Vikalp Manch

Vikalp Organic Farms

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Vikalp Manch

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Vikalp Organic Farms

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The importance of agriculture in Indian economy cannot be overlooked considering the fact that though primary agricultural activities are declining as a share of total economy, thereby agriculture only contributes 26% to the nation GDP, agriculture continues to support 60% of employment in rural areas. But this is not going to sustain in the post WTO era. The problem facing Indian agriculture is manifold, an overview of which is given below:

• Although agriculture production has increased tremendously in the past 40 years, the cost of farming has also increased at a similar pace, and so, the profitability has not increased and is now, in fact, declining.  Therefore, the paradigm should now shift from food and nutrition security to prosperity for farmers.

• Due to increasing dependence on chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and weedicides, the quality of farm produce is declining, and when combined with the high cost of production, would not be competitive internationally, which it should be, to be able to sell even in domestic market when the WTO provisions come in full effect.

• Farming with increasing dependence on chemical fertilizers, insecticides and  pesticides is not sustainable in long run as it is leading to land degradation through reduction in fertility and destruction of bio-habitat. 

• This high cost - low profitability agriculture fails to provide worthwhile employment to the population dependent on it, nor does it contribute, to the extent to which it should, to the national income. Agriculture has a great potential for reducing poverty in rural sector as, for example, for every additional rupee generated through agriculture production in India, the existing economic linkages can add another three rupees to the income of the rural economy.

• Post harvest primary processing facilities are not available, leading to wastage and lower value of the produce. At present,  both value-addition and agro-processing is very low. It is estimated that 80-85 million tonnes of food items can become available for consumption annually through application of suitable post-harvest technologies, which otherwise is lost for want of proper storage and handling. 

• The farmers, especially the small and marginal ones, have to diversify their production activities from cereal production to high-value crops like livestock, fruits and vegetables production, pisciculture, apiculture, sericulture, floriculture, poultry and other commodities that are internationally marketed, in order to generate sustained profitability and attain holistic development.  

• Considerable amount of agricultural produce is being wasted at various stages. Such wastes have to be converted into wealth through waste management and utilization. Also, there is much scope for conversion of by-products into main products.

• The extension of new agricultural technologies and their dissemination has been poor. The biggest hurdle in spreading of new agricultural technologies is that the farmers are not ready to believe them and also that they are not in a position to undertake any risk by adopting unknown techniques.

 In order to work towards improvement in this situation and to transform 'Green Revolution' into 'Evergreen Revolution', Vikalp Organic Farms are being established in rural areas on leased land under Vikalp Trust with a view to present working models before the farmers for them to learn and adopt. These organic farms will work as a chain of grass-root implementing agencies for sustainable integrated agricultural development. These farms will undertake following tasks with the objectives of optimum utilization of resources, higher production and higher returns on investment through premium quality and reduced costs:

• Completely organic farming will be undertaken for reducing the cost of agricultural inputs, improving the quality of farm produce, improving the land quality and through them, providing sustained profitability to the farmers. This organic farming will be cow-based. In farm production facilities will be set up for the organic inputs as far as possible. The organic inputs will include cow-dung manure, Nadep compost, Vermicast and pro-biotics for fertility management and pest / weed management. Their effectiveness will be further improved with intercropping, crop diversification, trap crops. etc.

• Development of Vermiculture technology and its dissemination. Large scale production facilities for Vermicast and pro-biotics will be set up for supply to prospective farmers changing over to organic farming. Later, help will be provided for setting up other Vermicast production units as common facility centers for groups of farmers.

• Primary processing, including cleaning, sorting, grading, treatment and packing for value addition and reduction of wastage, of own produce and its marketing will be undertaken in initial stages. The facilities for primary processing can also be leased out to beneficiary farmers. Later, with further development of market linkages, procurement of produce from beneficiary farmers may also be undertaken for primary processing and marketing. This may also be extended to involving farmers for contract farming of organic products.

• Integrated diversified agriculture will be done on these farms, including pisciculture, apiculture, horticulture, floriculture and livestock management. The beneficiary farmers will be encouraged to adopt diversified agriculture to not only increase their profitability, but also aimed at increasing the total man-days of labour engaged on farms.

•  Proper water management and waste management practices will be adopted on these farms. Latest irrigation technologies like micro watershed and micro irrigation would be adopted wherever applicable.

• Linkages will be established with leading research and development organizations to create facilities such as analytical laboratories, quality control and certification services of international quality. The organic certification services will be offered to the farmers at minimum prices. The control system and documentation will be simplified enough to enable ordinary farmers to maintain the necessary records. The laboratory will be well - equipped to conduct all tests required in the process of certification - including facilities for physical, chemical, microbiological testing of water, soil, organic inputs, agricultural produce, food products and packing materials as per internationally agreed test procedures.

• To make all these possible, the most important part of our operations would be education of the farmers regarding technologies and legality. This will be done by means of Vikalp Gyan Kendras, which will hold regular classes for farmers to educate them regarding the efficacy of organic farming, technical know-how for organic farming and for on-farm production of organic inputs, regarding diversification of farming activities along with the know-how required, regarding water and waste management and regarding quality standards for the certification processes. There will also be programs of genetic and legal literacy related to WTO provisions and the Biodiversity Act.

This way it is intended to ensure sustained profitability to the farming community, conservation of land and water resources and making the farmers well informed. This may go a long way in turning the villages from centers of filth, poverty, hunger, ill-health and ignorance to nuclei of development because villages have to be the face of developed India.