Frontline-June2018-A Crop Revolution

 Reference Article: Frontline/June 2018/ A crop revolution by ANUPAMA KATAKAM

Context of the Article:

• Agrarian distress in Marathwada Region- largely Rainfed
• The failure of the monsoons cascades down to the failure of cash crops (loss of remuneration).
• Failed crops lead to debt and become a cause for Farmer Suicides.

Agrarian Distress in Marathwada:

• Marathwada is a victim of climate change. There have been Consecutive years of drought and water scarcity from 2014 to 2016
• Faulty Cropping Pattern: Widespread MONOCULTURE and too much cultivation of SUGARCANE (a water intensive crop) •Technological Backwardness: According to a research, Even today farmers in the Marathwada region are using wooden ploughs and iron ploughs on large scale. The DENSITY OF TRACTOR PER THOUSAND HECTARE of land is relatively low in Marathwada division
• Smaller Land Holdings: Around 70% of the landholding in Marathwada is less than 2 hectare. Also, net irrigation area of this small size holding was merely 4.71% (2000-2001)

 About Swayam Shiksha Prayog (SSP):

• A non-governmental organisation (NGO) has taken innovative initiatives to deal with adverse impact of Climate Change in Agriculture.
• This NGO works on women’s empowerment in Maharashtra
• In 2014, the SSP began a small but significant movement that introduced the Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) method to help thousands of women in the field of Agriculture.
• In 2017, the SSP won the prestigious Equator Prize instituted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its women-led, climate-resilient agro-ecological farming model
• SSP has come up with a small but significant movement that introduced the Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) method to help thousands of 'women' to reap economic benefits.

 SSP Model of Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA):

• Using adaptation and mitigation tools to build resilience to climate change.
• Increasing agricultural productivity and incomes
• Helping to ensure food security, provides a sustainable livelihood and reduce greenhouse gases.
• Women Led Sustainable Agriculture: The innovative aspect of this model is to bring to the centre stage women as farmers and get them to lead the way

Impact of SSP's CRA Model:

The most substantial benefit of SSP's CRA model has been in terms of "Women Empowerment" (Rural). Besides this, some other tangible returns are as follows:

• approximately 30,000 acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) are under bio-farming
• The average cost of savings on input is about 35 per cent an acre (about Rs. 40 crore)
• The increase in productivity per acre averaged 25 per cent
• Annual household savings owing to food consumption from the farm was estimated at Rs. 30,000
• 60 per cent of what is cultivated is for the family’s consumption
• Trickle-down effect—nutrition levels are better, there is a reduction in anaemia, and the overall quality of life has improved
• There has been a diversification of crops which has made agriculture more remunerative and has also maintained Soil Health and Water efficiency.
• It has encouraged selling of horticulture crops to the producer organisation

Women at the Centre Stage:
SSP's model targeted the small farmers (1-2 acres of Land), within this group they specifically targeted women.
Reason:Unlike cash crops, local food crops take six to eight cycles to yield results. It requires a lot of hard work, and only women will invest their effort in such a project.

Methods Adopted:

• Women were encouraged to convince their spouses to lend them a part of their overall acreage towards growing vegetables, fruits, and local grains and pulses
• local seed varieties used to grow traditional produce using biopesticides and biofertilizers
• Mixed and intercropping cycles ensured that soil was replenished for each season
• Simple drip irrigation, sprinklers, farm ponds and tree plantation was part of an efficient water management system.
• The borders of the plot were lined with fruit trees (guava and pomegranate).

Result: The success of the little patch, which generated a substantial income, has allowed the male farmer to let his wife use the rows between the sugarcane stalks to plant vegetables such as spinach and tomatoes (DILUTION OF PATRIARCHY IN AGRICULTURE)

Maharashtra Govt and World Bank’s $420-Million Project:

• The project will come in aid of small and marginal farmers
• It plans to improve soil quality, develop food grain varieties which can sustain climate variations and effect necessary changes in the crop pattern as per the availability of water in a particular region
• The project will focus on increasing climate-resilient practices in agriculture and  ensure financial viabliity of farming
• The project, to be implemented in 5,142 villages across 15 districts, will roll out in stages from 2018-19 and continue until 2023-24.

Conclusion:
A method like 'CRA by SSP' has tackled the impact of Climate Change along with empowering women and bringing farmers out of distress and making Rural Economy more Robust. More such innovative methods is the need of the hour.
 

By: Chandan Sharma