Small support can bring in significant changes. This has been our experience as students of RAWE programme. While helping millet farmers with linkages, we were the ones who learnt a lot during the programme.
As a part of our B.Sc. Agriculture curriculum, the students of 7th semester are placed in a village under the Rural Agriculture Work Experience (RAWE) programme. In this programme, students work and learn along with a host farmer, while living in the village for an entire cropping season. During July to November 2022, 22 students were placed in a small village named Barbaspur in Umaria, Madhya Pradesh.
There are around 450 farmers in Barbaspur village and agriculture is the primary source of livelihood. Barbaspur comes under the northern hills zone of Chhattisgarh, with hilly and undulating topography. The major soils are red and yellow, followed by sandy soils. Paddy, maize, pigeon pea are the major kharif crops, while wheat, gram and lentils are grown during rabi season. However, almost half of the farmers in the village leave their lands fallow during the Kharif, owing to uncertainty of rainfall. The farmers with uplands or sloping lands find it difficult to stagnate water for transplanted rice. Farmers therefore, prefer growing crops only during the rabi season.
Shri. Pyarelal, my host farmer has been growing paddy for years. Since the last two years he started growing kodo millet on his 2 acres of land, as he felt that the crop doesn’t require a lot of inputs like irrigation and fertilizers. His family is one of the only three families in the entire village that grew kodo millet. Most of the farmers, are not confident of growing kodo millets as they are not sure of the markets available. Pyarelal too has this fear. “We are not technically sound enough to manage our crop and produce’s sale as well, so we decided to have kodo as crop just to have something to eat from our own field”, quoted Pyarelal.
Small changes, big gains
Shri Pyarelal produces kodo millet and sells to a millet processing unit
As students and keen learners, we envisaged an opportunity and a solution too. We realised that Kodo millet could be a good option and a replacement for paddy in kharif and especially on the undulating lands, which did not require more water or standing water. We decided to connect Pyarelal and other interested farmers with the nearest KVK – KVK Umaria. With the technical guidance from KVK, we ensured that the farmers adopted good crop management practices. For example, Pyarelal had been facing the problem of crop damage caused by trampling of crops by wild animals. Earlier, he used to guard the farm all through the night which was quite tedious. With KVK’s guidance, he fenced the fields with rope dipped in animal repellent Neelgo. The KVK also trained farmers on preparation of Jeevamrit. Farmers were advised to incorporate rhizobium and Phosphorus Solubilising Bacteria cultures in the soil during sowing in next cropping season. These small changes led to a 30% increase in the yield this year as compared to the previous years and this energised his confidence.
We also wanted to ensure that the farmers see more selling options so that they are encouraged to grow millets. We arranged for a meeting of the farmers with executives of ASHA Foundation, an NGO working in the area. The Foundation agreed to provide farmers with quality seeds and offered to link with the procurers in Nashik, if the farmers found the price fit. We also talked to millet grain sellers in Jabalpur who have their stock transported all the way from southern states of the country. They are more than happy to find farmers from nearby districts to procure the grains from, given the quality is maintained. Pyarelal after comparing all options available now, decided to sell his produce to the millets processing unit procurers in the adjacent district as he got a better price from them this year.
Coincidentally, during the same time there was an announcement of setting up of a large millets processing units sanctioned by the government, in the adjacent district of Dindori. Dindori is just around 100 kms away, who are stocking up tonnes of millets at good rates. As in the end it all comes down to prices fetched by the crop, money will be the greatest precursor. During an interaction Pyarelal said “we are lucky to have a processing mill being opened nearby, without all the hassles, Kodo seems like a better option than rice”. Jhalki bai, a lady farmer said “the prices being offered and the ease of milling is giving me hope for even better returns next season”. The millets processing unit soon to be opened in Dindori will prove to be a catalyst for expanding area under millets. Farmers will have the option to send their produce for milling and later on sell it to buyers of their choice or even make other value added products.
Mutual learning
Farmers learnt that their fallow lands could be used for producing millets, which required less water. They also understood that millets have an excellent keeping quality and hence need not resort to distress selling. They understood the importance of storing the grain and selling at the right time. Also, with regular interaction with the students, farmers learnt that there is a growing demand for millets and the establishment of processing units will give rise to better market opportunities. With enhanced awareness, we are expecting more farmers in the village to take up kodo millets production during kharif 2023. With greater production of millets, we also envisage better health for the households with millet rich diets.
The RAWE programme has been a great learning opportunity to students as well. We learnt how to make crop choices based on the local topography and changing rainfall patterns, turning them to our advantage. Students also learned the change that simple value addition can bring about in the economic condition of farmers.
Surabhi
Surabhi
Student
Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishva Vidhyalaya
Jabalpur, M.P. 482004
Email: surabhisingh3909@gmail.com
