|
Organic Farming
Project 2019-20 :
|
Supported
by ERM, a project titled Women
for Greens - Improving Livelihood of Marginalised Rural Women By Providing Training & Support to Cultivate
The Fallow Land
has been initiated in a cluster of villages in Poorvi Singbhum district in
Jharkhand. The project aims to :
- Help the local women
to take up farming as an occupation and a means of livelihood.
- Motivate them to
utilize the available fallow land through land reclamation techniques
using organic methods.
- Build access to the
government support programmes that provide seeds, saplings and other farming
related support.
- Improve green cover
which results in improved access to produce like fruits, additional fodder for
livestock, mulch for farming and firewood.
The project expects the
following outcomes:
- Village based women of
marginal section will become full-fledged farmers and have an additional means
of livelihood.
- Fallow land will be
utilized resulting in increase of green cover, in turn providing additional
value to the women farmers
This
effort is already progressed well. To begin with there has been a Training
organized for the village women leaders and Swadhina field volunteers, to
create knowledge base on Organic Farming. Thereafter with the help of these
human resources the work in the field started and has now taken a good pace.
The work has the following aspects:
1.
Creation
of Organic Manure Pits
2.
Reclamation
of Fallow land
3.
Farming
on these land
Organic Manure Pit
Land
needs food, and, not chemicals. Use and over use of chemical fertilizers and
pesticides may in
the short run give more crop production, but the process also
de-grade the quality of the land as the process kills the food for the land.
That means that the land that give us food is not getting its own food. We need
to replenish food for the land, so that the quality of the land is upgraded.
Organic Manure, prepared in the natural way can provide appropriate food for
the land. 
How
these are being done:
A
pit is dug, 4’ x 3’ x 3’ of size or nearer the size, depending on the place or
available space. This Organic Manure Pit is then filled with a layer of cow
dung, a layer of soft soil, leaves - green or dried ones, broken plant branches,
straws, plant recedues and anything that is natural. Thus several layers are
laid. After some weeks the manure is ready. After tilling the land this manure
is used before planting the seedlings.
The
area of our project is drought prone. This is basically forest area and
inhabitants are primarily tribal and other backward caste communities. This is
a forest and hilly region, and hence landless-ness is not the issue. Topographically
the land is divided into four categories.
Tad, -the upper most layer, hilly-stony-dry sloaps with almost zero water-retention
capacity.
Baid,
- the next lower rung, mostly used for cultivation purpose during rainy season.
Kanali
–
Lower level land, has water retention, and can be used even during moderate dry period. Ideal for plantation of
the type of crops requiring less irrigation water.
Bohal- very low land
normally remain inundated during rainy season, but can be beneficial during drought period.
Fallow
land is the Tad land for which the land reclamation is done. This means
clearing the stony and hard soil. The tilling
is hard, and, at times difficult for the bullock-supported ploughing. Our
Here
are the glimpses of the Land Reclamation effort:
Plantation
Encouragement
is provided to plant easily manageable items, also looking at the demands of
the local markets. Also emphasis is laid on cultivating plants which help in
nitrogen fixation on the soil like various forms of beans, lintels, grams etc.
Chasing the Dream !!
Regular
interaction is done with each woman involved in the programme. This is
basically to learn about the final objective of them - what is the dream
they are chasing as a result of the effort they are putting in.
Very
interesting observations are recorded:
-
Some
wish to use the money thus earned on the education development of their
children,
-
Some
want to put the money in the savings in their own bank account
--
Wish
them Every Best !!
Those Who Dared to Dream
Here
are the stories of some brave hearts who dared to plunge into the journey.
1.Sabitri
Mahato:
She
has a small family - Sabitri, her husband and two sons. The elder one has just
completed college studies and the other one is just admitted in a college. They
live in Hurumbil village and this is one of the rare scenario where there are
two college going children in a family !
Sabitri
has reclaimed one Bigha (about half of an acre) of fallow land, prepared an
Organic Manure Pit. She has planted Tomatoes in the reclaimed land and is
expecting at least 20 quintals of produce and can sale it for about Rs.
16000/-. They plan to repair and renovate their house with that money.
2.
Astami Mahato
She
lives in Hurumbil with her mother. Astami lost her father at an early age some
years ago. She did not marry and she
gets a Government stipend of Rs. 1000/- per month. She has reclaimed 2 bighas
of fallow land and has also dug an organic manure pit.
She
has planted Kulathi lentils in the reclaimed land. She expects about 40 kgs of
lintel which will help her family in food security.
She
is aware that this particular plants will help in improving land quality, and
hence for next crop she can plant good profitable item.
3.Sharmila
Hansda
she
belongs to Hutupathar, a Santhal tribe village. She has a small family with
husband and
two sons. Both the children study in primary school. Sharmila and her husband
occasionally go for daily wage-earning work as farm-hands whenever available.
They have dug an organic manure pit and reclaimed 2 bighas of land. They
planted tomatoes which they expect to fetch 30 quintals, which would give them
about Rs. 24000/-. They have two rooms
house. One room is yet to have good roofing and they plan to go for tile
roofing with the money they would get from the earning.
4.Kalyani
Mahato
She
lives in Hurumbil with her husband and two children. Her husband is well
educated but could not secure a job which will earn money for the family.
Daughter
is appearing for School Final Exam and the son studies in fifth standard. They
have sent the daughter for good schooling at a far off place called Dharampur
who stays at a relative’s house. This is encouraging since not many family
would put in so much time and effort for
education of a girl-child. She has prepared an Organic Manure Pit and reclaimed 1 bigha of fallow land. She
has planted tomatoes and she expects this effort would yield 13 quintals of
tomatoes. She would get about 10000/-rupees. She plans to put the money thus
earned as savings in her bank account.
5.Sajani
Mandi
She
is from the Santhal tribe village of Hutupathar. She lives with her husband and
two sons.
Both
the sons studied up to high school. They all survive primarily by doing
daily-wage earning jobs in the village, i.e. whenever available. They have
prepared an organic manure pit and reclaimed 2 bighas of land. Tomatoes have
been planted and they expect at least 25000/- after selling the produce next
month.
Conclusion
The
programme has taken a good momentum, despite untimely rainfall and we record
our sincere appreciation for our field volunteers and the village women group
leaders. They have indeed put in hard work and moved in a planned way. We plan
to bring in our next progress report around end of this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment