Conventional farming to organic farming, a glorious journey - A success story
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"Life of small farmers never been glorious, as they had to live in the obscenity of poverty and starvation forever"- Nirasha Devi said before getting into successful organic agri-business.
Nirasha Devi believes in the lead by example now. Once upon a time, likewise, other villagers never trusted on adopting organic technologies in agriculture as she had seen her ancestors doing conventional farming; they neither brought any new methodology in cultivation nor adapted to anything fresh. Because people used to believe, going away from traditional practices may incur losses. That is why many poor farmers like Nirasha in Larta village of Khunti district, Jharkhand had never stepped out to explore new technologies to improve their agro-produce until they met the IGS team. Even if anyone wanted to go for solicitation, other villagers dissuaded them. Perhaps, that is the reason behind the gloominess of Larta villagers. Unawareness and no vibrant exposure to successfully managed organic agriculture trade made them handicapped though they intended to yield affluent income to live a happy and prosperous life. They believed that if they move away from the existing traditional practices, they would be wounded with financial, social and emotional losses.
"Life of small farmers never been glorious, as they had to live in the obscenity of poverty and starvation forever"- Nirasha said before getting into successful organic agri-business. Farming has been the only earning source for Larta village dwellers, like others, Nirasha also depends on the same with a meagre landholding of less than one acre. Although the family income was inadequate, she did not have any other alternative options to supplement her income. In 2016, Nirasha met the IGS team through Creating Livelihoods Options under Drought (CLAD). After a series of interactions in many training and workshops conducted by IGS, she eventually learned about INRM practices such as mixed cropping through line sowing and spacing. Eventually, She learnt preparation of the organic mixture, mix cropping, raising nursery technology, and preparing a compost named NADEP. She was apprehensive at the outset to apply on her land, but consistent handholding support by the IGS team removed her fear. In 2017, she sown Paddy and Manduwa during Kharif season with proper line sowing, and spacing and her income were around 50 thousand, out of which 38 thousand was the net profit after deducting input cost. She got motivated and did it in 2018 too, now the returns from the same piece of land (50 decimal land) increased to 57 thousand and 46 thousand was the net profit. Nirasha noticed that her land is getting healthier through organic farming, and expenditure on farming has drastically reduced, leading to an increase in productivity.
By seeing Nirasha, other Larta village farmers have adopted organic farming, which includes no pesticides, excludes traditional methods of manure, compost and decomposition. Nirasha Devi became a source of inspiration for the other villagers. Her affluent income helps her invest in her kid's education and fulfil the desires of her family members.