Journey of wage earner to Lakhpati kisan – Bimla Singh
Production and income from five acres of unproductive land only was not sufficient for an eight-member family of Bimla Singh, a resident of Ayyari village in Balarampur district of Chhattisgarh. The cost of cultivation was high and had no capital to purchase agricultural inputs. Thus, Bimla and her husband had no other option but to work in others’ field, as wage labourers. This was the situation for several years after her marriage.
It began to change in 2015 when Bimla along with another 12 neighbours formed a Self Help Group (SHG) named Shiv Shankar Swa Sahayata Samuh. Being a member of the SHG, she participated in various training programmes targeted for SHG members. She attended training on agriculture. She came to know about new but simple to adopt practices, seed sorting, seed treatment, preparation of organic fertilizers, etc. The improved methods like reduction in seed usage- 3 kg paddy seeds for an acre of land were too exciting for her. Bimla used new learnings into practice. She meticulously followed all these steps to try Organic Jeeraful, a local rice variety known for its aromatic fragrance and delicacy in Chhattisgarh. She adopted practices of System of Rice Intensification (SRI), preceded by seed sorting, seed treatment with beejamrut, application of jeevamrut yielded 1.4 tonnes of Jeeraful rice.
During the ensuing year, she increased the area to 2 acres, keeping all other practices intact that resulted in good yield. The yield in the second year was better than the previous year, and she got convinced of the new production practices. Bimla talked about her experiences in her SHG and motivated others to try those out. By this time, she was able to articulate other benefits of SRI, viz. Reduced labour in transplantation, ease of weeding with the help of the weeder. During the third year, she increased the area to 3 acres with SRI practices, and rainfall that year was erratic, but her field was better compared to fields with traditional cultivation practices.
In 2017, when Village Organization (VO) was formed by BIHAN in her village, she started to work as an agriculture trainer/Livelihood CRP and went through many trainings around vegetable nursery, maize, pulses, vegetables, preparation and use of different types of organic pesticide and manures, etc. She learnt all these methods and tried each practice in her field and got better results. She explained these to other women of her village as well. She also organized exposures of all SHGs from VO to her fields so they can witness the change happened due to new methods of cultivation. As a result, about 113 families adopted organic farming, and more than 35 families did SRI and improved vegetables that year.
Bimla, a quick learner and practitioner encouraged others like her in the village to try these path-breaking changes in farming practices. Bimla was recognized as a resource person, and women requested her time to visit their plots and suggest remedies to their problems. This also encouraged Bimla to apply for a loan from the Village Organization to open a Non Pesticide Management (NPM) shop in her house. NPM shop caters to demands of farmers in her village and nearby villages. Bimla’s life has changed from an agricultural labourer to Lakhpati (Mahila) Kisan. She adopted many life changing practices that reduced the cost of cultivation drastically and increased crop yield. She can meet her household’s food requirements, and selling the surplus paddy after milling it. Last year she sold rice for Rs 105,000.
Training on Seed Sorting and Nursery Preparation
Changes in the village: Due to her extension practices on organic agriculture and support from other SHG women and VO, last year 77 families made and used organic manures and insecticides on a large scale; 35 families did SRI in their fields. Fifty-seven such families of the village went for pure organic ‘Jeeraful rice’ production. After the production of “Organic Jeeraful rice” in Ayyari village, 22 nearby villages are also producing ‘Organic Jeeraful rice’ which will be collected and processed by the VO and Cluster Level Federation (CLF) organization.
Milling and packaging of organic Jeeraful rice
Annual Household Income data of Bimla Singh:
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