Sowing seeds for a better future

VIDARBHA: In the drought-prone, debt-ridden district of Yavatmal in Vidarbha, which has seen the highest rate of farmer suicides in the country, Subhash Sharma walks the expanse of his organic farm confidently, claiming “Aane wala kal hamara hai (The future is ours)!”

Sharma grows 30 different crops in Dorli village, on what was once 12 hectares of barren, hilly terrain. No man-made fertilisers or pesticides are used on his land. Instead, he has developed ecologically and economically viable farming techniques, using just a tractor for transport and a water pump by way of modern mechanisms.

Sharma roots for seed-sufficiency. “We must develop our own seed banks so that we don’t have to go outside. This is the reason why our farmers land up in devastating debt cycles,” he says.

He began organic multi-cropping about a decade back to battle the woes of cotton farmers. “Nature is my guru,” affirms Sharma, who feels expensive chemical substances and seed technologies advocated by a cash-crop/mono-crop culture have harmed the eco-system, affecting productivity.

Sharma prepares a natural fertiliser mixing together 70 kilos of cowdung, five litres of cow urine and 200 grams of jaggery in bins. This is then fed into channels used to trap water in the fields. Sharma rotates crops like gourd, spinach and tomato through the year, leaving the residue of the previous harvest to replenish soil nutrients. “Other farmers just burn the bio-mass,” he says.

Another misconception Sharma has cleared is that big trees are detrimental to farming. Every year, Sharma plants up to 300 trees, that bind the soil, raise underground water levels and keep the area cool.

The trees also attract birds which help in pollination and pest control. Sharma also has an innovative approach towards pest management. For instance, he plants a row of marigolds near a row of cotton, so that the notorious American ball worm-the bane of cotton yield-gets attracted to the yellow colour and chooses to feast on the flower instead of the crop.

For water-shed management, Sharma has 10x20x10 feet pits dug at strategic points to prevent overflows. He spends just Rs 5000 to irrigate a hectare of land. “Compare that to the Rs1 lakh per hectare costs in trying to link our rivers. That will still take another 40 years. We need water now,” says Sharma, who has increased his workers’ daily wages to increase farm productivity.

Sharma is known to venture out with a torch at night to watch nature at work. Earthworms, he feels, are integral to the oxygenation and irrigation process, especially in a rain-fed region like Vidarbha. “Chemical fertilisers kill the earthworms, so we lose the essential work they do for our yield,” he explains.

“Disturbing the eco-system has led to the surge of diseases like dengue and chikungunya in cities. Chemicals kill frogs that feed on mosquitoes.” 

To produce around 450 tonnes of vegetables and grains a year, Sharma spends only Rs 6 lakh, and gets a net return of Rs13.5 lakh. He sells his produce at local market prices. “We are never at the mercy of market prices,” he says.