cover story

Splash | October 2008 | Page 4

NREGA –bringing hope to small farmers

Bharathi Ghanashyam

Sadashiva (33) from Kottagaranahalli of Magadi taluk close to Bangalore isan organic farmer and cultivates grains, fruits and vegetables with the help oforganic pest control methods and inputs prepared on-farm. He convertedto organic farming from conventional farming in 2004 and his 3.5 acrefarm is currently completely organic.

Sadashiva’s farm gives him good yields and contributes significantly to thefood security of his family. Additionally, it has also become home to a near-extinct variety of a sweet pulpy banana called madarangi. This variety ofbanana is said to be rich in medicinal properties and the weight of eachbanana occasionally goes up to ½ kg.

He says, “Organic farming has worked well for me and is cheaper thanconventional farming. In the initial years after converting, I had reducedyields, but gradually, by stopping the use of chemicals, the fertility of the soilhas improved and my yields have increased.” Sadashiva has now begunpropagating organic farming to other farmers of his village.

On the other hand K. Chikkanna (66) who owns four acres of land in thesame village and practices conventional farming has a tale of woe to tell. Inthe mid 70s, which saw the Green Revolution at its peak, his land yieldedrecord crops and he also won accolades from the Department of Agricultureof the Government of Karnataka. Thirty years down, Chikkanna is strugglingto repay debts he has incurred to pursue chemical intensive farming as hisyields have shrunk and the fertility of his soil has decreased. Chikkanna says,“Overuse of chemicals on my farm has resulted in loss of soil fertility;earthworms and other beneficial insects have disappeared, and my family isbattling with numerous health problems.”

Chikkanna is however apprehensive ofconverting to organic agriculture as it is labourintensive. “We know that chemical farming isharmful for us and for our soil. It has also leftme with debts instead of prosperity. But whatalternative do I have? Organic farming involvesgeneration of on-farm inputs and a lot morework. Rural people are giving up agricultureand have started to migrate to urban areas. Thishas resulted in an acute shortage of agriculturelabour,” he says. “Organic farming yields resultsslowly and we do not have the time to wait as weare small farmers who depend on our farms forour livelihood. There is a desperate need fornew measures by the government to address theproblems of farmers.”

Two voices, two farming systems and twodiametrically opposite impacts…

Background

Nearly two thirds of India’s population is engagedin agriculture and around 80 per cent of Indianfarmers have landholdings of less than twohectares. India also has a rich tradition offarming, where farmers put their landholdingsto optimum use by using traditional seeds savedat the household level, and used nutrients frominputs produced on the farm. This accountedfor almost zero-expenditure farming, and gavethem year-round food and nutrition security.

The farming systems that farmers practiced in

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the past were benign to the environmentas they used no chemical inputs andintegrated annual crop plants, perennialtrees and animals, thus maintaining abalanced eco system.

There are still thousands of farmers inevery region of India who practice organicfarming and get sustainable high yieldson their farms. For crop nutrients, theydepend on plant biomass and fermentsusing small quantities of animaldroppings. But they are in the minorityas more and more farmers have eschewedtheir traditional methods and convertedto hybrid seeds, which demand the useof chemical fertilizers.

Excessive and inappropriate use ofchemical fertilizers has down the yearsdestroyed soil health and biologicalfertility rendering it less productive andrendered farmers vulnerable to instabilityand indebtedness. Small farmers are nowin a situation where their cost ofproduction is more than their returns.

Valid concern

Despite the benefits, the youngergeneration of farmers are hesitant toconvert back to more sustainable farmingsystems as they have lost the traditionalknowledge and the expertise of theirelders. There is the additionalapprehension that organic farming islabour intensive. While it is true thatorganic farming involves more work, it isalso true that this is only in the case oflands that have been rendered infertilethrough the use of chemicals. Once thesoil has been brought back to a livingentity, labour requirements become less.(Reclaiming Earthy Smells andLivelihood – Svaraj experience, L.CNagaraj. Living soils, Leisa India, June2008)

Cherkady Ramachandra, a renownedorganic farmer from Cherkady village inUdupi district, also considered thepioneer of the SRI method of paddycultivation in India, provides testimonyfor this, “I have been practising organicfarming for the past 30 years. The soilon my farm is fertile and needs no extracare. I use minimal quantities ofcompost, as the biomass I have on thefarm is more than enough. My son and I

maintain our five-acrefarm with just two hoursof work everyday.”

Be that as it may, if largernumbers of smallfarmers have to bebrought back into thefold of organic farmingsystems, they needmotivation and support.Governments havesupported chemicalfarming systems for overthree decades, having made hugeinvestments in this area. Enormousamounts of money have been spent onresearch. Chemical fertilizermanufacturers are heavily subsidised.

A case in point is urea, which costs Rs26,000 per tonne, but is supplied to thefarmer at Rs 4380 per tonne. Thesesubsidies have not helped the farmer,thereby indicating that chemical farmingis not a sustainable and viable option

Excerpts from the NREGA:

… Section 13 of NREGA makes the Panchayats at district, intermediate andvillage levels the principal authorities for planning. The process of planning aslaid down under the Act gives under Section 16 of the Act, the power to makerecommendations on the works to be taken up under NREGA to the GramSabha and the power to prepare a development plan comprising a shelf ofprojects on the basis of these recommendations of the Gram Sabha to theGram Panchayat…

… Generally, a District Perspective Plan will have the following features:

a) Village-based: with the village as the unit for planning;

b) Holistic: attempt to cover all aspects of natural resource management alongwith socio-economic infrastructure requirements so as to identify all criticalaspects of development in the local area…

… The intention of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) isto provide a basic employment guarantee in rural areas. The Act indicates thekinds of works that may be taken up for this purpose. As per Schedule I of theAct, the focus of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)shall be on the following works:

(i) Water conservation and water harvesting;

(ii) Drought proofing, including afforestation and tree plantation;

(iii) Irrigation canals, including micro and minor irrigation works;

(iv) Provision of irrigation facility, plantation, horticulture, land developmentto land owned by households belonging to the SC/ST, or to land of thebeneficiaries of land reforms, or to land of the beneficiaries under theIndira Awas Yojana/BPL families.

www.nrega.nic.in

either for them or the state. If similarfunds were allocated for creating facilitiesand policies for production of inputs byfarmers on their own fields, it wouldreduce costs of production, substantiallyincrease net incomes and help them repaytheir debts.

What can be done

The National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (NREGA) provides justsuch opportunities. It has a mandate to

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AppikoA hug in time

Dr.Sudhirendar Sharma

It was 25 years ago this month when villagers inKarnataka undertook an eight km trek to resistmassive tree felling at the Kalase forests. In today’smilieu, the Appiko movement is facing freshchallenges.

If your journey along the west coast still remainspicturesquely green, thank the chants that hadrented the air of this region 25 years ago, andwhich seemingly echo even today. Chanting theKannada slogan of Ulisu, Belasu and Balasu,meaning ‘save, grow and sustain’, the forest-lovingpeople of Uttara Kannada - the most greendistrict in the country – stood up against thetyranny of the state that was clearing the nativeforests to pave way for monoculture plantations.

The 25-year-long journey

History was created on 8 September 1983 whenpeople from villages around Salkani in UttaraKanada district undertook to resist massive treefelling operations underway at the Kalase forests.Hordes of men and women laid seige to the forestover the next three months, hugging the treesand forcing the perpetrators with little optionbut to make an unceremonious exit.

The news spread fast, catching the imaginationof forest dwellers across the state in Kodagu,South Kanara, Chikamaglur and Shimogadistricts. Appiko, meaning ‘hug the trees’, soonbecame a potent expression to counter violenceagainst nature, reflecting empathy towardsforests. “It seems a cosmic force was fuellingindelible energy into each of us,” recalls M NMableshwar of Gubbigadde village in Sirsi.

The villagers of Gubbigadde and Balegadde, whowere the first to lodge a formal protest againstclear felling wonder if Appiko could have founda better home than Uttara Kannada. Called the‘forest’ district, this region had an impressive 82per cent of its geographical area under forests in1950, earning the tropical evergreen forests inthe Western Ghats the distinction of being oneof the 16 global biodiversity hotspots in theworld.

Despite hailing from the ‘forest’ district himself,the then Chief Minister of KarnatakaRamakrishna Hegde took six years to withdrawthe timber concessions given to forest basedindustries and impose a moratorium on felling

guarantee 100 days of labour in a financial year to those registered under it,under various categories such as natural resource management, droughtproofing, water harvesting and conservation, afforestation and tree planting,and horticulture activities. In reality however, what it has actually done is toconvert farmers to road layers and construction labour owing to limitedinterpretation and short sighted applications of the Act. This is not only anunsustainable means of livelihood, it also strips them of the dignity they haveas farmers and suppliers of food for the nation.

Manohar Dronagiri, a farmer in Doni village in Mundargi taluk of Gadagdistrict says, “The NREGA has broad implications, which can be used forthe benefit of farmers, small or big. It is up to the village panchayat toprepare need-based, work plans in consultation with the community foreach year. These can be within the framework of the Act and still includeactivities that can really help farmers.”

An example he quotes is that the Act allows for natural resource management.Interpreted properly, this can help farmers to be employed for 100 days torejuvenate the soils on their own farms by building farm ponds, collectingbiomass for the farm and get paid for it. Dronagiri speaks from experienceas he has used the Act for horticulture activities on one hectare of his farm.The NREGA also provides for material costs, besides wages and this hashelped him to plant 300 sapota trees in his farm.

Mr S.M. Patil, President, Doni village panchayat observes, “It is not possibleto keep building roads year after year. We need other activities which canprovide the required 100 days of labour to our people. That is why we havecontacted all the concerned departments, such as horticulture, forest etcand included their schemes into our yearly work plans. This not only givesopportunities for steady work, it also contributes to the progress anddevelopment of the entire village and community.”

Mr S.B. Revanna, Executive Officer of Mundargi taluk panchayat says, “TheNREGA gives guidelines, which need to be interpreted according to localrequirements.” He draws an evocative parallel, “The Act is as versatile as rice.You can either eat it bare or make pulao out of it. It is a question ofinterpretation, and the interpretation has to be for the overall developmentof the people. We have given special emphasis to horticulture activities as thisarea has erratic rainfall and it is difficult for people to cultivate seasonalcrops. We also make special efforts to promote organic farming systems.”

It is obvious that the NREGA can be used to benefit farmers and what ismore, bring them into the fold of organic farming. It just needs moreproactive planning on the part of panchayats while preparing their annualwork plans.

With inputs from Manish Sharma, Communications Officer, SvarajBharathi Ghanshyam, Associate Editor, Splash – bharathiksg@gmail.com