Savitra- Woman Leading an Organic Farming Experiment in a men dominated society
-Savitra Dilip Diwate,
Arda Tolaji, Tal- Mantha, Dist- Jalna, Maharashtra, INDIA
Savitra, a middle age woman from Arda Tolaji was just like other women friends from the village. Being wife of a farmer, she used to work in her farm after finishing the domestic work of cooking, washing, pot cleaning and preparing the son and three daughters for the school. Her husband used to make the decisions for her family including about the agriculture. She used to share the work with her husband in the field. Having educated up to 12th std, she also used to help her children in their homework studies after her work is finished. Her family life was quite like all the other families from the village. For her, husband, children and her family was the whole world. All the hard work of the farming couple was just to ensure good education and better life for them and for their children. However it was not easy for them to realize this dream of better life. There was a great difference between dream and the real life conditions. Real life was characterized by the fact that they have face the issues related un-irrigated agriculture, continuously increasing input cost, fluctuating market prices, low income and low living slandered. These were the causes of worry for the husband and wife. On many occasions they had to look for the assistance from relatives. Both of them were in search of the ways in which they could get rid of these causes, if not together, at least one by one. Similar is the condition of many families in the village. The couple was always ready for the hard work but there was no option available in the village.
Destiny came to their help at the time when they were struggling to meet their family needs. There came a piece of news for them that a watershed development project is being started in their village in the year 2016. Initially they thought that it’s just like one more popular announcement and it could be similar like another previous government supported schemes which have usually got aborted or left incomplete. However after few days they realized that it’s not like earlier schemes. There is a basic difference which was a pleasant surprise for them. They found that regular village meetings, women meetings, school meetings, labor meetings are being carried out to inform everybody about the project and what it has for the village. Filed surveys done; drainage line surveys done and discussed with the village community. Video shows done in the night and everybody was called in to share their views. Exposure visit was done to other villagers. This is where she firmly convinced that that something is different with this particular project and it is not like other projects. It is at this stage that they got attracted to this project.
Savitra got involved in the women organization related meeting and she got the information about the self-help group. She became the members of the self-help group. During watershed treatment for soil and water conservation, she had an opportunity to discuss with the project team about her plans about the agriculture development. Soon she realized that there are some components of her interest for the agriculture development.
This prompted her to attend regularly meetings meant for the farmers along with her husband. She also attended a farmers’ training in which the information about the organic farming is shared. This training was a change point in her approach to the farming. It covered almost every aspect of the farming which included- land preparation, soil testing, seed selection, method of seed sowing, fertilizer management, vermin compost, vermin wash, dashparni arc, integrated paste management and methods of irrigation. What was more of her interest was the information on organic farming, bad effects of chemicals fertilizers on the health and how the use of vermin compost would reduce the input cost. This is followed by the exposure visit to the Baramati KVK where she learnt about vegetable cultivation by the organic method. After all sorts of inputs, organic approach of crop cultivation was the one thing which she was firm about. She also learnt to use mobile phone to get additional information about this approach with the help of the project staff.
She came forward with full conviction to try out the demonstration of the vermin compost in her own field. From the project she got the vermin compost making bed. She prepared a shade, land leveling, pegs, and installation on her own. She also collected a crop reside, cow dung, kitchen waste and other waste material and put it into the vermin bed. Daily she used to sprinkle water over this to keep it wet. Verms were added to start the decomposition process. After lot of efforts finally vermin compost was ready to use. Apart from the vermin compost, she prepares dashparni arc and collection of cow urine for use in agriculture. All this goes to the organic approach of the agriculture. She got continuous support from the project team whenever she was in need. Initially she cultivated cotton crop with the less amount of vermin compost and she got more produce of cotton than earlier. This encouraged her for continuation and expanding on the organic farming. This year she has cultivated sorghum, garlic, onion and chili by making use of the vermin compost and no use of the chemical fertilizer is made.
Now she is fully convinced and is aware that there are no side effects on the human health due to organic farming. Also cost of cultivation is reduced significantly. Waste is taken care of and home area is kept clean which also help to improve hygiene and sanitation conditions. Their dependency of the chemical fertilizer and outside market is reduced. Due to no use of the chemical fertilizers, the soil texture is improved and soil has become soft. It is experienced that the soil now retains water for longer period. The crop production is increased, quality, taste of the product and shelf life is also increased. “We got good price to our product when people learnt that it’s an organic produce” says Savitra proudly.
Women from my SHG ask me about my experience about the organic farming in SHG meetings. I proudly share my experience and try to convince all my women friend to go for organic farming. I have a big dream that all my village should be organic one day. Savitra, once a shy woman, has gone much ahead in terms of the decision making for the family, deciding about the education for her children, financial decisions with her husband, attending SHG meetings and sharing all her experiences, and dreaming for an organic village is a firm sign of women slowly being empowered from her village. Savitra is just one example from the village