Salaiya Maaf—An Indian Village Facing Many-Sided Problems Finds Effective Solutions and New Hope
We were sitting at a central place in Salaiya Maaf village, located in Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh, for a group discussion when an elderly woman said in an emotional voice—so good that you people came and land on which nothing grew could also grow good crops.
She was addressing members of a voluntary organization SRIJAN who, with the support of Parivartan initiative of HDFC Bank, have been implementing a program of strengthening sustainable livelihoods based on improved management of natural resources. Many villagers expressed appreciation of the efforts of this project, taken up with close involvement of community members, and said that these have been very helpful for villagers.
However this was not the situation initially about two years back when SRIJAN members had first knocked on the doors of these villagers. It took some time to establish trust and explain that SRIJAN is very sincere in involving the villagers in deciding the work to be taken up, as long as it was within the priorities of the organization of emphasizing weaker sections and small farmers, mainly women from these households, and taking up work which passes the test of improving sustainability, climate resilience and overall improvement of environment.
Gradually village development groups and farmer groups were formed and regular meetings started being held to discuss the priority works and beneficiaries. A good beginning was made by lighting up several village places with solar lights with the result that safety at night improved and market gathering at some places could continue for longer hours.
Starting with this initiative, what villagers liked was that SRIJAN consulted them closely regarding the exact location and other details of various development works as well as selection of beneficiaries and other details for which local guidance was the best way forward. This is why the check dam could give good results and the water conservation work in the form of 23 water channel storages or dohas could conserve a lot of water, raising the water table. This is how the help given for multi-layer vegetable gardens, irrigation sprinklers and small orchards could go to those who were likely to make really good use of these opportunities. While many farmers have benefited from these efforts, three examples given here are particularly encouraging.
Santosh Kumar and his wife Vinita Devi are committed strongly to natural farming. When SRIJAN started spreading the message of natural farming in this village, he was among the first farmers to respond very favorably to this. He has two acres of land. He says that by bringing this land under natural farming he has been able to increase his production. This is important as generally increase of production is not achieved so quickly. This is perhaps due to the deep commitment that Vinita and he have to this more creative farming and the care and time they devote to this. Sprinkler irrigation arranged by SRIJAN with the support of Parivartan has also contributed to increase of production. Expenses of farming have of course gone down due to avoiding expensive inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Therefore with increased production their net income has increased even more. While Vinita expresses her commitment and enthusiasm about recent changes more freely, Santosh is by nature a more reserved and quiet person. However his appreciation of recent changes became very clear when at the time of my recent visit to this village he took me aside and said—can this project which came here for three years continue for three more years? If this happens then remaining farmers will also be able to benefit, he said.
Shyam Sundar and Rekha have about three acres of land. They provide a good example of how farmers are carefully considering the economics of shifting from chemical intensive farming to natural farming. On about one-fifth of one acre of land they have planted an orchard of about 60 fruit trees, mostly guava trees but also others, and on this orchard they have shifted entirely towards natural farming. Till the trees grow enough to yield fruits, they are also growing gram crop here which has grown very well. There are also some other patches of land on their and neighboring farms of family members where too for growing turmeric and some other crops there has been already a shift to natural farming. A very good crop of turmeric has been harvested recently. On the remaining land, Shyam Sundar said, he has reduced the use of chemical fertilizers to less than half of the earlier intensive use and hence he is on the path of moving towards natural farming on this remaining land too, although he would like to phase this change over two or three years instead of changing suddenly. Pointing to the wheat crop growing on this farm he said—you can see that the growth here is very good despite reducing the use of chemical fertilizers as we are taking good care.
Sprinkler provided by SRIJAN as well as technical advice and good quality seeds and plant saplings provided by SRIJAN have been very useful, he says.
Shyam Sundar has created a small shelter right inside his agricultural fields, close to a traditional well which provides good quality water, and spends a lot of his time here only. His son, daughter and a niece were also there at the farm at the time of our visit, lending a helping hand very cheerfully. All of them appeared to be happy with the recent changes particularly the coming up of the orchard, and were very generous in their hospitality.
Sanjeev Kumar is a leading farmer of this village, owning about 10 acres of farmland. Among the relatively bigger farmers he has emerged as a strong supporter of natural farming. He has already brought about 2 acres of his farmland under natural farming, and told me in the course of a group discussion that he intends to finally shift entirely to natural farming. He is very articulate in expressing his views and his support and example can be very helpful in the spread of natural farming and other ecologically protective practices in this and neighboring villages.
Beni Bai is an elderly lady who had earlier served as a sarpanch of this village. She said that what she found particularly useful in the contributions of SRIJAN is that thanks to the construction of a check dam and the resulting availability of water and rise in water table, some land which was lying more or less uncultivated earlier could now be brought under cultivation. Her family as well others have benefited in this context, she said.
Thus several critical problems relating to water scarcity, rising costs and increasing crisis of small farmers have been addressed in the course of the last two years, bringing new hope to villagers and particularly to small farmers including sharecroppers.
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Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food, Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril and A Day in 2071. He is a regular contributor to Asia-Pacific Research.
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