Manik Rao of Ponna village has never had it so good. When he chose to take part in a programme that aimed at introducing new seed varieties and better methods of farming, he never imagined that he would be able to see a turnaround in just one year. Now Manik Rao has been able to get an increase of four quintals of cotton per acre in just one year.
He is one of the 10,000 farmers of Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh who are taking part in Project SHARE (Sustainable Harvest-Agriculture, Resources, Environment), a joint programme of a leading agro research company and Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP).
The choice of these villages for the programme was done in a meticulous manner. Adilabad is one of the most backward districts in Andhra Pradesh and these seven mandals were identified because ISAP felt that farmers would benefit the most from intervention to increase the yield.
The Society focused on farmer awareness campaigns to get the initiative going in this predominantly cotton growing area. Further, soil was tested for its health and farmers were shown demonstrations about the importance of using the right seeds, maintaining distance between plants, intercropping and controlling pesticide use etc. Almost all farmers chosen for this project were those with small holdings with an average of three acres per farmer.
Modern farming practices
Along with the programme came the access to high-yielding seeds and agriculture inputs, formation of farmer groups to enable collective bargaining power, increased exposure to modern farming practices which were adopted and demonstrated at centres like Krishi Vignan Kendras, creation of self-help groups for women and better market and value chain linkages.
The results in the first year have been fairly good. Manik Rao has been able to get a second crop on pigeon pea (red gram), which he interspersed with cotton and was also able to get a good yield on soyabean, all on his three-acre land.
For Narayan Reddy of Kamagiri village in Echoda mandal, the cotton yield has been unbelievable. Earlier he used to get around six-seven quintals of cotton per acre. At the time of our visit, he expected around 10 quintals per acre, in addition to a good yield of pigeon pea, which he used for intercropping. With low investment on pesticides, Narayan could not contain his happiness at finally seeing a good year. “Even the number of bolls per plant and their weight is more compared to the previous years,” he said.
What has gotten many farmers excited is the decreased investment on pesticides as the number of times they have to spray the same has reduced. From eight-nine sprays per yield, it has dropped to three-four sprays and that by itself is a source of relief for most of the farmers.
Farmers taking part in the four-year programme are well-networked and have frequent meetings with members of ISAP to discuss methods and crop problems. Most farmers are now expecting good prices for their yield and are looking forward to considerably larger income as compared to previous years. To that extent, the programme has been successful.
As a part of the programme, women in the villages have also formed self help groups, allowing them to pursue kitchen gardening for growing herbs, sewing and poultry.
Apprehensions about Bt brinjal
There is a however a certain reluctance from some of the farmers to speak about the usage of hybrid seeds. When questioned whether they would be alright about using Bt brinjal seeds for instance, the answer from the sarpanch Sriram Tulasiram who is also a part of the SHARE programme, was a firm “No, it is bad for consumption”.
A common opinion expressed by all farmers we talk to is that of better financial prospects with the cotton hybrid variety. That has been the theme all over the country, where the hybrids have been introduced. As a non-edible item, cotton hybrids have taken off with nearly 90 per cent of the area in the country being converted to hybrid cotton in a span of eight years. Soil health for instance is reported to be good in the Adilabad area, but it has been only one year of the new crops and too early to notice any indications of long term deleterious impact.
For the first year of the experiment, the results have been unbelievably good for the farmers. The knowledge of intercropping, judicious use of fertilisers and as a consequence, the lesser financial investments as opposed to higher returns has resulted in a stage of near euphoria for them. However, what is worrisome is the heavy dependence on hybrid seeds that this practice is bound to have. While many may question ‘why not?’ it would do well to keep in mind that latest reports that all is not well with hybrid seeds as should be.
Reports have been published about the ineffectiveness of the seeds to prevent infestation of worms in the cotton plant that it was designed for in the first place.
This will only lead to pushing of more hybrid seeds that are stronger with more genes than the earlier ones and to a steady increase of use of pesticides.
Researchers from University of Agricultural Sciences in Raichur and Institute of Wood Sciences and Technology in Bangalore have also reported finding boll worms which have a built-in resistance to hybrid cotton seeds.