5 everyday heroes that are helping farmers in India

Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” This statement has resounding relevance in the context of today, characterized by the emergence of a society comprising of ordinary men and women armed with courage that has had the power to change systems.

One aspect of this radical transformation is highly qualified individuals sacrificing their comfortable lives to make an impact on the lives of farmers in India.

The young entrepreneur who helps farmers with low-cost innovations

Hot water without geyser? A carrot cleaning machine? A brake system for a bullock cart? These inventions have been borne from the desire of one man to convert problems into opportunity. Santosh Kaveri’s experience working on the farm led him to identify the common problems farmers faced, leading him to come up with low-cost innovations that have saved both time and money for the farmer.

He was awarded the “Best Leader” Award by Ratan Tata in 2013.

A young engineer who is helping farmers in remote villages

An electrical engineer from BITS Pilani, 25 year old Parth Gupta has created the concept of a cooperative society, selling produce at profitable retail markets, eliminating the need for middlemen. Run by the womenfolk of the villages, they are trained to manage the finances and marketing of this cooperative society.

Currently, this society has farmers from 32 villages across Madhya Pradesh, cultivating and selling their produce directly to retail markets. As a result of this initiative, farmers who were selling their produce at cheap prices are now saving up to 3000-4000 a year.

Techies in Chennai are helping families of farmers in Tamil Nadu

The drought in Tamil Nadu is seen to be one of the worst the state has seen in over 140 years. This has propelled a group of software professionals to come together to start a trust that aims at providing financial assistance to the families of farmers who have committed suicides.

P Vetrivel, the man who started the trust, aims to provide immediate relief assistance to the families, supported by long-term plans of providing them with cattle to start small businesses.

The trust currently supports 10 farmer families in Tamil Nadu.

One man who is helping farmers sell their produce online

27-year-old ShriKrishna Hegde Ullane’s love for farming has inspired him to create an online market place to connect farmers to a wider market. Concentrating on value-adding products like Kokum, honey, squash, as they are ready for the market, he and his team are involved in educating farmers about the benefits of these products and reducing barriers in reaching out to a larger market. Today, they are connected with over 5000 farmers in Karnataka with over 300 of them directly selling on their platform.

Developing irrigation technology to tackle climate change

With over 18 years of experience in semi-arid regions of Gujarat, Biplab Paul has designed an indigenous technology that uses harvested rainwater to better tackle both weather phenomena in the form of floods and droughts. This technology ensures rainwater seeps through a straw into a pipe, guaranteeing crop survival without an external irrigation supply. Easy to maintain and on the pocket, this technology has travelled as far as Ghana, Indonesia and Bangladesh with over 100,000 farmers benefitting from this.

These examples are a tribute to those who should serve as an inspiration to all of us. The message is simple- The time for dialogue is over. They show us that nothing can stop us from being the change we would like to see, that in this quest for progress, we can’t afford to leave anyone behind.

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle #JaagoRe!

Saving one life at a time: Rescuing Indian farmers

India has seen more than 3 lakh farmer suicides since 1995, which means more than one farmer committed suicide every hour*. While media coverage has brought national attention to the condition of farmers in India, majority of us wait helplessly, expressing our angst on social media year after year.

Not only is our understanding of factors leading to farmer's suicides limited, we are also ignorant of the ways in which we can affect a change in their situation. In fact, many of us believe that it is not possible for the 'aam aadmi' to help farmers.

As we wait for another year of a seemingly brutal summer, and headlines of social and economic causes pushing more farmers to the brink, here’s a story on Pre-activist Babu P, Chief functionary at ICRA (Institute for Cultural Research and Action (ICRA).

ICRA is a developmental organisation working with over 3000 marginalised farmers in rain fed regions of Karnataka for over 15 years. His associate V Gayathri, edits the bimonthly Sahaja Saguvali, a bimonthly farm magazine in Kannada. They have been tirelessly working to turn around the plight of struggling farmers. Babu P. explains the issues on the ground for us.

ICRA and sustainable farming with over 3000 farmers

"Right from the 1990s, we were highly concerned about environmental issues. Through ICRA, we have begun a sustainable organic culture across several parts of Karnataka. We have been working with tribes and farmers, indigenous communities and hold trainings and workshops for them.

Through ICRA, the first generation of organic farmers is now working in the fields of the State.

An unforgiving land: why farmers are driven to suicide

We have carried a study on farmer’s suicide over the years. It is hard to explain to someone who is unfamiliar with farming about the issues related with it.

Heavy loans are something farmers cannot escape. The social pressures and taboos that come with loans are hard for them to bear. The farming community is driven by certain values that we may not relate to.

Recurrent crop failures make farmers migrate to cities in search of jobs. Some migrate to mine factories. Men who move to mining have faced several health hazards. Once they migrate and abandon their lands, they cannot go back. The lands turn infertile.

Rekindling hope for farmers

We attempt to create an environment where farming is creative, profitable and secure.

In Bellary district, over 500 farmers had migrated to mining and were working under hazardous conditions. We reintroduced them back to farming by first clearing their lands and turning them productive. We created community based ‘sanghas’ to rope them back into farming.

There are several new agricultural practices that farmers are unaware of. We train them in this regard.

Often, we try to get them to raise funds and loans within the ‘sanghas’ itself. This way, people in the community themselves look out for each other.

We also help them make their soil more fertile, help them adjust their crops and plantings to the changes in climate. Today even droughts don’t affect farmers. Many of them are well equipped to handle extreme situations. These are the real heroes. We have also acquired land titles for many farmers that had no prior documentation or proof of their land holdings.

What can ordinary citizens do to help them?

To begin with, youngsters can start consuming and promoting organic farming.

Secondly, there needs to be a system in place, an organisational structure where people can volunteer, meet farmers, teach them, learn from them as to how they survive in the toughest of conditions. Many attempt to volunteer and go to their villages, but can’t stay there for even a week.

When citizen’s groups come together and pressurise the Government, a state intervention could finally come in place, which is of dire need now. The society and the State both have to change their policy and approach.

If they can do it, why can’t we?

Farming is seen as a challenging occupation, which offers neither money, nor respect. In such a scenario, pre-activists like Babu P. stepped in to make a real difference in the lives of many farmers.

It’s time we too channelled our discomfort with farmer suicide more constructively. It’s time we moved towards acting while there is hope, rather than reacting in despair of lakhs of lives lost. Because for lakhs of farmers in India, the clock is ticking.

Before yet another farm turns dry. Before yet another life is lost...

Alarm bajne se pehle Jaago Re!

*Source: The Indian Express

Open Letter from a Barren Farm

Dear India,

In songs of beauty, of abundance, of prosperity, I was once the main hero. You used to sing about my lush green pastures as you watered the soil, where rice, maize and corn grew. Cattle grazed, I was full of life. A symbol of prosperity to animals, birds, crops and people.

Now, it's a different story. I am infertile. I'm no longer of use to you. The songs are all a thing of the past. I am abandoned and I'm lonely.

No one writes songs about those that they wronged. I am the field that you wronged by diverting water to the cities.

No one writes songs about those who they malnourished. I am the field that you used too much pesticide on.

No one writes songs about the ones that hold them back. I am the field that got in the way of your 'city dreams'.

No one writes songs about the one that they abuse. I am the field that was used to grow your cash crops.

You think I've forgotten how it used to be before, when fields were lush, green and fertile - that I've forgotten how I used to be? You think I want to be this infertile field, now that you are begging me to grow something… anything! You think I want to be the desolate piece of land of your funeral pyre? Remember you abandoned me. I waited and hoped.

Today you look at me with fallen eyes as the ones who toil upon me are about to take their own lives. You call out to the nation, to the masses, to the media. No one seems to care."No one is coming to save our crops, to rescue our lives, and our lands."

Only when we're down to the last crop in the country, down to the last surviving farmer, perhaps only then the country will finally wake up. Only when it's a little too late, will we all will decide to finally awake.

Yours barren and infertile,
The Farmland.

A thousand more farmers may commit suicide this year, & I can't do anything about it.

The lady who cooks for me is married to a farmer. She tells me how difficult each passing day gets on the farm. She also used to be a farmer, helping her husband. But she says female farmers aren’t really given any regard due to their gender.

She tells me that she came to the city to lend a helping hand with the finances. She misses being with her family, but life had other plans for her. She works at 8 houses, wakes up at the crack of dawn and sleeps late into the night. Every day is even more tiring than the previous - but she toils house to house because she doesn’t want her husband to meet the fate of the 1000s like him.

I cannot imagine living like this - having to earn a living from a profession that’s entirely at the mercy of unpredictable weather. I thought my job was thankless, until I met my cook.

She’s told me about some absurd, ridiculous practices – there was a point in time when farmers were marrying multiple times so that there’s someone to fetch water!

Ours is said to be the last generation of farmers. The next generation of farmers will apparently ‘cease to exist’. Either they will migrate to cities, be stripped off their lands, or will take the direst route – suicide.

Our apathy is contributing to more farmers committing suicide

Farmers and their families live in constant stress. They are unable to sustain themselves due to natural calamities, lack of resources and administrative apathy.

Are we waiting to lose an entire generation of farmers before we finally wake up and react to this dire situation? Are we going to sit up and take notice only when it's too late? Wake up, before the last farmer gives up.

Alarm Bajne Se Pehle Jaago Re!