If our needs are met by the administration, more people would join group-farming

Until three-years-ago, Shantaram Doke, a 38-year-old farmer from a small hamlet in the tribal town of Maharashtra would migrate to nearby cities to engage in sand mining jobs during every rabi season. But the concept of 'group-farming' under drip irrigation projects has not just prevented Doke's migration, and of many others like him, it has helped them cultivate different farm produce throughout the year.

Doke, is not alone. There are over three dozen farmers from Jawhar and Mokhada town of Palghar district, who no longer need to migrate because of Pragati Pratisthan, the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), which in collaboration with Syngenta India Foundation, provides them technical guidance.

"Due to shortage of water and electricity, we were forced to migrate to Bhiwandi, Thane, and Borivali to take up sand mining jobs, leaving our families behind. The job would earn us bread and butter, but affected our health badly. We suffered from back pain, itching, and swelling. Now, we are self sufficient and our revenue has also increased," said Doke.

The NGO has brought together farmers from four villages — Khadadipada, Mendichapada, Akare (Ambyachapada), and Pimpelpada (Mokhada) — who earlier relied solely on monsoons, and grew crops just once a year.

Doke along with five other farmers from Ambyachapada under Akare grampanchayat area, have formed — 'Laxmi Farmers Group' and are involved in sericulture, and producing bitter gourd, onion, amaranth leaves, and mogra (Arabian jasmine), along with vegetables on the 4.4 acre area of three farm plots put together.

Earlier, Doke would only cultivate rice and used diesel pump to irrigate, because there was no electricity in the hamlet. The diesel would cost him around Rs 12,000, but now the group has been provided with solar panels and solar pumps for the supply of water and electricity, respectively. A check dam has also been built for them to store water for drip irrigation.

With 500 families residing in the 12 hamlets of the village, Akare has 24 farmers. However, only 11 farmers cultivate crops and vegetables throughout the year. Though the village is well connected with roads, farmers complain that their plea for electric connection poles has gone unheard by the local administration. "People in the area are willing engage in farming, but are deprived of government schemes," says Sudhir Pardhi, one of the very few educated youths in Akare. Pardhi also sells seeds to farmers and helps them with technical and administration issues.

Parshuram Kisan who has his application for a well, pending before the administration, says that officials don't pay heed to poor farmers unless they have someone known in the administration. "If we get some help from the administration, we are willing to bear some costs out of our own pockets," he says. However, he believes that if their needs are met, more farmers would join group-farming and they would be able to sell farm produce directly at the Vashi market (APMC), where they would get better returns."

Group Farming Concept:

The concept of group-farming began in 2009 under a drip irrigation project, where the NGO provided seeds to farmers and asked them to pay only for the pesticides. Since then, the project has been implemented in over 91 villages and some of the groups are also registered. However, convincing reluctant farmers to come under a cluster still remains a major challenge in several parts.