June 2026
By combining diverse vegetable cultivation, horticulture, and animal husbandry with organic inputs, Mahajan Yadav, a farmer in flood-prone Eastern Uttar Pradesh, transitioned from traditional methods to integrated farming. While it significantly increased productivity and profitability, this sustainable approach reduced market dependency and enabled families to resist land-selling pressures amidst rapid urbanization.
In the last several decades in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, the frequency and intensity of floods have increased, with a recurrence every 3-4 years. In some places, this has become an annual feature and has had a considerable impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. Summers too are prolonged, with temperatures going over 45 degrees Celsius, while monsoons have become erratic. As farmers face the brunt of changing weather patterns, they find it increasingly difficult to plan for planting. The small and marginal farmers in peri-urban areas face further difficulty as they tend to receive very low returns for their agricultural products, both because of the poor produce quality and high input costs in the form of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The added headache of waterlogging causes a short shelf life for the vegetables produced, often resulting in distress sales. All this makes these farmers extremely vulnerable, with almost no alternate sources of income.
Such was the case of Mahajan Yadav, a farmer from Semra Devi Prasad village, who traditionally grew only a few types of crops on his 1.8-acre land. Then in 2012, he attended a training program on multi-cropping and decided to change his approach to farming.
Today, Mahajan has moved beyond those few crops he formerly planted. His winter crop vegetables include potato, coriander, garlic, onion, wheat, peas, mustard, radish, cabbage, brinjal, gourds, and tomato; while the monsoon palette has beans, gourd, lady’s finger, paddy, maize, and a range of lentils. He plants a mixed variety of vegetables simultaneously, like spinach which grows along with coriander. This diversity ensures that if one crop fails, the other may still work. He has built bunds between plots and planted fruit trees like banana, guava, gooseberry, mango, lychee, and papaya on them. These trees, besides producing fruit and providing shade, also give enough wood that can be used as fuel. The number of trees on his farm has increased by more than 60% now.
What Mahajan practices today is an integrated system of farming that combines vegetable farming with horticulture and animal husbandry. He prepares vermicompost, which, combined with cattle manure, gives him his own supply of organic manure. Besides this, he makes chemical-free pesticide for his crops and has developed a system for irrigation; all of which makes him self-sufficient. Mahajan is happy to experiment now and uses innovative techniques, particularly during floods. He uses gunny bags filled with soil, compost, and relevant seeds to grow limited vegetables during this phase. All these diverse techniques have led to increased profitability, better agricultural productivity, reduced market dependency, and enhanced knowledge and capacity for Mahajan himself.
Mahajan explains, “More income means fewer loans taken. There is more to eat for the family.” Today he has become a role model for other farmers. His experience has enabled many others to adopt multiple vegetable farming techniques, and almost 25% of farmers in the vicinity have embraced these techniques on their own farms. He is a mini-celebrity and has been interviewed on television and written about in the local newspaper.
Land is at a premium in the expanding town of Gorakhpur, and land acquisition has become a primary threat to peri-urban areas. Over the last few years, land prices have risen drastically. Land within the Gorakhpur Development Authority boundary costs INR 250,000 or US$4,000 per dismil (0.0099 acre) in the village of Semra Devi Prasad. Farmers here are under tremendous pressure to sell their lands.
When asked if he would sell his land, Mahajan says simply, “If I sell, what will be left for my children?” With a steady income from his land, Mahajan is now confident that he can hold on to his ancestral land and still make a comfortable living.
Note: This was originally published in Bhatt, Seema., Singh, A., Mani, N., 2016. Peri-Urban Agriculture and Ecosystems: Resilient Narratives, Published by GEAG, Gorakhpur.
