profit organization is managing the India Growth - Oriented Micro- Enterprise Development Program (GMED). This program is sponsored by United State Agency for International  Development  (USAID) . GMED started its functioning in India around three years back in the fields of urban services and agribusiness. The agribusiness component is focused primarily on improving growth prospects for small and marginal farmers. The GMED program has adopted a value chain approach to fostering growth opportunities for small farmers. This is done by entering into partnerships with larger firms and NGOs that provide embedded business development services to the farmer. Instead of traditional donor approach of  providing training and other business development services directly to small farmers, GMED concentrates on training its partners’ field extension agents to provide these services. This helps ensure that when the GMED program ends, the services will continue.

In this direction GMED initiated Mango Industry Development Program in 2006 with the specific goals of increasing the capacity of smallholder mango farmers to become reliable suppliers to exporters and domestic organized retail buyers, to assist in linking them to exporters and organized retail buyers and to help improve overall efficiency of Indian mango supply chains. As a first step, a value chain assessment of Indian mango industry was done to identify significant management and technological gaps in the Indian mango value chains through personal observation and interviews with all the important stakeholders. And then started the search for the partner organizations for the implementation of this project. After consultation with several industry players, we zeroed upon a very reputed NGO of India who is working for the development tribal farmers of India for the last several decades. In the tribal belts of  Maharashtra and Gujarat tribal farmers have been helped by this organization to establish a mango orchard on one acre of land by giving them planting material and some inputs to establish this orchard in the initial years. What started as a humble exercise some years ago is today a strong 20,000 acres of mango plantations throughout Gujarat and Maharashtra

Predominantly of commercial mango variety, Kesar which has a very good demand in domestic and international market today. After setting the intended objectives GMED signed a mutually agreeable MOU with  this organization. It was essential to carry out a baseline survey of their farmers to understand their problems which revealed that although a substantial no. of mango orchards have been established but the productivity of these plantations was very low as the farmer was not aware of any orchard management technique, even the very basic operations like manuring and plant basin making were missing. So it was decided to organize three clusters of mango farmers of around 200 farmers and their extension agents in Gujarat and Maharashtra who will be trained by GMED consultants on all the aspects of modern orchard management practices on a full production cycle of one year. The idea was to form a model of efficient extension and orchard management practices which can be replicated to all the 20,000 acres of mango plantations.

GMED recruited a full time consultant to co-ordinate this program and also hired a Mango expert on intermittent basis who is a scientist with Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow which is a nodal agency for development of mango industry in India. After assessment of mango orchards of this group of farmers a work plan was formulated and a series of training programs were conducted by GMED team of consultants for these farmers and extension agents. They were given training on different aspects of mango cultivation like soil and water management, nursery management, disease and pest management, post harvest management, sorting, grading and packing etc. throughout the last year both in the classroom and practically in the field. After working for one year with these clusters there is tremendous improvement in the general health of the plant due to efficient nutrient management and less disease and pest infestation resulting in increase in quality and productivity of mango.

As has been mentioned earlier that a major objective of GMED program has been to assist smallholder fruit and vegetable growers in linking with organized retail  buyers and exporters. It is a general perception of all the organized buyers of the industry that small and marginal farmers can never be the reliable suppliers to the retail chains and exporters. It took GMED a lot of effort to convince the largest mango exporter of Indian mangoes to European markets in Mumbai to start procuring Kesar mangoes from these tribal farmers, after months of continuous dialogue he visited the orchards of these farmers in Gujarat and Maharashtra and made advance payment to the farmer co-operative to start procurement of fresh mangoes for European markets from this area. Fruit samples were tested for pesticide residues and other standard quality checks. Exporters’ staff helped farmers in sorting and grading for export market at their farm level and around five tonnes of fresh Kesar mangoes have been exported this year to European supermarkets from these tribal belts  paving way for a substantial exports of fresh mangoes in the next season thus proving GMED view of linking small and marginal farmers with the commercial value chains. The learning of this program is now been extended to all the 20,000 tribal mango farmers of  Gujarat and Maharashtra. 

This is just a small beginning towards what GMED wants to achieve in improving Indian mango value chains as they are now planning to extend this program to many more farmers of different states of the country and roping in domestic and international organized retail businesses to support this initiative. Also in the pipeline is the development of Eurepgap certified mango farms small and marginal farmers and formulation of  good agricultural practices for Indian mangoes.

For more details contact:

Mr. Mir, 71/42,

International Competence Center for Organic Agricuture

Madhyam Marg

Agrawal Farm,Mansarovar

Jaipur-302020, M:09312725432

Email:mir@de-mir.com

Value Addition Leads To ‘No Tension Agriculture’

A hectare fetches the farmer a gross income of Rs. 2 lakhs in 10 months

There are two ways in agriculture for a farmer to earn money. One is by growing and selling the harvested crop, second is to go in for some value added products.

Farmers are encouraged by scientists to try and explore value addition technology areas as it enhances the marketability of the produce.

Compared to selling the raw harvested produce, value addition requires more financial inputs, proper guidelines, and backup technologies to ensure success.

Mr. Shanker Kishore Chaudhary, a progressive small scale farmer of Vaishali district,Bihar, is a farmer who cultivates elephant foot yam (commonly called as Ool in North India) in his three-acre field.

Different recipes

Without stopping with just growing the tuber crop, he has also taken up value added products by creating 33 different varieties of recipes from it such as sweets, pickle, mouth-freshner, and brewing powders similar to the tea.

Elephant foot yam is a tuber crop commonly used as a vegetable and for preparation of pickles and sauce.

The tuber is commonly called as Jimikand or Ool in North India, Sooran in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Kand in Andhra Pradesh, Karnai Kilangu in Tamil Nadu and Suwarnagatti in Karnataka, it is cultivated all over the country.

“This value addition has increased the marketability and has demonstrated immense product potentials of this tuber,” said R. Ramadhar, Chairman, Bihar State Farmers Commission, Patna.

Mr. Chaudhary grows the crop in his field and also takes the lands of other farmers on rent for raising the crop.

“I normally harvest 50-60 tonnes from a hectare of land and earn a gross income of Rs. 2 lakhs in about 10 months.

“The average cost of cultivation in a hectare works out to Rs 1.30 lakhs, ensuring per hectare net profit of Rs 70,000, which is much more than from any other competing crop,” he said.

More income

He has also been growing intercrops such as rajma, pea, ladies finger and banana. “Intercropping further brings me a profit of some Rs. 15,000-20,000 per hectare,” said Mr. Chaudhary.

The crop is generally sown in pits. A tuber of 0.25kg-0.5 kg should be sown in a pit at a distance of 75x75 cms.

If the seed tuber is of bigger size, it can be cut into pieces but each piece must have a bud. Some 6.5-9 tonnes of seed tubers are needed for planting in one hectare.

Fertilizer requirement

It is recommended to use 3 kgs farm yard manure, 10 gm urea, 37.5 gm single super phosphate and 10 gm potash in each pit before sowing.

The seed tuber should be immersed for 15-20 minutes in a solution of 1 litre of water with 2-5 gms emisan and half a gm of streptocycline.

Three months after sowing, 20 gms ammonium sulphate or 10 gms urea should be applied in each pit.

Interculture

The crop was found to be affected by Phytophthora leaf blight infestation which is a fatal disease and application of Dithane M-45 (0.25 per cent) was found effective in reducing its occurrence.

“Bihar is self-sufficient in Ool production at present and there is a good demand for the produce especially in Uttar Pradesh. As a result, marketing is not a problem,” said Mr. Ramadhar.

Marketing support

A number of farmers in the state have adopted Ool farming as a means to supplement their income. Mr. Choudhary provides marketing support to the other yam farmers at a margin of 5 -10 per cent through contract farming.

“Besides the contract agreements between Mr. Choudhary and the farmers, there are individual farmers who have taken up Ool cultivation and sell the products to local traders,” said Mr. Ramadhar.

Mr. Chaudhary calls Ool cultivation “no tension agriculture” as it requires no cold storage, poses no marketing problem, and the income is good.

For more information’s readers can contact

Mr. Ramadhar, Chairman,

Bihar State Farmers Commission,

Pant Bhawan, 1st Floor,

Bailey Road, Patna- 800001,

e-mail : ramadhar@vsnl.com and kisanayog@gmail.com,

phone : 0612-2206169 and 2232847,

(Soure: The Hindu).

Campaign For Success Of ‘Orchard & Forestry’ Growers

Success Story On Forestry

Group And Linkage Formation’-Campaign For Success Of ‘Orchard & Forestry’ Growers

Shri Dhananjay Singh of Paharpur village in Haveli Kharagpur Block, developed a mango orchard in consultation with Bihar Agriculture College, Sabour starting with 8 acres of land alongwith Sesam forestry in another 10 ha. In 1978. By the year 2002, he had developed a complex of 40 acres of orchards of mango, Sesam, Sagwan together with Lemon, Guava, Awala, Kathal, Litchi, Chiku (Sapatu)., Jamun and Papaya.

By this time his Sesam trees had reached timber value and fruit trees had started bearing fruits. There was a dearth of good buyers as the village was quite away from Kharagpur-Munger road in foothills. He was not able to sell his timber and fruits in good price. Being an educated, enthusiastic and energetic youth he associated himself with Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Munger and subsequently to ATMA, Munger.

Project Director, ATMA, Munger visited his village and orchard cum forest complex and understood his problem.

First of all ATMA  helped him in developing landscape and plantation pattern individually and asked him to motivate his co-villagers engaged in orchard farming to form groups. A linkage was established with timber merchants and these villagers. These villagers were informed about the problems of Sesam growing and told to diversify in timber trees.

Impact:

Tree growing groups have been formed. The timber buyer and fruit contractors started visiting this village and farmers are getting competitive prices of their produce. Villagers are ready to share their knowledge regarding problems and hazards of orchard growing. These villagers come in contact with different agricultural centres through their leaders and adopt suggestion and recommendations of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Block Agriculture Officer, District Agriculture Officer, District Horticulture Officer, etc. The purchaser were induced to reach the village for bulk purchase of fruits as well as timber and truckloads of these produce starting being transported to different markets. Now the village are getting good money out of it.

Possibility of Replication & Future Implications:

The so called ‘Daha Kshetra’, where after rains the foothills observes vast flow of water are finding this experiment as an eye opener. More and more villagers of Block and adjoining Blocks of other side of hill have visited his site and have started developing similar orchards.

This kind of tree growing can save soil erosion. It can enhance the ecological balance also. It can lead to timber industry in the area as well as fruit processing units in the vicinity. Coming up of these secondary industry may provide more of employment opportunities in local area.

For details Contact

Project Director,ATMA

ATMA Office,

Near:CollectorateBuildingFortArea

Munger - 811 201 (Bihar) INDIA.

Phone : 91 - 6344 – 226607.

Fruits of labour: Technocrat a ferro-alloy unit and a confectionery to a thriving orchard owner

Fruits of labour

From a ferro-alloy unit and a confectionery to a thriving orchard,these brothers have made it

The island of green stands out in the barren landscape. Well planted. It is the only patch of vegetation in the rolling waste-lands of Kharagpur. Not only is it the first fruit and vegetable farm in the region but it is also the only one to produce mausambis (Citrus sinemsis) in West Bengal

Planned and developed by the Mahapatra brothers of Kharagpur, the plantation at Choto Ayoma village is showing the way to hundreds of farmers and landowners who had no idea what to do with their land.

In 1987 the four brothers gathered for their youngest brother's marriage at Panskura in Midnapore.

That was when the eldest, Madhu, mooted the idea of starting their own company.

The four--Madhusudan, 50, the eldest, a metallurgist; Nilratan, 46, a hotel management expert; Kalobaran, 42, a diploma-holder form the Hotel Catering & Institution Management, London, and Dev Nandan, 39, a commerce graduate--all had good jobs. Madhu was production manager in a refractories company, Nilratan ran the canteen of a Swedish concern in Calcutta, Kalobaran managed a Ramada Inn hotel in Switzerland and Dev was general manager of the Doha unit of Avis rent-a-car in the Middle-East.

Banking on Madhu's experience in metallurgy, the brothers pooled their savings and opened a ferro-alloy unit at Panskura.

It took them two years and Rs 35 lakh to commission the plant. Their product, ferro-silica , was much in demand and they never had to develop a market. By hard work they overcame start-up problems to attain capacity production of one tonne of ferro-silica a day in 1992.

Dev gave up his job in Dohaand joined the business.

But their luck ran out when they encountered labour trouble. Their raw material from Bihar was being unloaded by the transporters' coolies. Then the local CITU unit started pressuring the brothers to hire local coolies even though it would mean paying extra.

The brothers refused. One day a belligerent mob turned violent and attacked Madhu and Kalobaran in the factory. They were beaten up and would have been seriously injured but for the presence of a local bus driver who saved their lives.

The rampaging mob destroyed the furnace, the transformer and office equipment and the Mahapatras lost their dream project.

Disheartened, the brothers decided to go back to their regular jobs and would have done so but for the intervention of their wives: Pratima, Jayashri, Dola and Geeta, who were made of sterner stuff. They coaxed the brothers back into business.

Bitten by the entrepreneur bug, the brothers did not take much prodding. Only this time, relying on Nilratan and Kalobaran's expertise in hotel management, they chose to try their hand at confectionery.

For that they relocated to Kharagpur in 1992 and started producing cakes, pastries and patties under the brand name of Little Sisters. While Madhu took charge of overall administration, Dev handled the finances.

Within a year the Little Sisters products became popular in the local markets. Today their products have all but replaced big names in Midnapore and the brothers are happy. They have maintained a price edge and quality control has brought them new customers with every passing day.

About two years ago the brothers decided to diversify.

"Ours is a joint family," said Nilratan. "We are four brothers and we have three sons and two daughters." So they asked themselves: "Should we keep all our eggs in one basket?"

While they kept a lookout for opportunities Kalobaran happened to attend a seminar on wasteland management at the IIT, Kharagpur. There he met Dr Vishnubhotla Dakshinamurthy, 69, a citrusexpert, who had turned arid regions of Andhra Pradesh into fruitful plantations. Kalobaran showed Dakshinamurthy the brothers' one acre and a half-plot of land near the IIT campus at Choto Ayoma village and Dakshinamurthy took a handful of soil for laboratory testing.

His report was: "Go ahead with your project. This land is suitable for growing citrus fruits, particularly mausambis."

Dakshinamurthy advised the brothers to purchase more wasteland close to their plot. Once the brothers demonstrated the viability of growing citrus fruits land would be in demand as local farmers tried to copy their success.

By the end of that year the brothers had purchased 48.5 acres . Out of funds, the brothers went about their plan in phases. They got a deep tube well dug manually, which cost them Rs 1.5 lakh.

"Time was not important, money was," Kalobaran told The Week. Once much of the basic infrastructure was ready the brothers got IIT faculty members to help them prepare their project report. They would need a whopping Rs 48 lakh to start up.

Convincing banks to part with money for their unlikely venture was something the brothers had not bargained for. All the banks they approached refused a loan. But one bank relented when the brothers got a certificate from the IIT stating that the project was indeed viable.

With that loan they bought 5,000 saplings of the best variety of Mausambi from Kudur in Andhra Pradesh. They also acquired 8,000 teak saplings, 1,000 coconut palms, 150 mango, 5,000 banana and 150 pomegranate saplings.

For security they raised a six-foot high wall along the perimeter of their holding.

It takes three to four years for a mausambi tree to yield its quota of 1,000 to 1,200 fruits a year. The trees normally bear twice a year, in June and December. The Mahapatra brothers completed planting their saplings by September 1994.

With monthly overheads of Rs 25,000 the brothers started intercropping with vegetables between the rows of fruit trees to defray the daily operating expenses.

Today 40 hands work the plantation and the blooming orchard offers a lesson in perseverance for other farmers and businessmen in the area.

In December 1996 the brothers got one lakh mausambis from trees that were a little more than two years old. And each one of them was bigger than a tennis ball. But they will have to wait till 1998 to get the full crop of fruit.

If everything goes as per schedule we expect at least 50 lakh mausambis from 5,000 trees, which will weigh almost 1,000 tonnes," said Kalobaran.

The average annual offtake of mausambis in the West Bengal market is 6,000 tonnes but not even one tonne is grown in the state," said Dev. The state imports the fruit from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra

According to Dev, the fruit is transported by road and the average cost of bringing it to Bengal is approximately Rs 15,000 per truck.

Our target is to capture 15 to 17 per cent of the market to start with, " he said. "Our fruit will be cheaper and in quality there is no doubt that it is comparable with that grown in other states."

Meanwhile, the plantation has become a favourite stop for amazed visitors. It attracts hundreds of eager farmers and businessmen. "Almost every day contact us and visit the plantation to learn the tricks of the trade," said Nilratan.

Haldia Petroleum,HindustanLever and the Salua Air Force base authorities have requested the brothers to help them set up similar ventures.

Mindful of the need to adopt modern methods, the Mahapatra brothers are setting up a high-tech tissue culture laboratory and a greenhouse in the orchard.

"It will cost us around Rs 1.25 crore," said Dev. "But this time the bank loan is not a problem." In fact four banks are vying to help.

(Souce :Pugmarks InterWeb Pvt. Ltd)

IndiaCorporate Office:

Pugmarks InterWeb Pvt. Ltd.
SCO 343-345, Sector 34-A,

Chandigarh- 160 022,India,

Phone:91-172-2622753, Fax: 91-172-2645906
 Email: chd@pugmarks.com).

Source: Tapash Ganguly,The Week Newspaper.

Amelioration of economic condition through SHG

Success Story of Binapani SHG,Baranga

Estimated Cost :2.50 Lakhs Scheme : S.G.S.Y.

Year : 2002-03 Name of the Executing Agency : BDO,Baranga

Salient Features
Location
1. State Orissa
2. District Cuttack
3. Block Baranga
4. GP Sribantpur
5. Village Fulapokhari
6. No. of Villagers Benefited 20 families of the Village

For more details Contact: 
1. State Orissa
2. District Cuttack
3. Block Baranga
4. GP Sribantpur
5. Village Fulapokhari

ulpokhari is a rural Village of Sribantpur GP of Barang Block, Orissa situated 3 Kms from ‘Nandan Kanan’. 20 families of this village potter by caste were living miserably due to wide use of silver utensils. Being inspired by TV news and officials, 13 BPL families formed an SHG named ‘Binapani SHG’ to ameliorate their economic condition. An amount of Rs. 2,50,000/- was sanctioned to the group after proper gradation having subsidy linkage of Rs. 1,25,000/- under Terrakota scheme. Their products are highly appreciable in the State level, District level markets and also in the exhibitions outside the state. They are now earning an average of Rs. 4000/- to Rs. 5000/- per month per beneficiary. Also they have repaid an amount of Rs. 70,000/- towards their Bank loan. The group is a symbol of cohesive, collective and security unit rendering untiring efforts for the ultimate economic empowerment of women in rural area.

Multicropping, self-help are the best help

The farmer gets more than Rs. 4 lakhs as gross income per year

M.J. Prabu

Multicropping system and some diversified activities in a farm go a long way in de-risking the loss faced by farmers who stick to mono cropping.

The advantage with multicropping and some other allied activities such as dairy, poultry, and vermicompost units is that even if there is an unexpected loss from one of the crops, the income from one of the crops, the income from the others will help the farmer to make up for it.

Mr. T.J. Abraham of Kozhikode was mainly a monocrop farmer who was growing about 500 areca nut palms in his 8-acre land. When a majority of the trees started to die due to yellow leaf infestations, Mr. Abraham approached the Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the Indian Institute of Spices, (IISR) Kozhikode, for help.

Reasonable income

He was advised to cut off severely affected palms and replant with seedlings collected from disease-free areas and to start multiple cropping systems, in order to realise reasonable income and also overcome fluctuating prices.

Accordingly, he planted banana, cocoa, vegetables, vanilla, and pepper. On the boundary of his farm, a live fence of pathimukham, (its wood is highly valued for its natural dye) was also raised.

In about 5 years, his farm income increased, and he is at present able to get a gross annual income of about Rs. 4.47 lakh from the various activities in the farm.

“When I began to intensify farming, I found that non-availability of quality planting materials was a major problem. So I thought of starting a commercial plant nursery,” he said.

He started producing quality planting materials of various crops and slowly became a reliable source of planting materials to other farmers of the locality and districts.

His nursery flourished and with reasonable margin of profit he was able to realise a net profit of around Rs. 50,000 annually. Seeing his success, a number of rural youth and women are coming forward to start similar nurseries.

Planting materials

Since he was able to produce quality-planting materials and sell them at affordable rates to farmers, the Department of Agriculture, Government of Kerala, declared his unit as the first Government approved nursery in the district.

“I was using chemical pesticides and fertilizers in my farm without giving much importance to organic manures. Even though it was effective for a short period, in the long run I found that I was unable to sustain the yield levels.

Organic farming

“realizing the benefits of organic farming, I formed a young farmers’ SHG (self help group) for organic farming, and as a first step towards organic farming I was trained invermicomposting and coirpith composting,” he said.

He started a vermin compost unit with financial assistance of Coconut Development Board, Kochi, and at present he is manufacturing about 10 tonnes of vermin compost annually.

Since this was not sufficient to meet his full requirement, he started converting coir pith in the locality into quality compost using a fungus culture arranged from the Central Coir Research Institute, Alappuzha. In the first year, he produced about four tones of coirpith compost by this method.

He also started a biogas unit which provides biogas for domestic consumption and slurry for his farm. He found that slaughterhouse waste, which is supplied free by the nearby slaughter units, is ideal for production of biogas along with cow dung.

Bio-control agent

He has about 300 black pepper vines in this farm. Phytophthora foot rot was a major disease that infested the crop and the recommended practice of application of chemical pesticides was not fully effective to control the disease.

To solve the problem, a bio-control agent named trichoderma was used in his fields. “This was effective in reducing the disease incidence in my plot and many farmers are now adopting trichoderma application to manage the disease,” he said.

Herbal garden

He has also started a herbal garden and was awarded financial assistance of Rs. 90,000 by the National Medicinal Plant Board.

For More Information Readers Can Contact

Mr. T.J. Abraham

Thevarkottayil House,

Avadukka (P.O.),

Kozhikode-673 528, Kerala

Phone: 0496-2668355 and 2669053

Moneylender-free-Villages

A Vision For The Future From The Marathwada Gramin Bank.

By Harishchandra Sukhdeve, Chairman, Marathwada Gramin Bank

An expert on rainwater harvesting addressing SHG members during a Workshop of the Moneylender-Free Villages Project

Can we ever free villagers in India from the clutches of the moneylender? The answer is an emphatic "yes"! In fact this is already happening in under the Moneylender-free Village (MLFV) pilot project of the Marathwada Gramin Bank (MGB) in the Nanded district of Maharashtra State. Introduced in April 2004, nine villages were selected on the basis of Self Help Group (SHG) penetration. The main objective of the project is to replace the non-institutional, usurious, exploitative rural credit mechanism of private lending with lending through SHGs and direct lending by the MGB.

The Reality

The concepts of social control on banks were introduced to the Indian banking sector with a view to extend credit to all, particularly poor people, at affordable costs and to reduce the nuisance of private money lending. In 1977, the Regional Rural Banks were established with the sole aim of strengthening the rural credit delivery system so as to substantially reduce, if not completely eradicate, the reliance on private borrowing by farmers and other villagers.

But after 28 years, when we look back, we find that the situation has not changed much. Villagers continue to reel under indebtedness from institutional as well as non institutional financers. Farmers are becoming increasingly ineligible for institutional credit because of a plethora of rules. As a result they are driven to private moneylenders who exploit them to the hilt.

The Concept

The concept of MLFV is simple. Under this initiative, SHGs act as an extension of the MGB to reach out to villagers in even the remotest locations. One of the main reasons why banks have not been able to reach more villagers is physical limitations and the cost of operations to maintain small accounts. The SHGs offer a most powerful, cost effective and yet democratic and transparent model for rural financing, by serving as intermediaries between banks and farmers to extend rural credit and replace the private moneylender.

The Methodology

The MGB has adopted a simple strategy for strengthening the SHGs. First it nurtured the SHGs to become strong through their own contributions. This is followed by offering them a small line of credit for internal lending, and enlisting volunteers, especially women, to promote the SHGs. Later, the MGB increases lines of credit available to more SHGs, and encourages them to lend to villagers for urgent needs, when bank formalities would normally cause them to seek the services of moneylenders. The MGB prepares a village credit plan for institutional lending to villagers where banks are available, continuously monitors the functioning of SHGs through meetings, orientation camps, and experience sharing workshops, and arranges for vocational training and exposure to NGOs. Throughout this process, progress is periodically reviewed. The first such review took place on 17th September, 2004 in a joint workshop for all the leaders of the SHGs, volunteers from the local farmers club, NGOs and experts in social engineering. In addition, the Chairman holds meetings in the respective villages to get ground level feedback from the villagers.

The Success Story

Thanks to the SHGs and a motivated village volunteer, Smt. Vijaya Dhurandhare, one of the villages under pilot project, Sathewadi, declared itself free from moneylenders on 18th October, 2004. The entire village participates in SHGs; at least one person from each family is a member. There are now 28 SHGs in this tiny village of 1,500 people. They have so far mobilized over Rs.480,000 (US$11,000) in savings. The MGB has extended more than Rs. one million (US$23,000) to the SHGs. The village women and youth borrow from the SHGs to pursue their vocations, businesses and agricultural operations, and no longer rely on private moneylenders for any financial requirements. It is now a moneylender-free village.

The Potentia

The MLFV project can be extended to make villages self reliant in terms of employment, the economy and infrastructure by:

Establishing forward and backward linkages for the production and marketing of products which do not require high-end technology and heavy investments; there are many products which have a huge rural market and which can be produced in the villages with little training, such as cloth, stationery items, and simple household goods of daily use. Different SHGs from the same village or cluster of villages can undertake a particular group activity so that they do not have to rely on outside agencies to supply raw material or market their finished goods.

Offering vocational training for self employment within the villages. For example, the youth and male workers from Sathewadi village did not have to harvest sugar cane crops this year because of employment availability due to increased economic activity within their own village.

Encouraging collective farming through SHGs to achieve the scales of economy and to ensure better utilization of natural resources, especially water and land; water management and social forestry as a collective village scheme.

Involving more partners from social engineering groups to train village health workers in sanitation, hygiene and first aid.

The Scope

The MLFV project has immense potential for replication because the SHG movement has grown strong in India. India's National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is extending excellent support to several agencies, and there are some 3,024 partners involved in this silent yet powerful revolution.

Today, there are about 60,000 rural, semi-urban and urban branches of scheduled commercial banks of which only 35,500 branches actually participate in the SHG-Bank Linkage programme. If these 60,000 bank branches participated, the results would be tremendous. There are about 600,000 villages in India. If each branch adopted one village a year for four years, all 600,000 villages could be reached. Thus all the rural households of India could be brought under the umbrella of the banking sector and relieved of the curse of private borrowing.

Win-Win For Beneficiary - Bank - NGO

Puthiya Roja women SHG was formed in Pudukudi village of Kancheepuram District. The group members underwent training program on NAF modern dairy cattle management under MEDP training program supported by NABARD.

The members availed economic assistance group loan to the tune of Rs.3.90 lakhs for the milch animal activity from Indian Overseas Bank, chunampet. The group will avail a second dose of milch animal after six months. This will enable them of a sustainable livelihood with in three to five years.

The members felt that the training helped them in breed selection, feeding and maintenance, importance of vaccination and deworming and clean milk production.

The group had set up milk collection center in their respective villages manned by one of the SHG members. These centers were linked with centralized monitoring system autonomously run by all SHG to ensure transparent cum timely payment and prompt return of bank loan.

The other groups(facilitated by various NGO) benefited out of our training are Jansi rani Women SHG, Kannagi Women SHG, Annai Teresa Women SHG and Thillaiadi valliyammi Women SHG of Vedal village in Kancheepuram District(Under Economic Assistance scheme of DRDA to the tune of 8.0 lakhs).

The follow up support services of NAF is extended to the groups in the areas like animal insurance, veterinary support services and monitoring of their project in liaison with the bank.

It is a win win situation for people and bank through the efforts of NAF supported by NABARD in changing the fortunes of hundreds of rural families.

For details contact:

Center For Rural Development

National Agro Foundation376/1, Illedu village
Cheyyur Taluk
Kancheepuram District - 603 401
Tamil Nadu, India
Phone : +914115-27545800
Email : naf.cfrd@gmail.com.

Micro Finance a boon fpr Mahalaxmi Farmer group

Mahalaxmi SHG group Dhodagoan…….! Establishmen of  Haller Mill  & Running successfully

Dhodagaon is a village selected in pilot phase of the programme. It is situated 15 km from block headquarter Dharamjaigarh in Raigarh distt. Mahalaxmi is a SHG formed in this village.

This group started group work in the from of collective cultivation of groundnut, then they gradually took up preparation of mid day meal in the village school and trading of readymade cloths.

The group gained confidence in group activity and decided to install a hauller mill to get rid of monopoly and excess of a merchant. However they did not have sufficient resources to purchase the hauller mill which was costing Rs. 26000/-. They persuaded Village Credit Committee (VCC) of Dhodagaon and Amaljharia village and took a loan of Rs. 20000/- from them and used their own savings and seed capital and finally installed hauller mill.

Within two years they have already repaid the loan and have earned a profit of Rs. 32865/-.

For more details Contact:

Chhattisgarh Tribal Development ProgrammeE- 7-8, Sector - 5, Devendra Nagar, Raipur (C.G.).
Ph: +91  771 - 2582273, 4044519,

Fax: +91 0771 - 2582273,

E-mail - cjtdp@yahoo.com

Group Formation’ – An Inherent Factor In The Success Of Organic Basmati Rice Production

Name    :      Aditya Kumar

Address :     Bekapur, Munger

Shri Aditya Kumar, an Master in Agriculture having chucked his job as Field Officer (Quality) is running a venture in Organic Basmati rice producer as a ‘contract farmer’ for the last five years. Mr. Kumar with a sound agriculture background in terms of his education as well as his family and holding, was not able to make much profit in terms of production and increase in area.

He was able to increase the area of cultivation from 132.5 ha. To 500 ha. in the year 2002. He has dispatched over thousand quintals of paddy to the purchaser in the year 2002. Mr. Kumar was sent to various tours and training Programmes through ATMA, Munger to different places.

He was identified by ATMA, Munger in the year 2001 and briefed about ‘Group Formation’. ATMA, Munger suggested him certain principles to work on with. He was trained to go for Group formation in different villages and making group leaders as their seed distributor cum produce collector. These group leaders became his key contact persons for each and every affair of his endeavor.

This increase in area, coupled with meticulous planning of supervisors (group leaders) and opening of seed distribution cum collection centre has brought a desired cut in logistical expenditure and enhanced his profitability for the entrepreneurs. Formation of groups in different villages has given him authenticity and credibility. Thus, in this season there has been tremendous acceptance towards his cultivation.

Lessons and Inferences:

    1.     Group Formation

            a)      Enhanced gave authenticity and credibility to the entrepreneurs.

            b)      Paved the way for congregation. Small & marginal farmers participated in larger numbers.

            c)      Brought a drastic cut in logistic expenditure.

            d)      Saved time for communicating individual farmers at various places.

            e)      It broadened the roots in other villages.

Possibility of Replication & Future Implications:

1. For some other newer crops this could well be replicated.
2. People have started delving into market-oriented production apart from their Subsistence share.
3. It becomes easier to enhance the authenticity and credibility of the new entrant.
4. It may enhance diversification of agro-produce in the region.
5. It could lead to produce another contract farmer on similar product

For Further Information: 
Project Director Agricultural Technology Management Agency (Atma) 
Near: Collector Ate Office, Fort Area, Po+Dist: Munger,Pin: 811 201 (Bihar) 
Ph: 06344 – 226607,  Fax: 228067/222254,
Mail To:  Pd_Atammunger@Yahoo.Co.In

Path-Breaking Move To Take Up Vegetable Cultivation And Inspire Hundreds Of Women To Take It Up For Livelihood

Another poor woman from Bihar has made her state proud with her dedication, commitment and willpower.

Ragini Devi, from Balthi Rasoolpur village in Muzaffarpur district, has been chosen as 'India's first Asadharan Mahila (unusual woman)' for her path-breaking move to take up vegetable cultivation and inspire hundreds of women to take it up as a means of livelihood.

The 42-year-old Ragini Devi will inaugurate an international woman's conference along with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on Friday. She will light the inaugural lamp along with Kalam and share the dais with the president - a rare chance for a woman from her background - during the two-day conference.

She was chosen for the award by New Delhi-based Grassroots magazine. Ashwani Kumar, district convenor of the NGO Sansarg, said Ragini Devi had joined Sansarg five years ago to work in her village for women's empowerment. 'She started vegetable cultivation in her village and inspired dozens to earn their livelihood through her initiative,' Kumar said. 

Ragini Devi's move to take up vegetable cultivation made her a household name in Bochhan block in Muzaffarpur. 'Thanks to her, vegetables, which were cultivated at a small level a few years ago, are now sent to different places across India and exported too,' Kumar said. 

And Ragini Devi is alone credited for all the success.

For more details contact:

Centre for Communication Resources Development (CENCORED

Dr. Binod Kr. Sinha (Executive Director)

Shyama Bhavan, West Boring Canal Road Patna Bihar-800001ive Director)

PH. NO: 0612-264858, Email : sansarg@dte.vsnl.net.in

Secret of Success of Mr. Raghu :a Landless farmer

Secret of Success

A landless farmer Mr Raghu had leased about 1 ½ acres of land at Padirivedu village. He normally cultivates crops like paddy and groundnut in his own way. Watermelon is another crop wherein he will make some money which was not sure as there is steep fluctuation in the market. At that time, he became a member of men SHG promoted by NAF. He also underwent Training program on Technology Based Agriculture conducted by NAF under EDP training program of NABARD for two days.

His total perception on farming changed after he attended the training program. In his own words "I was not knowing on the crops which are in demand in the market, the importance of soil fertility improvement to maximize the productivity and scientific methods of pest and disease management until I attended the training program". I opted for cultivation of muskmelon as advised by NAF. I got the hybrid seeds, got my soil tested and applied the exact balance of nutrients what I need to apply.

I got an yield of 7.5 tons in two harvests with a gross income of Rs.42,000/-. I spent about Rs.10,000/- on the whole. I got a profit of 32,000/- from 90 cents in 60 days. I have product worth Rs.5000/- still in my field for third harvest.

My success has enthused my neighbour farmer to adopt for crop diversification and technology based agriculture. I am confident more and more farmers would opt for such change in my SHG as well as my village

I owe my success to the training program which was a turning point in my farming life. My sincere thanks to NABARD and NAF.

For details contact:

Center For Rural Development

National Agro Foundation
376/1, Illedu village
Cheyyur Taluk
Kancheepuram District - 603 401
Tamil Nadu, India
Phone : +914115-27545800
Email : naf.cfrd@gmail.com

Plantation initiatives by SHGs…..

Success story …

Plantation initiatives by SHGs…..! Village - Khardhodhi & Junapara

Khardori is a village selected in the pilot phase of the programme. It is situated 15 km from block headquarters Patthalgaon in Jashpur distt. Forest cover was depleted and the villagers were facing crisis in getting fuel, fodder etc.

The women had to go for away to collect fuel wood. The villagers decided in gramsabha to take up afforestration activity on a revenue wasteland.

1. Species they planted – Teak, Khamhar, Shubabool, Bamboo, Jetropha, Kaju, Eukeliptus, Mango, Karanj, Nashpati, Jackfruit etc.
2. A temporary nursery was raised.
3. No. of plants – 120000
4. Survival Rate – 95% , Average ht. of plants = 7 to 8 feet within three years.

Encouraged with the success of Khardori plantation, villagers of adjoining village Junapara also undertook plantation activity. They planted 21000 plants of different species in revenue wasteland in 2005-06. This plantation is also very successful. 

The villagers are getting sufficient quantity of fodder in the from of grass from the plantation. The villagers feel very happy and proud of it.

For more details Contact:

Chhattisgarh Tribal Development ProgrammeE- 7-8, Sector - 5, Devendra Nagar, Raipur (C.G.).
Ph: +91  771 - 2582273, 4044519,Fax: +91 0771 - 2582273,

E-mail - cjtdp@yahoo.com

Standing Together for own rights…..!  

Success story …

StandingTogetherforownrights…..! Raising Voice against Illegal Mining - Bhursatoli 

Bursatoli is a village of Kurume block of Surguja distt. There are 4 women SHG in the village. In Bhursatoli there used to be illegal excavation of natural resources since long time. During the capacity building session, it was told to the villagers that they have rights on the natural resources in there own village.

In the gramsabha meetings these women decided to take concrete step against this illegal activity. They also felt that these big pits are becoming threat for their small children. They all went together to the block officials and complained against them but no action was taken against the illegal mining. One day when the loading was going on, these women group snatched the key of the vehicle and warned them not to come again and retained the key with them. When the block officials and the people's representatives intervened the keys. Today the illegal excavation in totally stopped in the village.

For more details Contact:

Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programmer
E- 7-8, Sector - 5, Devendra Nagar, Raipur (C.G.).
Ph: +91 771 - 2582273, 4044519, Fax: +91 0771 - 2582273,

E-mail - cjtdp@yahoo.com

SHGs have been successful in raising sugarcane crops

Success story …

Sugarcane  Cultivation at Natwarnagar

Natural Village Natwarnagar is 5 km away from block headquarters Kusmi distt. Surguja. The population of the villages is 490. Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme entered in the village in the year 2002, since than SHG & other village level committees have been formed. With the help & support of the programme the villagers constructed five km irrigation canal. For this work only WFP rice was provided to the villagers.

In want of irrigation facilities, agriculture is mainly rainfed in this area. After construction of the canal the farmers took vegetable cultivation in their Wadi on a massive scale. Encouraged with the initial success of group cultivation, the SHGs decided to take cash crop sugarcane in their field. They took loan worth Rs. 3.5 lacs from Rural Bank, Surguja for lift irrigation and sugarcane cultivation with Kisan Credit Card. The SHGs have been successful in raising sugarcane crops and earning good profit. Now they have also started preparation of jaggery which a value addition to the material. This has given lot of confidence to the local farmers.

For more details Contact:

Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programmer
E- 7-8, Sector - 5, Devendra Nagar, Raipur (C.G.).
Ph: +91 771 - 2582273, 4044519, Fax: +91 0771 - 2582273,

E-mail - cjtdp@yahoo.com

Feminization of Agriculture

Floriculture in Aizwal moved into power gear after 200 women from Aizwal in Guwahati, grows Anthuriums and other flowers like Gerbera and Chrysanthemum for export purpose by procuring planting material from a Dutch Company. The women brought this idea to their home state when 24 women from various villages of Mizoram were taken to Coorg in Karnatka for a training programme by the Department of Horticulture.

An educated agriculturist from Sawai Madhopur starts a vermicompost production unit

Shri. Ashish Kumar Saxena is a progressive and educated agriculturist from Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. He is an agri-graduate and has done a training programme on Agribusiness and Agriclinic from RAJ -JSBFM. After completion of his training in the year 2004, he applied for loan in Rajasthan Rajya Sahakari Bhoomi Vikas Bank Ltd, Sawaimadhopur. He has started a vermicompost production unit along with rural marketing dealership of farm Inputs and outputs. Provision of extension consultancy services. In his agriclinic center he is giving training to farmers for proper package of practice to follow.

Contact Address : 
Ashish Kumar Saxena, S/o Shri Ajay Kumar Saxena, 
Post. Soorwal; 
Sawai Madhopur - 322027.

An agri graduate in bihar sets up an agriclinic

Mr. Shailendra Kumar is a progressive agriculturist from Vaishali, Bihar. He is an agri graduate and has done a training programme on Agribusiness and Agriclinic from BHR- BHR-SRISTI. After completion of his training in the year 2004, he Started Agri-enterprise for providing consultancy support to the farmers giving main focus on supply of seeds and pesticides duster as well as soil testing facility. He has started his agriclinic with his own fund. Further he has submitted a detailed project report on agriclinics and Agribusiness centre worth Rs. 5 lacs to the Bank. Sanction of loan is awaited.

Contact Address : 

S/o Jainendra Kumar Sinha, 
Ashok Nagar, Road No 8/A (Near Shankar Lodge) 
Kankarbagh, Patna - 20, 
Bihar.

Plantation of forest trees and also providing nursery service for generating income

Mr. Jayanna G.T. is a progressive agriculturist from Devangere, Karnataka. After doing post - graduation in agriculture he wanted to run his own agriculture related enterprise but did not have the idea to go about. So, he did a training programme on Agribusiness and Agriclinic from KAR-TFBTL. And after completion of his training in the year 2002, he started with plantation of forest trees and also providing nursery service in Davangere District. In his service center he is providing the planting material for all the important crops. This cativity has generated him a good income.

Contact Address : 

Door.No 504/2 Anepal per, 
Davangere Karnataka - 577001, 
Email: hithkari@rediffmail.com

Consultancy service centre to create awareness among farmers

Shri. Shaik Apsar Jahan is a progressive and educated agriculturist from Krishna, Andhra Pradesh. He has done a training programme on Agribusiness and Agriclinic. After completion of his training, Dr. Apsar Jahan has started consultancy service centre at Mylavaram in Krishna district with a view to create awareness among farmers with latest technologies in agriculture by forming farmer groups and guiding them for the overall development of the village. He has also started consultacy services to create awareness for the promotion of organic farming. 

Contact Address :

53, Sailakshmi towers, 
Chintha Chetla Bazar, 
New Ayodhya Nagar, Vijayawada Krishna, 
Andhra Pradesh - 3, 
Ph. No.: 0866-2539915;
Email: apsar_shine@yahoo.co.in, apsar_shine@yahoo.co.in

Success Story in vegetable gardening and Fruit orchards

Mrs. Mansi Das is a progressive agriculturist from Khordha, Orissa. He is an agri graduate and has done a training programme on Agribusiness and Agriclinic from ORS-CHD. After completion of his training in the year 2002, she along with a colleague started Vegetable gardens and fruits orchards in 10 Acres at Rayagada (500 Kms distance from Bhubaneswar) with an expected project cost of Rs. 14.0 Lakhs. They have started the project with their own funds. Through this activity they are earning good profits. 

Contact Address : 
Plot No. 65,
Surya Nagar, Bhubaneswar, 
Khordha, Orissa 751003,
Ph.No.: 0674-406588.

A Success Story From Madhya Pradesh

Mr. Devendra K.Shrivastava is a progressive agriculturist from Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. After doing post graduation in agriculture, he wanted to set up a center where he could provide consultancy to the farmers on medicinal plantation. So, after possessing good knowledge in this filed in year 2003, he started "Krishi and Paryawaran Sansthan" in Gwalior. He is providing consultancy to the farmers on medicinal plantation. He also provides them necessary technical skill to make this trait more profitable and encouraging. He is also developing a Nursery of Jatropha in 1 Acre of land located in Malanpur Road. 

Contact Address :

Bhikampura road, 
Near Ashok school Lahar, 
Bhind, Madhya Pradesh.

Seed production a way to farmers progress

Mr. Shivashankara Gouda B.Patil is a progressive agriculturist from Gadag, Karnataka. After doing graduation in agriculture, he attended a training programme on Agribusiness and Agriclinic from KAR- UAS-DHAR. And after completion of his training in the year 2002, he started seed production on his farm and undertaken the services for a company for organizing seed production in farmers field. He proposes to establish seed processing unit. This activity has generated him a good income. 

Contact Address : 
Post Sarjapur, Tq. RON, Gadag, 
Karnataka - 582211; 
Ph. No.: 08381-46211 
Email: patilsb13@rediffmail.com

Success story from Mumbai

Mr. Chaudhari Sunil Bhausaheb of Ahmednagar district is an agri - graduate. He is serving farming community in a big way. He has set up poly houses in which he is cultivating off-season vegetables. As climatic situation of Maharastra is very much congenial for floriculture, he has started cultivation those also. This way he is earning good remunerations. Others are also motivated to grow off season vegetables and flowers of national and international demand. 

Contact Address :

Mr. Chaudhari Sunil Bhausaheb,
A/P diksal, Tal Parner, 
Dist Ahmednagar, 
Ahmednagar 414103.

Success story of a diversified farmer from Jammu Tawi

Mr. Raj Kumar Bamhral is a progressive and diversified farmer from Jammu Tawi, Jammu. He has got few units of mushroom production, as he found it a very remunerative venture. He is marketing his produce in a local and near by market. He is earning good profit. This has generated him a good source of income. 

The Address for correspondence is : 
Mr. Raj Kumar Bamhral, 
6, H.No: Street No151, Shakti Nagar, 
Jammu Tawe, Jammu.

Success story of a diversified agriculturist from Doda

Mr. S.A.Gazi is a progressive and diversified agriculturist from Doda, Jammu. He is producing vermicompost in a large scale. As people of Srinagar are practicing Organic farming, there is a huge demand of organic manure in the state. He is marketing his compost in a local and near by market. Besides, he is imparting training on proper technique of vericompost production.This has generated him a good source of income. 

The Address for correspondence is : 

Mr. S.A.Gazi, C/o. Quzi Cement Store, 
Iron and Steel Corporation, 
Doda City, 
Doda-182202

Success story of a progressive agriculturist from Karnataka

Mr. K.Veeresh is a progressive agriculturist from Raichur, Karnataka. He has done a training programme in agriclinic and agribusiness from KAR-TFBTL, Karnataka. After completion of his training in the year 2003, he motivated himself towards agribusiness. He had set up a vermicompost manufacturing unit, which he is selling in local market. Apart from this, he is imparting training to farmers about proper method of preparation of vermicompost. He is also generating awareness for sustainable agriculture at Raichur Distt., Karnataka. His motivation has generated him good income per month that is around Rs. 15000/-. 

Contact Address : 

H.NO.- 8-11-180/228, 
Vidyanagar, Raichur, Karnataka
Ph. No.: 0853-24022. 
Email: krishnavenibn@yahoo.com

Fish Production in Mine – A Success Story

Fish farmer Mr. Ansari who is a science graduate has started fish production in mine situated at Bansagar colony, district Rewa Madhya Pradesh on experimental basis. Initially, he was producing 8-10 q/ha but after getting good seed, fertilisers and other inputs and guidance from the state department of agriculture, he is able to produce 30-35 q/ha. After getting benefit from it, he also started duck rearing, poultry farming due to which his income as well as production of fish increased considerably. 

He may be contacted through :
krishjag@sancharnet.in

Mixed farming in farmer’s field - A success story

Sri. Jojo, Randuplackal house, aged 30 years is a resident of the Chakkittapara Panchayat, located in the north - east hilly tracts of the Calicut District in Kerala. Sri Jojo has become a role model to his fellow farmers as he is practicing mixed farming in his 10 acres of land. He is a diversified and progressive farmer of his village. Major crops grown by Shri Jojo are cocnut, arecanut, nutmeg cashew, banana, vegetables etc. Apart from these he has undertaken alternative enterprises like piggery, poultry and apiculture. His annual net income from farm and other enterprises is Rs. 4,23,500/-. 

He may be contacted through :
KVK, Peruvannamuzhi, Kerala.

Successful tale of a farmer from Mahur village of Maharashtra

Satyawan Gole is a progressive farmer from Mahur village of Maharashtra. 26 years ago, this man was forced to migrate from Mahur to work as a daily wage labourer on a salary of a mere eight rupees a day in a cloth mill in Mumbai. But when water flowed into his village, he threw his job to return to Mahur to become a farmer again. As he toils on his three-acre farm, Satyawan experiences a new high. He today earns an average income of around 2,00,000 rupees a year. With water, productivity has soared. Where earlier he would extract only one quintal of foodgrains per acre, and now he gets good production. 

For more information he may be contacted through :
Extension Officer, Agriculture Department.

Lifting lives with Lift Irrigation: A success story

Bachuriben lives in Mahudi, yet another drought affected village in Dahod district of Gujarat. Amazingly, Bachuriben is a picture of happiness. She proudly shows off her field, cultivated with cabbage, tomato, brinjal, chilies, wheat, gram and maize. A check dam constructed on the nearby river Machan, along with an efficiently designed lift irrigation system, both initiated by Sadguru Foundation in 1993, have played an important role in Bachuriben's life. The check dam and the lift irrigation system in Mahudi now provide water throughout the year for irrigation, enabling Bachuriben cultivate different crops, besides venturing into horticulture and vegetable farming. Her income has increased dramatically.

She may be contacted through :

District Agriculture Officer.

A Ray Of Hope For Agriculture Through Vermicomposting

Gauri Shanker Gaushala in Bagad of Jhunjhunu district of Rjasthan has taken a step ahead towards organic farming by producing a large quanitity of vermicompost. All this happened with the intervention of M.R. Morarka GDC-Rural Research Foundation, Jaipur. The gaushala has nearly around 200 cows, in an area of 750 bighas. P D Sharma, the gaushala manager, has distributed 26,0771 kg of earthworms at an average market rate of Rs. 500 per kg. They have also helped create jobs for 25,000 villagers who are involved in this work. Overall that has helped create a Rs. 1,591-crore equivalent net value addition for Indian farmers by these efforts. Selling the vermicompost has helped them become self-sustaining.

Contact :
M.R. Morarka,
GDC-Rural Research Foundation,
RIICO Gem Stone Park, Tonk Road,
Jaipur - 302 011, Rajasthan.
Ph. No.: +91-141-2720202
Email: info@morarkango.com

Stream Of Joy: A success story of a SHG

Annai Indira Women Self-Help Group in Bhavani Panchayat Union of Erode District is being treated as one of the successful groups in the Erode district. This group is engaged in the sericulture activities. In this group, there are 12 female members actively engaged, apart from their routine agricultural activities. The topography of the region is favourable and conducive to perform sericulture activities.

These group members applied only manures and follows IPM procedures to control the pests. The silk worms were fed of the mulberry leaves. When the leaves grow beyond the stage, the members / farmers used them for their cattle. They learnt that these leaves would give good milk either from goats or cows.This group got financial assistance Rs.1.2 lakhs as loan from the Indian Overseas Bank, Odathurai. The Erode DRDA provided subsidy of Rs.1.2 Lakhs to this group from the SGSY fund. In total, it amounts to Rs. 2.4 lakhs. They had used this financial assistance and developed the micro-enterprises. They had established a good network to market the goods. On an average each member receives Rs. 7500/- per month as income from the Sericulture activities.

Contact :
DRDA,
Erode district.

Success story of diversified Enterpreneur

Shri. Sanjeev Kumar Singh is an agri-graduate from Banka, Bihar. After completing his studies, he decided to engage himself in agriculture and allied activities. He started an agriculture center where he is providing plant protection consultancy services along with insect control, soil, water testing etc. He has started vermiculture and Nursery of fruits and medicinal plants. He also deals in aquaculture. He is also started providing training to farmers and technology. Till date he has covered nearly 27 villages and more than 500 farmers.

He may be contacted at :
Shri. Sanjeev Kumar Singh,
S/o Bindeshwari Singh atpo Rajoun,
Dist Banka, Bihar 813107.

Success story of innovation of Energy Efficient Oil Expeller Machine

Shri Kalpesh Chadulal Gajjar is a progressive farmer from Visnagar, Gujarat. He came into limelight after his innovation of Energy Efficient Oil Expeller Machine. The exsiting oil expeller depends on sheave and pulley technology for driving the crushers. Shri Gajjar has also made a prototype and demonstrated that the device helps save 55% of electricity for crushings, compared to a similar amount of extracton done by a conventional machine. The oil expeller has facility to crush all kinds of oil seeds including the cotton seeds and mustard seeds, which are acknowledged as the most difficult type of seeds to crush. This innovation has benefited the farmers a lot especially those growing cotton and mustard crops. The innovator has received a great demand for this machine.

He may be contacted at :
Shri Kalpesh Chadulal Gajjar,
M/s Swastik Entek Pvt Ltd,
Opposite Ganjbazar, Vis Nagar – 384315,
Gujarat 

Or through :

GIAN (Gujarat Innovations augmentation Network),
Ahmedabad.

Progress in agriculture with the innovation source from JAICA technology

Smt.G.Saraswathamma is one of the progressive farmers from village Mudived, Andhra Pradesh. She holds around 4.25 acres of land on which she was growing sugarcane and paddy, which provide very less amount of income. With the innovation source from JAICA technology she converted from traditional system of plantation and Silkworm Rearing, applied V-1 Mulberry variety and doubled the Yields and Income levels. By applying its technology and by using high yielding Mulberry variety she got the benefit in income, marketing, labour, and transportation. Other farmers also got inspiration from her and now they are also adopting the same pattern as group activity.

She may be contacted at: 

Smt.G.Saraswathamma, 
W/o Sri G.Narayana Reddy,
Village Mudivedu, Mandal Kurabalakota,
Andhra Pradesh.

Ginger Cultivation - A farmer s success story

Mr. B. Sasikumar is a graduate in hotel management and is working as a manager in a reputed hotel in Trichur District of Kerala. Born in a farmer’s family, 36 year old Sasikumar has shown keen interest in agriculture as a part time vocation. At present he is managing his 10-acre farm where the major crops like paddy, coconut, arecanut and rubber are cultivated. Knowing about the improved varieties of ginger and turmeric released from Indian Institute of Spices Research from a leading agricultural weekly magazine, he decided to introduce ginger as an intercrop in coconut garden on an experimental basis. When he personally approached the institute, he was assisted in procuring 600 Kg of seeds of two improved varieties viz. Varada and Mahima from a registered seed grower of IISR at Koorachundu village in Calicut District. Along with these varieties he also sowed equal quantity of local ginger variety to assess the performance of improved varieties. He adopted scientific management practices as recommended by IISR in both the trial as well as control plots. At the end he realized a total yield of 8 tonnes of ginger from 1 acre plot where he cultivated improved varieties while the yield from local variety was 4 times less and also generated a good amount of profit from this cultivation. Encouraged by this learning experience, he expanded his area under ginger cultivation and at present he is one of the major sources of seed rhizomes of improved varieties released from IISR for the state agriculture department farms. 

He may be contacted through :
Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR),
Calicut, Kerela.