Hingalganj experience

Recently, I went to Hingalganj near Sundarban and Bangladesh. I met 53 farmers and noticed their failures in following five areas:

1. Inability to create customer;
2. Unorganized crop production;
3. Lack of diary writing ;
4. Lack of knowledge about risk analysis and financial management;
5. Lack of knowledge about project analysis and goal setting.

Their educational level ranged from class VII to B.A.

My visit was arranged by Shri Nilangshu Gain of Swanirbhar.
Ardhendu Bhattacharya was with me.

comment from orkut friend

Some of the problems faced by small farmer are;

Lack of knowledge: Lack of knowledge about modern farming techniques, Lack of knowledge about abt various govt measures, availability of farm loans and knowledge about use of pesticides are common among farmers. They are many farmers ( I guess more than 60-70%) who never approached agriculture department. Many of them are not even aware of existence of such institution.

Lack of better price: Most of the farmers do not get good prices for their produces. There is involvement of many intermediaries in between which result in less prices for the agri produces of a farmer. There are many farmers who are not even aware of APMC. People approach local dealer and sell their produce at the price quoted by the dealer. Since small farmers cannot afford to transport their products to mandis, they don't get a good deal.

Cost of farming : The cost of farming has increased substantially over the years. It is quite natural that the workers demand higher wages as they get similar salary outside. However we didn't see such a similar rise in the income of farmers. Earlier small farmers used to do most of their farm work with the help of family members. Since we don't have many joint families, the labor cost in farming has increased substantially.

Non availability of Labor: Non availability of Labor is one of the problem now and going forward it will be one of the biggest challenge for the farmer. People's attitude towards farming, the hard work involved in farming and other lucrative opportunities available are some of the reasons for that.

Dependence on single crop: Most of the farmers are small scale farmers and they rely on single farming and in case diseases or fall in prices incur huge losses.

I think multi tasking is one of the best way to become a successful farmer. Rather than depending on a single crop farmer should try multi produts. NGOs should come forward and help farmers in logistic issues and NGOs must try to educate famers..

Value change

Farming is basically based on collectivistic values. Farmers are interacting with each other. They maintain a good social network system through which they learn different procedures of farming, and develop market.

This is noted that farmers are moving from collectivistic values to individualistic values possibly due to market competition as is noted in urban based industries.

Baduria visit and new experience

Yesterday (3rd Nov.2009), I met almost 30 farmers engaged in sustainable agriculture procedure. Debalina Chatterjee and me went there with the help of Shri Neelangshu Gain. Shri Gain is running one NGO named
'Swanirbhar'. The NGO aims at spreading education about sustainable agriculture system among rural poor farmers. Through the Secretary of DRCSC, Shri Anshuman Das, I get opportunity to interact with Shri Gain.
Shri Gain is versatile person having vast knowledge about sustainable agriculture. In SA, focus is on engineering education about organic instead of chemical fertilizers and germinated seed transplantation. He told us about diversified education and affiliation ranging from software engineering to agricultural education to health sciences. He did some researches on mangroves of Sundarban, AILA etc. His research method usually follows evidence based model rather empirical statistical data analysis.

We collected data from a training center managed by Swanirbhar. Shri Gain was with us despite his active involvement in different areas. The place from where we collected data is 10/15 Kms away from Baduria.

There I have learned that successful plantation requires biodiversity. Farmers who engineer biodiversity are effective in the followings:
1. Multi farming
2. Land utiliization
3. Leadership development in marketing
4. Innovation

These farmers are not anxious at all for availability of fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides. All the three are under their control.
Another advantage is killing bad insects and rearing good insects.
They are using vermicompost system with knowledge getting from local training centers managed by NGOs.

On the other hand non biodiversified plantation farmers are using pesticides and others in considering their own assumptions. If they get poor result, they are asking for advice from the local fertilizer shops. These local fertilizer shops are also not well educated.


Mr. Gain assisted us to visit one successful farmer. Below is his life style:


Here is a farmer, commerce graduate, 60 years old, has one small plot of land (4 bighas) and one small pond. He himself is farming land using traditional instruments - 'kurul', 'kaste' etc. He constructed some 'macha' around the pond and cultivated vegetables. Pond is used for fishing. Many crabs are making their shelters around the pond. So his earning comes from the crab also.
He has some hens they are using for making the land more fertile. Their excreta help to make more insects. Insects are taking shelters in the land. This makes the land fertile. Besides, the farmer prepares own vermicompost. He is using organic fertilizers in the land and selling them to local farmers.
He cultivates land for 3 times rice crop production. He has some mango trees. Beneath the trees, I have seen some vegetable plants. He is not using any pesticide or weedicide. Rather, he is telling about plantation of some medicinal plants in such a way so that insects are misguided. He is earning through medicinal plants also.
He told me his own shop in the market. Buyers who can afford more buy from his shop.


Baduria
Baduria is a city as well as a municipality located in the North 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal in India. It is a part of the Basirhat subdivision and also has a police station. The administrative hub of the North 24 Parganas district is Barasat. The district is located between latitudes 23°15` North and 22°11` North and longitudes 89°5` East and 88°20` East. The district is a part of the Ganges- Brahmaputra delta. The river Ganges flows parallel to the entire west border of the district. There are numerous over rivers. Ichhamati, Jamuna, and Bidyadhari are a few to name. The soil type of this region ranges from sandy to clayey loam. This district experiences tropical climate similar to the remaining part of the Gangetic West Bengal. The characteristic feature of the climate is the Monsoon, which lasts from early June to mid September. The weather conditions range from dry during the winter (mid November to mid February) to humid during the summer. The annual rainfall is normally about 1,579 mm. The people of the North 24 Parganas district are primarily farming or service people. Important towns of this district include Barrackpore, Barasat, Habra, Bongaon, Gobardanga, Duttapukur, Naihati, Madhyamgram, Sodepur, Jagulia, Belgharia, Basirhat and Khardaha.

The town of Baduria in this district is located at 22.74° North and 88.79° East. This town is situated 8 meters (26 feet) above sea level. In accordance with the 2001 India census Baduria has a population of 47,418. Males and females respectively comprise 51% and 49% of the population. The standard literacy rate of this town is 67%, higher than the national average of 59.5%. 55% of the male population and 45% of the female population are literate. 13% of the population is less than 6 years of age.
Ref: http://www.indianetzone.com/6/baduria.htm

Indian women farmers coping with climate change

Indian women farmers coping with climate change
Ref: http://southasia.oneworld.net/fromthegrassroots/indian-women-farmers-coping-with-climate-change

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Manisha Prakash
26 October 2009


At a recent public hearing, Indian women farmers voiced their helplessness in dealing with the ramifications of global warming. While men are increasingly migrating to towns in search of employment, women are left to struggle against erratic weather patterns, rising temperatures and decreasing groundwater levels to support their families.

Patna: Neelam Devi, 35, and Israwati Devi, 45, from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, respectively, are women farmers struggling to make ends meet, as unpredictable rain patterns, rising temperatures and falling groundwater levels ruin crops and devastate the well-being of their families.

Far removed from the jargon of climate change these women, along with several other ordinary farmers, shared their experience of coping with climate change at a public hearing on ‘Climate Change and Livelihoods in Flood Prone Areas’ held in Patna, recently.

The hearing is part of a nationwide series organised by Oxfam International to provide a platform for climate-affected people at the grassroots, so that they can catch the ear of policy makers and administrators.

The testimonies

The testimonies of Neelam and Israwati - along with those of eight other farmers, who came from places like Muzaffarnagar in Bihar and the villages of eastern Uttar Pradesh - will be taken to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference that will be held in December this year.

“I belong to the flood-prone Raghopur village in Muzaffarpur district. In recent years, climate change has adversely affected our lives, agriculture and our cattle. We now face a changed weather system: During the monsoon there is little or no rain; then suddenly the skies open out and we have to face floods,” explained Neelam in a steady voice.

She pointed out that the changing weather pattern has left farmers with little option but to desert the land that had sustained them all these years and seek out new sources of income.

Neelam linked migration to climate change. She believed that “agriculture is no longer an occupation that can offer much to those who till the land.” Both Neelam and her husband were on the verge of relocating themselves, much against their wishes, when help arrived.

Recalls Neelam: “My husband was desperately making plans for us to migrate when this SHG stepped in and assisted us in setting up a shop so that we could earn a livelihood.”

Disturbing new realities

Those who stay on have to confront disturbing new realities. Upendra Choudhary, 50, from Dumri village of Muzaffarpur, has observed three trends that are increasingly making themselves felt in the region: Temperatures rising to 40 degrees Celsius - very rare in earlier days - dangerously declining groundwater levels and frequent floods. In fact, some blocks of Muzaffarpur witness floods almost every year.

"Anomalies like this are adversely impacting every single person. Falling water levels have hit farming operations considerably. The more prosperous farmers are now resorting to pumps run on diesel and electricity to squeeze out precious groundwater from the earth,” explained Choudhary.

Having travelled to Patna from eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP), Hublal Chauhan, 50, from Maharajganj, also mentioned that he now missed the early winter nip in the air that had once marked the onset of the month of October.

Chauhan appeared to be a keen observer of nature. According to him: “the migratory birds and the common sparrow have disappeared from our regions.” Chauhan, like many other villagers, has been forced to adopt new ways of coping with the unpredictable situation. He now does mixed cropping on his fields and believes that grain banks have become essential to ensure a modicum of food security for the household.

While the urban populace finds quick relief from rising temperatures by installing air conditioners, which incidentally only contribute to the problem, marginal farmers and their families know very well that there is no device that can instantly raise groundwater levels or improve the quality of the harvest.

Impacts of extreme weather

The testimony of Israwati, a woman farmer from Sant Kabir Nagar in UP, was eloquent. “The milk yields from my cattle have declined greatly because of the unbearable heat. Even the size of fruits has decreased.”

Israwati is part of a growing tribe of rural women who have been forced to become farmers and breadwinners for their families. This is largely because the men have moved out of the villages in search of better paying work, leaving the women to tend to the fields that they had once tilled.

The women who are left behind now have to bear the double burden of having to farm the land as well as play their traditional roles as caregivers within the household.

As various voices - seldom heard by the city elite - threw light on the impact of extreme weather on local livelihoods and incomes, it also became apparent that it is the women, children and the elderly who are the worst affected.

Not only has climate change adversely impacted on the quantity and quality of food available to them, people who are either too young or too infirm to look after themselves suddenly find themselves without adequate familial support.

Tough routine

Well-known Bihar-based Hindi writer Usha Kiran Khan, who was part of the five-member jury at the Patna hearing, elaborated on the tough routine of the women when the men are away from the villages for most part of the year.

“In the area around the Kosi river, you can see women row boats to ferry sick family members to hospital. It also leaves them vulnerable to attacks from hoodlums,” she said.

Jharkhand-based academic, Dr Ramesh Sharan believes that the time has come to perceive climate change as a part of development. He also reiterated the fact that while the men can escape to the cities in search of jobs, most women have no option but to suffer the worst consequences of climate change. And, as Professor Santosh Kumar of the National Institute of Disaster Management, observed, “when women are affected, the whole household is affected.”

Khan felt that a public event, like the one that was staged in Patna, would go some way into helping city people understand the problems and experiences of those living vulnerable lives in the rural hinterland who are otherwise unseen and unheard by those who make policies.

Taking to Copenhagen

The testimonies presented at the Patna meet will now be documented and presented at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, which will be attended by heads of government. Jeremy Hobb, Executive Director, Oxfam International, underlined the fact that climate change was an international problem and strongly felt that the changing circumstances on the ground called for serious policy changes.

Earlier at the hearing, participants staged a play to demonstrate how unpredictable weather patterns takes everyone by surprise and leaves ordinary people with little time to take protective action.

Madhubani's Chandrakala Devi poignantly summed up the situation: “Our lands can no longer promise us food all the year round. We hardly know the mood of the weather so our men are forced to leave us and go out to the cities to earn so that we can eat. We are left with nothing but huge responsibilities and mental agony.”

Visi to Chakdaha

Thanks to all. I met few farmers who are farming more than 12 kms away from the high road. Pesticide observation is correct. I have noted their following problems:

1. They use fertilizers following the advice of shop rather expert ;
2. They want regular visit of ADO from whom they can get idea about different diseases in the plant;
3. They want book on farming in local language;
4. One big farmer having 12 acre of farm land initially uses pesticides, weedies, fertilizers in the small area of land and getting good result, he introduces it in other areas. He has no education. For 35 years, he is engaged in farming. Currently. He has one shop of fertilizers. URL company tests his land as model plot. He is very much self-efficacious.
His only word - be attached in the farming despite of all odd circumstances.

Acknowledgments:

Professor (Retd) Amiya Saha of Kalyani University: He arranged two students to meet the farmers.


ATTITUDE TO MANPOWER AND FARM LAND

Changing family system from joint to nuclear causes huge loss of manpower in farming.
Another loss is due to higher education ( beyond primary education). People shift from traditional occupation to non-traditional areas due to higher education. I ask this issue to some farmers and get positive response.

During my visit in the north - east, I have noticed that many people do not want higher education due to loss of manpower in agriculture.

One farmer having more than 3 acres of land sells 4 bighas in every year for higher education to his son in Commerce. The son replied that he would not come to the agriculture. To him, loss of land is inevitable process for changing life style.

I ask similar question to my punjabi student but her reply is different. For her land is the asset and it's value is adding in geometric progrression.

It comes to my mind that attitude towards land varies with state or locality.


Attitude change

Yes, attitude change is possible if scientists instead of political figures with vested interests come forward to the farmers for education.

Currently, farmers are puzzled as the lands are not in their hands. I have seen their difficulty to make the land more fertile after use of chemical fertilizers. Some farmers wanted to learn some simple methods of soil testing. Soils are collected according to certain specifications. All farmers are not aware of it.

Again, they were apprehended about soil mixture - is the tested soil related to thier own land ?

We have to stop their unnecessary apprehension by cost effective scientific approach.

Perceived environmental uncertainty

a. Prediction difficulty
b. Dynamicity
c. Complex

Spring is a time of transition—leaves bud, the grass hints at green, and farmers are preparing for spring planting of crops that grow over the summer (such as corn, soybeans, and rice). It is also a time of uncertainty, as farmers and others try to get a sense of how the new season will unfold. Key data presented in USDA's annual Prospective Plantings report (released March 31) and other publications are helpful assessment tools. Still, questions remain. What will farmers plant, and how will markets respond?

At first glance, uncertainty this year appears particularly keen. Fluctuating energy prices in late winter and early spring have implications for farm production costs, including diesel fuel, irrigation pumping, and fertilizer. Prolonged dryness in the western U.S. and parts of the Great Plains complicates planting in those regions. Heightened competition from foreign countries in several markets—Brazil for soybeans, Russia and Ukraine for wheat, and China for several commodities—raises questions of how the global marketplace will shape up in 2003.

While weather and international factors are obvious sources of uncertainty, government policies affecting agriculture—including trade, commodity, and environmental policies—can be sources of uncertainty, too. Indeed, a USDA survey in the late 1990s indicated that policy and regulatory changes were perceived by farmers to rank highest among the risks they faced.

But are times more uncertain now than in the past? Uncertainty in agricultural markets can be measured in many different ways, but variability in commodity prices is one "bottom-line" way to assess the situation. Using prices for corn, a major crop planted in the spring, the answer appears to be "no." Variability in corn prices was quite high during the 1920s and 1930s, largely due to the collapse in grain prices in the post-World War I period and low yields in several years. Variability was low during the 1950s and 1960s, a period characterized by high government support, fairly stable yields, and consistent demand. From 1990 to the present, corn price variability appears to be near its long-term average.



Over time, of course, the prices an individual producer receives may be more or less variable than those at the aggregate level. Whatever comes, spring is a time for renewal…and, for farmers…a time to gather information and analyze it to best position themselves to weather the ups and downs of the market.

Source: http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/April03/UpFront/




ANXIETY OVER PEST MANAGEMENT

Farmers are anxious about different pests in the field and how to manage them with available pest management systems.

ANXIETY OVER FIELDS
This is applicable for shifting cultivators. They are anxious to understand which fields will produce more crops.