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13/6/2014

Continuing the discourse on farmer issues and organic farming, the second session organised on the 11th of June, was an interactive sessions with Umender Dutt executive director of the KVM (Khethi Virsat Mission)and Sardar Inderjit Singh Sahol, organic farmer for last twelve years and member of Nabha organic farmers group.

Umender Dutt started his conversation with the water crisis faced by Punjab's villages, followed by the three major episodes of villages going up for sale which started in year 2000- Harkishanpura in Bathinda, Malsinghwala in Mansa & Bhuttal Kalan, in Patiala. The village was put up for sale by villagers due to water crisis and money debt.

Later he went on to explain what led up to such conditions and then spoke in length about green revolution. He explained that green revolution is a process which involves the extraction of resources with no relation, no emotion, no compassion for mother earth. The water crisis and food grain problem was discussed with dark zone covering the entire Punjab except few places He pointed out that the numbers of tube wells in villages have increased fourteen times since 1971 and also explained about the various types of food grains that were lost in green revolution, citing paddy as an example, which had about one lakh varieties spread across the country depending on the micro environment of the region.

Hovering over to the pest issue, he informed that the pests that hit Punjab's paddy crops have increased four folds since green revolution, and also said that the 'alien' approach towards land, has lead to loss of food heritage and prosperity. Dutt went on further, explaining how agriculture has transformed into agribusiness with emergence of the allied systems coming into picture. At the end Dutt advised us to go back to "Spiritual Reception of Agriculture".

In due course Sadar Inderjit Singh Sahol followed. Hailing from Sahol village in Nabha, he shared with us, his tryst with organic farming since the last twelve years. Working on five acres of land, with 18 desi shahiwal cows, he informed us of how he learnt from his mistakes and loss for three straight years. On a lighter note, Singh also described the magical moment when he got rid of his glasses, further reinstating his belief in the benefits of organic farming.

But what to do when one cannot find desi cows in their own habitat? "I went to the streets and dragged two stray cows and ended up getting the tag of 'maha murkh' from the villagers," he said laughing. But more difficult than convincing himself was the task of convincing others. He talked about how he felt while selling pesticides sprayed vegetables and how it made him to grow the organic food. He narrated how he got other farmers into this and now there are group of 150 small and medium farmers making Nabha Organic Group of Farmers.

He spoke eloquently about the Nabha Organic Group Farmers as entrepreneurial venture and how they were exporting the basmati rice and recent development of getting European fare trade certificate for their goods which help them to get better price. And what more could have been a better way to conclude than by sharing the desi nuskhas (remedies) for sneezing- by applying the desi cow's ghee in nose in a particular way before going to sleep?