Hand-holding marginal farmers

Devinder Sharma

Food & Agriculture Specialist

KRADHIKA is a marginal farmer from Veerapanenigudem village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh (AP). She has just 1.1 acres of land and all of it is under natural farming. I couldn’t believe when she said her son had done MBA and her daughter was studying in the US. When asked why she hadn’t given up farming as her children were doing so well, she said: “My children do want me to give it up and live with them but I tell them you do what you are doing and let me do what I enjoy doing.” She follows a staggered cropping system, which is called ATM (any time money) as it provides her with a regular income.

A lot more still needs to be done, beginning by discarding outdated economic policies that suit only corporate interests.

ATM is one form of the classification of activities enshrined under the Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme, which is all about farming in harmony with nature. Starting from Punukala village in Khammam district some two decades ago, this agro-ecological farming system is now spread to 3,730 villages across the 26 districts of AP. Eight lakh farmers have either shifted completely from chemical to non-chemical farming or are in the process of transitioning. By 2031, the state aims to move its entire 60-lakh farming population from chemical to natural farming.

Mysamma hails from Battinapadu village in NTR district. She cultivates cotton on two acres and had transitioned to natural farming in 2018. When she told me that her daughter was an aeronautical engineer, for a moment, it felt as if I was interacting with a middle-class housewife. But these were small and marginal farmers, mostly women, who had come from various parts of AP to share their experiences about the virtues, strengths and immense potential of climate-resilient and environmentally healthy natural farming system.

Some of them, with an average landholding of less than 1 acre — a few even owning land in fractions of 0.10 to 0.50 cents — had assembled at the Guntur headquarters of the APCNF, which is implemented by the state-owned company, Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS).

It soon became obvious why mainstream thinking has been trying to run down viable alternatives. Small landholdings are often decried as unviable, and in the name of land and labour reforms, economists and corporate leaders advocate for their exclusion from agriculture, urging their integration into the urban workforce. The global economic design devaluates small and marginal farmers as an economic burden.

But a little hand-holding and a set of appropriate marketing initiatives can catapult these farms into viable enterprises which would neither heat the planet nor poison the air, water and soil.

Connecting the dots, it becomes evident why the agri-business industry holds a different perspective, as reflected in its decision to double the number of lobbyists at the recently concluded COP28 in Dubai compared to last year’s climate talks. For instance, multi-national agribusiness giant Bayer, with which, surprisingly, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has recently entered into a research collaboration, had sent more representatives than Eritrea.

It reminds me of an analysis published in Nature. The article drew from studies conducted in 51 countries over a period of 50 years to conclude that contrary to the commonly held perception, small farms were found to be more productive and ecologically sustainable. But such studies do not become a part of the mainstream science policy. This is because globally, agricultural scientists, economists, media and policymakers have spent decades endorsing the commercial interests of agribusiness giants that debunk everything but intensive farming, thereby resisting efforts to move towards an environmentally healthy and equally productive, sustainable food system.

Still, a quiet turnaround is happening and it is shaping a transition to new agriculture. I call it new agriculture because the conventional monocultures that relied more on producing surpluses have only desiccated farmlands, turned soils sick, mined groundwater and contaminated the food chain and also forced farm populations to abandon farming and migrate. Furthermore, it has contributed to the dual challenges of an overwhelming burden of human diseases and climate emergency.

However, given the escalating temperatures, this kind of agriculture is left with a limited role in the future. Shifting the food system towards agro-ecological system not only ensures food security and nutrition but also revitalises healthy ecosystems, promotes economically viable livelihoods, thereby contributing to employment generation.

Rethinking agriculture is the need of the times. Right from the Philippines to Vietnam, Cambodia to Mexico, and India to the USA, a strong and vibrant movement towards agro-ecology is slowly but steadily bringing a change in policies, such as the small steps being taken to rebuild paramparik kheti and introduce schemes to reduce fertiliser use, with the underlying objective of restoring and replenishing Mother Earth. But a lot more still needs to be done, beginning by discarding outdated economic policies that suit only corporate interests. A transformation towards ecological sustainability is also becoming paramount for farm research and education.

Take the devastation caused by the failure of genetically-modified Bt cotton. What was hailed as a silver bullet has bitten the dust. On the other hand, I see hope in farmers like Laxmi Narayana from NTR district who are engaged in organically-grown cotton. His farm has a large number of plants with more than 100 balls. A plant with over 50 healthy balls is a good crop. He said the yield ranged between 12 and 15 quintals per acre, which is very encouraging. Similarly, Gopala Rao from the same district grows organic paddy in 3.5 acres. He transitioned to organic farming two years ago and says his harvest is around 30 quintals per acre. Non-chemical farming, therefore, compares favourably with intensive agriculture. It only needs more research and public sector investments.

We must not sit back. Let’s hand-hold small farmers and guide them in the right direction. They provide hope.

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#Agriculture #Andhra Pradesh