Capacity building to other small NGOs/ CBOs: A Swanirvar initiative

From 1990, Swanirvar is working with some experimental models for rural development. From 2010-11 onwards are trying to spread the successful models by various means. Last two years we are working with marginal farmers on ensuring Food as well as Nutrition security. This was designed by our senior agriculture trainers and one medicine graduate.
In 2016, we are working with two major missions -
A. Spreading the ideas and concept of 'Nutrition security'- in 100 villages with small NGOs and CBOs.
B. 'Improved Mid day meal in school'- involving Pupils, Parents, Panchayats and Teachers of 30 schools to start gardening in school campus, involving parents and panchayats on adding values in Mid day meal programme, designing Mid day meal based on season and nutritional requirements, etc
Recently, State Institute of Panchayat and Rural Development(http://www.siprd.org.in/) brought trainee Smaity Education Officers, SI of Primary Schools and reserchers from NIRD, Hyderbad for field expeiances and sharing ideas with us.
On 1st-3rd September, 2016 Our trainers went to the Stone Crusher Areas of Birbhum - Rampurhat - (NGO NAME: MSMHC, Run by Christian Missionary Sisters; SUPPORTED BY:IGSSS). They trained 148 tribal and Dalit women in three days on - making small vegetable gardens in fallow lands in the dry zone, Use of Biological and Botanical pest management, mushroom culture, multiple use of space, distributed folk seeds, introduced some basic ideas of Nutrition security, concepts on low cost nutrition food, etc). Next follow up in Nov-Dec,16
(We are currently seeking part time volunteers/ interns; Write to us: swanirvar446@gmail.com; Tel: 9732524526)

NEW HOPE IN BADABAN: INCREASING FOOD SECURITY THROUGH MIXED CROPPING

NEW HOPE IN BADABAN: INCREASING FOOD SECURITY THROUGH MIXED CROPPING

Shitulia village is one of poorest village of Sundarban. More than 95% of total populations are either Schedule Tribes or Schedule Caste and this village is surrounded by the two rivers Kalagachi and Raimongol. Shitulia is under Sandeshkhali-II block of North 24 Parganas district.

The entire village was devastated by the super cyclone, AILA in 2009. Most of farm lands were under saline river water. Swanirvar started intervention in this village from 2015. Initially we encouraged the women farmers to make small groups.

Dipali Das is one of the members of “Doltala Mohila Samiti”(Women farmers group) of Shitulia village. She had 3(adult-2, Children-1) members in her family. She had 1.3 acres of land but out of this 1 acre was low land and used for paddy in monsoon. She could grow vegetables only in 3 katha (2160 sq. ft) area from which she get few vegetables only in winter. She also had two cows.

From 2015, Swanirvar started its intervention this village and gave extensive trainings to the farmers.

Subjects of the trainings were as follows:

1.      Techniques to develop kitchen gardens – use of Bio-composting, box- composting, bio-pest controllers, use of trellis, roof etc

2.      Basic idea on Nutrition security

3.      Mushroom culture – rearing of duck and country chicken

After AILA, Dipali’s husband migrated to Kolkata like most other men of Sundarban area. Dipali attended all the training programmes and got a ray of hope to survive as well as start a new duel with poverty.

Dipali in her small Garden

            In October, 2015 she planted radish, pumpkin, long beans, Mukhi Kachu, flat beans carrot, bins, coriander leaf, Brinjal, Turnip, spinach, chili, Red amaranth, beets, ginger, potato etc  in her plot. ( Swanirvar supplied folk/op seeds to the women farmers).

She also made box compost and bio-compost chambers and Amrit Pani in her home. She made rectangular and circular beds in her plot. She also used live mulching for water conservation. By, November, 15 she got few plastic bags from Swanirvar and also planted vegetables in those bags.

 

From, December, 2015 she was getting vegetables and from November, 15 she was consuming leaves and shags.

From December, 2015 she was getting leafy vegetables- 150 gm, Roots and Tubers- 150 gm, Vegetables-150 gm, Pulses-50 gm daily from her gardens. She had only used Neem solution and kerosene –Ash mixture as pest controllers. As per her records, last three months (November,2015- January,2016) her family had consumed vegetables worth Rs. 6000/- and  earned 3000/- by selling to local market. She only spent Rs.500/- for making trellis and plastic sheets etc.

In January, 16 she made vermi-compost pit in her home and unit to make amritpani and compost tea. She became role model and resource person in the eye of local farmers. Many farmers are coming to see Dipali’s garden and learning the art of mixed cropping, mulching, use to trellis, roof etc. 

Dipali are not only increasing their productivity by adopting the mixed – cropping practice but are also investing their yield judiciously by using bio-nutrients and bio-pest controllers. Earlier, the family’s consumption pattern was poor as they could only afford rice and rarely could eat vegetables. Further, Dipali is also investing in the education of her son by enrolling him in the nearby school.  

Bio-nutrient unit

The increased income has not only helped in increasing the food security of the family but has also percolated in the other aspects and is contributing towards improving the overall quality of life of the family.

Dipali has inspired many women like Susama Baulia, Aparna Kayal, Laxmi Mistri, Puspa Das, Kaberi Mondal, Rani Mondal etc.  They also got mantra of hope and living with dignity.

Reported by:

TEAM SWANIRVAR

IGSSS and Swanirvar working together to ensure nutrition security of the marginalized community

Read the report - Nutrition Garden Improving Food Security – Swarnirvar shows the Way

PRAGGALOY: Sustainable Agriculture Workshop: Making Vegetabl...

PRAGGALOY: Sustainable Agriculture Workshop: Making Vegetabl...:               One of our main objectives in project ‘APARAJITA’ is to spread the urban agriculture by various means. In 2013, Praggaloy ma...

SUCCESSFUL KITCHEN GARDENS IN URBAN SLUM OF KOLKATA

               World Vision India is a Christian humanitarian organisation working to create lasting change in the lives of children,families and communities living in poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, caste, race, ethnicity or gender. Spread across 174 districts in India, World Vision works through long-term sustainable community development programmes and immediate disaster relief assistance. World vision Kolkata office had a project on community development at Jainkunj, near Kolkata Port area.

            One of their main objectives was to reduce Infant mortality rate (IMR) and mothers mortality rate(MMR). They had special child-care (special focus on malnourish children) programme in that area. In 2012, Swanirvar gave hand held trainings based on some basic orientations on Ecological farming to the farmers of Basanti Area ( WV project) and the farmers practiced alternative farming methods and got good return. In April, 2013, WV Kolkata project manager, Remi Manoj invited us to visit their project in Jainkunj area and also to assess the feasibility on making home nutrition (kitchen) gardens in those slum houses.

            On 10^th April,13 our experts visited that place and met the mothers who had mal-nourished children in their homes. WV officials and our nutrition experts felt that beside the rice and flour they should include some vegetable in their menu. Most of the slum dwellers did not take vegetables and to them most nutritious foods were red meat and chicken. Lack of vitamins and fibers contained food in their meals they used to have common diseases.

            On 6^th and 7^th May, 2013 the most vulnerable mothers were given hand held trainings. Total 31 mothers participated in that training and after the training they were given seeds, mushroom spawns and some amount of vermicompost, plastic bags and pots, etc

            The following strategies were taken…they were given used big size plastic packet to fill up with soil and vermicompost(2:1 ratio)  for shakk and vegetables plants and also to use the roof of their slum houses for the leafy vegetables. Each family was give a packet of mushroom spawns.     

            They were given the seeds of the following vegetables: okra, egg plant (brinjal), pipe beans, cucumber, red amaranth, kalmi sakk, Indian spinach, bottle gourd, pumpkin, bitter gourd flat beans, ridge gourd and  chili.

On 6^th August, 2013, Sutapa Chatterjee, Swanirvar  visited the slum houses of Jainkunj and met the women who produced vegetables and mushroom in their homes. All most 90% women produced vegetables and mushrooms in their homes. All credits must be given to them and to Mr. Ranjit (WV field staff) and his team.

She met some very successful women trainees and also given all the mothers some orientations on ‘nutrition - nutritious food and its relation with common diseases’. Stories of some successful mothers were given below.  

Gaitree Devi

She had  husband and 7 daughters and 1 son in her family. She took training from us and made small gardens adjacent to their home. She produced 7 types of vegetables in her gardens. Her daughters also helped her in gardening. Initially she was opposed by her husband but now getting full support from him. She is now planning to expand her gardens in winter. They also produced good quality of mushrooms and eat delicious mushroom dishes.

Arati Devi

This young housewife was not very interested in gardening. But after the training she started as a trial. She had young children and husband in her family. She produced 5 types of vegetables and good amount of mushrooms.

Suganti Devi

She had 3 children and husband in her family. She had no idea in farming. She got the training and was inspired by our trainers. She started garden adjacent to her home. She produced 5 types of vegetables and mushroom.

Chandra Bati devi:

 she has 6 sons and 1 daughter and husband in family. She produced 7 types of vegetables and now interested to expend her gardens in winter and to harvest much vegetables.

Why they are successful:

These women got confidence and they practice gardening successfully.

They utilized the unused space adjacent to their home.

They also used the roof for leafy vegetables.

They used folk seeds

They also kept mushroom spawn out of the rodents.

 There were rural follow up by WV team and Swanirvar trainers.

Their Demands:

They need more trainings

They need detailed orientation on biological pest management.

They demanded for a community chamber for producing bio-manures.

Mushroom is now very popular amongst them and those who are not interested in gardening but interested in Mushroom culture.

Those who have space adjacent to homes, may be given more units of plastic bags and manures and seeds.  

Reported by:

Sutapa

E-mail: sutapa1426@gmail.com

SUCCESSFUL FARMING EXPERIMENT ON SALINE SOIL:

Chatra Gram Panchayat(under Baduria Block of North 24 Parganas) is on the bank of Ichhamati river. Ichhamati river water is moderately saline but during summer the water became high saline and this water turns the farm land barren by depositing see salt coating on the field. Farmers are in deep trouble as none of the hybrid seeds withstand water logging and none of them were saline tolerant.   

                Kalicharan Gain (55) and his wife were marginal farmers due to the salinity crisis of Ichhamati they had become landless day labour as his 70 decimal farm land become barren. They also tried to take lease 23 decimal farm land and started Brinjal cultivation there. The couple used high amount of pesticides and few years back his wife was diagnosed cancer.  The oncologist advised them to give up pesticide use as well as Brinjal farming as high yielding Brinjal were infested with number of pests. They started marigold production but it also required pesticides. Mrs Gain used to pluck the flowers whose extracts caused sores in her hands and that also turns to cancer. Gradually, Mr. Gain become a day labour and the couple lived their life in destitute.

            In 2009, they came to our agri-school and met our staff-trainer, Ramprasad Gain. He also met many successful farmers who had overcome may problems and did excels in the their field. As per our guidance he dig a small pong in his farm to store the rain water and to use this in crisis time. He was also advised to start bucket farming technique (putting soil and vermicompost 50:50 ratio in the plastic bag and put sapling in it. Then to make a trellis and make an arrangement so that the sapling can cover the trellis). He was also advised to cover the field with banana leaves(mulching technique) and use bio-manures only. We also helped him to made earthen wall in the circumference and washed his land as much as possible during monsoon. He started vegetable plots in 33 decimal and paddy in 25 decimal and rest 12 decimal was his pong area and we also provided interest free agriculture loan amounting Rs. 7000.00. He also given extensive hand held trainings on bio-pest controlling and production of hen-duch-fish and paddy together (integration model). He also got trainings on mix vegetable production and seed collection and preservation.

           

In 2013, he became an independent farmer, an innovative farmer, a farmer with a strong faith on ecological farming. Now he was getting 10% more production from his field but the profit reached upto 40% higher as compared to his production with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Now he has four members in his family living a healthy life. He was expressing his gratitude to Swanirvar when we visited his plots and was crying in despair that his wife (who passed away in 2012) was unable enjoy these happy days.

Reported By,

Sujit Adhikari, Swanirvar

08972178120        

The organic Couple: Bikash and Sulekha

Vermicompost chamber

Panitore is a small village of Basirhat Sub-division and is very close to Indo-Bangladesh Border. Most of villagers are either marginal farmers or day labours. For the last 5 years we are running ‘Krishi Pathsala- night school for farmers to spread sustainable agriculture practice’ with our NGO partner, Panitore Palli Unnayan Samity. Our main focus is to make the farmers independent on – seed, pest controlling and manures. One of our innovative farmers, Mr. Nandi Ranjan Sarkar took the leading role to campaign for ecological farming. Initially the farmers were in a dilemma to give up the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and hybrid seeds in their fields but last year both the Central and State Government lift up the subsidy from the fertilizers and pesticides, as a result the price of chemical fertilizers and pesticides became 2 times high. In that situation farmers (mostly marginal farmers) were looking for an alternative. Many of them came to our Krishi Pathsala to take hand held trainings on – Bio-composting, bio-pest controlling and folk seed conservation.

            1year ago, Bikash Sarkar (part time auto-riksha driver) came to our Krishi Patshala along with his wife, Sulekha. This family had 4 members but had no fixed income and  they had ~4 bighas farmland and also had 10 cutta lands adjacent to their house. They were frustrated and despaired as each year they were getting no return from the field. We send our staff, Anjana to his house to assess the situation and found that they were spending much behind the fertilizers and pesticides. Anjana made to fold plan with them –

1)      To make a small vegetable garden adjacent to their house along with a small country-chicken farm;

2)      To make a mixed vegetables plot in their farmland and rest part for the paddy production.

            Bikash and Sulekha took hand held trainings on – vermicompost and bio-pest controlling from us. They made one vermicompost chamber and bio-pest controlling unit adjacent to their house. When, our staff Anjana and Nani Gopal went to his house and found that the hamlet was low land and most of the areas were water logged during rain. They advised them to buy some plastic bags and filled them with soil and bio-compost and plant saplings/ folk seeds there. We gave them seeds/saplings of tomato, carrot, coriander leaves, cauliflower, onion, egg plant, flat bean, turnip, red beet, spring onion etc. We also advised them to plant some herbal medicinal plants like Holy Basil (Tulsi), Aloe Vera, Pudina (Mint Leaves) Pudina (Mint Leaves) Holy basil (tulsi)Pudina (Mint leaves), Indian pennywort, Andrographis paniculata(Kalmegh) etc. We advised them to spray Amrit Pani as nutrients and to use neem oil, compost tea and soap-garlic-kerosene mixture as bio-pest controllers. We also gave them some financial assistance to make a cage for the country chicken and to make trellis for the leafy vegetables. We persuaded them that country chickens had more immunity and they could tolerate the season changes and temperature variation. We also advised them to feed the chickens the unused vegetable leaves and stem.

They followed all of our techniques and implement these and felt the difference. They realized that vegetable could be produced in the low-land and also in water logged zone as well as dry zone. They got huge vegetables in the winters. They not only used the vegetables for their family but also sold a large part in the local market as well as to their neighbors.

vegetable garden

They also got success in the farm lands. This year they had produced paddy through system of rice intensification (SRI) methods. Also using some techniques like relay cropping, mulching, and mixed-cropping in their organic vegetable plots. On the other hand they also collecting and preserving seeds of the vegetables like, brinjal, flat bean, tomato etc.  

Their works had inspired many of their neighbors and sometimes Sulekha gave them trainings on bio-composting. They regularly visit our Krishi Patshala with their neighbors and living happily.

Reported by:

Sutapa Chatterjee,

SWANIRVAR

E-mail: sutapa1426@gmail.com

  Andrographis paniculata(Kalmegh) Holy basil (tulsi) Pudina (Mint LeHoly basil (tulsi)  

3rd quarter report - Oct-Dec, 2011 of Sustainable agriculture Department

Kindly click on the following web link http://www.ziddu.com/download/18367152/3rdqtrreport-Agri-11-12.pdf.html to download the 3rd quarter report - Oct-Dec, 2011 of Sustainable agriculture Department, Swanirvar.

Silent revolution in Sundarban (Successful post AILA recovery programme):

Bishnupada working in  his vermicompost pit

            On 25^th May, 2009, a super cyclone, AILA devasted the livelihoods of Sundarban. Most of the farmlands were under saline water. 6 Blocks of North 24 pargnas were affected by this cylone. Hingalganj and Sandeshkhali-II blocks were the worse affected. Out of 9 Gram Panchayats of Hingalganj block, Kalitala Gram Panchayat (GP) was severly affected by AILA. 90% farmlands of Samsernagar and Pargumti villages of Kalitala GP were under saline water, most of the cattles were died.

            At the initial stage, we (Swanirvar and its technical partner, DRCSC) concentrated on relief-response programme. We provided dryfoods, drinking water and medicines, etc to them. After that our prime focus was reconstruction and development. We made a detailed survey to annlysis the graveness of the situation and also to plan our future strategies. We found that most of the farmers had no saline tollerent paddy seeds and no vegetable seeds of indigenious variety.

            Our staff visited the Parghumti and Kalitala villages and met the villagers. 26 Small farmers groups were formed and we gave them hand held orientations on –sustainable ecological farming parctises, vermicompost making, bio-pestcontrollers, saline tollerent paddy farming and preservation of seeds, etc.

With our continuous efforts and with hard labour of the farmers groups, most of the farmers are now truned back and getting good return form his salt deposited barren lands.

            Bishnupada Baidya (26 yrs) was one the members of our farmers club of Parghumti villages. He had 1 acre farm lands and also had 0.20 acre vegetable gardens adjacent to his house. He had 3 members in his family also had cattles and poultry birds. He took trainings on vermicomposting, folk seed collection and preservation and bio-fertilizers etc from our agri-schools.

            He got 4kg Marichshal paddy seeds (a saline tollerent folk paddy) from us as loan. He was so successful with this folk rice and got 180Kg paddy and 1700 bundle of straw as fodder. He had very little expenses as he used vermicompost as manures and followed Integrated Pest Managemnt (IPM) methodologies in farming. He also motivated 9 other successful farmers to form a Grain Bank and they had contributed 50 kg paddy/ member as intitial reserve grains.  

Rain water use in vegetable garden

            He also got trainings on rainwater storing and using. (95% palces in Sundarban are mono-cropped and only produce paddy in monsoon. After that the farmers keep their farmlands vacant and used as a gazing field for the cattles). He also got folk vegetable seed support from us. Presently, he was producing pumpkin, bitter gourd, ladiesfingers, flatbeans, and longbeans, red amaranth, Indian spinach etc in his home kitchen garden. He said No to chemical pesticides and only using home made bio-pest controllers and bio-nutrients. In each week he was earning ~Rs. 250.00 by saleing the vegetables and also getting the sufficient vegetable for his family. He also harvested fooders in the paddy field for his cattle. He had realized the goodness of fold seeds and ecological farming. He also asked for more hand held trainings from us and also trying to produce other fold paddy in his field. He has become an icon in his area and has inspired many farmers.

Reported by,

Sujit Adhikari

Swanirvar

Income generating activity: Pigeon farming getting popular



Purnima with her pigeons

       One of the major activities of Swanirvar’s Sustainable Agriculture Department was to develop the livelihood skills of the farmers-group members. We also gave small loans to the group members so that they could start small income generating activities by their own. These loans were supported by our technical partner organization, DRCSC, a Kolkata based NGO.

        In post AILA (a super-cyclone that devastated entire Sundarban delta in 2009-10) recovery programme, we observed that common people liked to have meat in their food menu. But the situation in most of our project areas was so grave that most of the villagers were unable to rear goat, lamb, hen etc in their homes. There were no fodders and no surplus food-grains for them. At that situation we advised them to rear Pigeons. The reasons were 1. Pigeons were self-fed, they collected their food and not dependent on the owner. 2. Country –pigeons could sustain in adverse weather and common diseases tolerant. 3. From an adult pigeon we could get 250gm flesh. Now many of our farmers were rearing pigeons in their homes. In 2009 our farmer, Purnima Sarkar bought 2 pairs of pigeons and made small cages for them. She made these cages with wooden apple boxes. Now she had many pigeons from these 2 pairs. She had given them some broken-rice and wheat in monsoon.

Below, there was summery of her income-expense statement

Expenditure:

In 2009-10:

Cost of Pigeons: 20.00

Apple boxes : 35.00

Broken Rice: 150.00

In 2010-11: Broken Rice: 400.00

Income:

In 2009-10:

Pigeons sold (46 pcs): 1370.00

In 2010-11:

Pigeons sold (70pcs): 2100.00

.............................................................

Net Profit: In 2009-10: Rs. 1165.00

                 In 2010-11: Rs. 1700.00

Pigeon rearing was now getting popular. Now more than 20 farmers were rearing pigeons in their homes.

Reported by:

Sandhya Mondal

Supervisor, Agriculture Department,

SWANIRVAR

Post AILA programme in Hingalganj

        After Aila,  the farmers in Sundarban areas felt the need of country seeds. But on that time it was found that most of the saline tolerant paddy had became extinct. So far we have distributed 1090kg of saline tolerant indigenous paddy seeds amongst 250 farmer families in two villages of Jogeshganj Island under Hingalganj block. Samsernagar and Pargumti these two villages were worse affected by the super cyclone, AILA. These indigenous paddy seed distribution programmes were financially supported by our partner organization DRCSC. We distributed 10 types of country paddy seeds. We also distributed 270kg indigenous paddy  seeds amongst 60 farmer families in Hingalganj Island. Only 10 kg seeds of 10 varieties had given to Haripada Patra, one of our innovative farmers for seeds conservation.
        In June, 2010 we invited Dr. Debal Deb, an eminent ecologist and folk rice expert to visit our project areas in Hingalganj. He came and met with our farmers. He also attended two interactive sessions with the farmers. He shared his experiences with them and also gave them valuable tips of paddy cultivation in saline soil. He requested all the farmers not to opt for any hybrid and high yielding seeds for the next two years and only to cultivate country seeds in saline zones and also told us to train them on country seed conservation.
        Last year there was a flood of saline water and this year most of areas in Sundarban are now facing draught. Due to insufficient rain fail, the magnitude of salinity has been increased (due to evaporation of water from the soil and lack of washing saline water from the field) in most of the areas and affecting the paddy growth. In some cases, there was no germination in the seed bed and in most of the fields the plants are becoming brownish due to lack of water. The farmers, who tried with hybrid seeds, had failed to germinate in several attempts. We are waiting for a good rainfall.
Nilangshu, 19.08.10

Village woman selling vermicompost to the farmers

        Shampa Mondal is one of our very successful farmers in Swarupnagar block. She lives in Mallikpur village of Balti Nitya Nadakati Gram Panchayat. 4 years ago she took training on making home nutrition garden from our staff. She had a very beautiful organic vegetable garden in her home. In 2008, she also took training on making vermicompost. After taking the training she made one small vermi-pit adjacent to her house. Initially she was opposed by her husband who is a chemical farmer but she was determined in her mission. We also supported her by giving earth worms (Eisenia foetida (tiger worm or red wiggler)) at free of cost. At the end of 2008, she produced 80kg vermicompost from her pit for which she used 75kg of cow dung and 125kg of home vegetable waste, straw and banana trees, etc. Out of 80kg compost she sold 40kg to the local farmers at the rate of Rs. 4.00/kg and rest 40kg was used by her husband in their farm land.

Shampa working in her compost pit.

        Being successful, she tried to produce vermicompost on big scale. She applied for a grant from the Gram Panchayat and we helped her to make the proposal. She got the grant for buying two big cement chambers from the Panchayat in 2009. After that she is producing vermicompost on regular basis. So far she had sold her compost not only the local farmers but also sold to the local Agriculture Development Office. Her work had inspired many local women.
        In January, 2010 she was appointed as a Panchayat level trainer on vermicompost and so far had given training to more than150 women on making vermicompost at their houses. Now more than 100 BPL women of Kalshi, Mallikpur and Nabatkati villages are producing vermicompost at their homes under the guidance of Shampa.

CHEMICAL FERTILIZER MERCHANT CAMPAIGNING FOR ORGANIC FARMING

Prakash in his shop.

           Prakash Sarkar lives in Nabatkati village under Swarupnagar Block. This area is adjacent to the Indo-Bangladesh border. In the year 1994, Mr. Sarkar started his business and at that time he was only fertilizer merchant in that locality. He termed himself as a Krishi Bandhu (a friend of the farmers). Beside the business he has a small land of 1 acre in which he mostly produced vegetables.
           He observed that the cost for the fertilizers and the pesticides were increasing day by day but the productions from the field were being remarkable reducing. In 2007, he joined in a Krishi Sammelon ( a seminar on farmers and farming policies) held at Swarupnagar. There he met many agriculture scientists and botanists and came to know about the evil effects of chemical farming. There was a brain storming discussion on farming policies and he knew that many developed countries were then restricting the indiscriminate use of pesticides in farm land. He also came to know about ecological farming and organic farming. One of the botanists told them about the utility of vermicompost and bio pest controllers.

          In 2008, Swanirvar started a mass campaign programme on Sustainable farming in Swarupnagar Block. At that time Prakash met one of our successful farmers, Mr. Ananda Mondal who lived very near to his house. Anada told him that he was not using any kind of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in his field and using only homemade vermicompost, compost tea, vermi- wash and bio pest controllers in his field. He also added that he had learnt these techniques from Swanirvar’s agri schools in Swarupnagar.

           Prakash immediately met our staff and took training on vermicompost. After that he made two chambers (vermin pits) adjacent to his shop and now producing vermicompost from there. He is not only using this compost in his field but also selling the rest amount. Now he is one of our campaigners in that locality. One of his remarkable achievements is that he had persuaded all the vegetable merchants of Nabatkati market to put their unsold rotten vegetable wastes in his vermi-pits. In our state, most of the markets have no system of waste management and the rotten vegetable wastes are scattered hare and there. But Mr. Sarkar’s initiative has shown a new way and has been praised by the Nabatkati merchant association.

Producing vermicompost

Campaign with the School Students

           One of our broad objectives of the sustainable agriculture programme was to spread the awareness amongst the school students. We believe that livelihood practices should be included in the school curriculum.

           Our staffs Nani Gopal and Anjana are working with the farmers in Basirhat-I block for the last 10 years. One of our project areas is Nakurdaha (a small village and most of the villagers are schedule caste and farmers in profession) in this block. The significance of this area is that it is just beside the Indo-Bangladesh border. Here the school dropout rate is very high and in most of the cases the dropouts get involved in burglary, illegal trafficking and smuggling, etc.

Grafting Training

            In May, 2010 we invited local adolescence youths to come to our agri-school. Our main objective was to teach them some tools of sustainable agriculture practice, so that in future they can implement these in their farm lands. Surprisingly 27 boys and 18 girls (class-V to class-X and all from the schedule caste families) from local Itinda High school came to our agri school. On the very 1st day, we shared our vision and philosophy with them and also told them about our works. Initially they were not so interested in learning agriculture but they were very interested to learn grafting. The grafting was a very know term to them through their Bio-science books but they had no handheld orientation. Some of them told that then had even tried it independently in their home but was not successful. Then we gladly told them that we would teach them. Then we jointly decided that on each Sunday there would be one hour session on grafting. So far they had attended all the Sundays and attendance rate was cent percent. All the 45 students had learnt grafting and making saplings. They had even planned to plant some of their saplings on the Independence Day (15th August, 10).

           Besides grafting we had also trained them on how to select good seeds. Seed selection is one of the main practices in farming. The youths had adopted the methods of seed selection very quickly. We requested them to implement this technique in their farm. Mausami Sarkar, one of the successful trainees had implemented this seed selection method in their farm and had also trained her father and forced him to follow this method.

Training on seed selection

Campaign for Relay cropping

The State of West Bengal in the eastern part of India, bordering Bangladesh, is a unique example where rice is cultivated in all the three seasons viz., summer, autumn and winter. The State has to feed almost 70 million people with the support of only 5.8 million hectares of cultivable land. Since independence the state has, therefore, had to resort to more areas under rice than for other crops, especially pulses, the productivity of which are comparatively low. At present the area under rice occupies about 66 percent of the total gross cropped area, which is about 9.24 million hectares with an average cropping intensity of 171 percent. The total area under pulses has diminished gradually every year from 582,000 ha during 1957-58 to 242,000 ha during 2002-03. It is a general practice of the farmers of this region to sow various winter pulse crops like lentil (Lens culinaris L.), mustard (BRASICCA COMPESTRISS), lathyrus (Lathyrus sativus L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and pea (Pisum sativum), wheat (Triticum aestivum ) etc, in the standing rice crop field, just before the harvest to ensure germination using the residual moisture and to avoid tillage operations during pulse growing. Such a relay cropping operation (known by the terms utera or paira) is very popular for growing lathyrus.

Advantages:

1. Getting one time more production, suitable for mono cropped zones( like Sundarban regions ).

2. No plowing required. Save a lot of money.

3. Less amount of water is needed, environment friendly farming technique.
4. Increase soil fertility through nitrosamines bacteria.

Disadvantages:
1. Required 20% more seeds than usual.
2. As the plants grow zigzag, sometimes need more labour.
3. In some areas of sundarban it failed as there was no scope for irrigation and there was no rain from Sept-march.

Swanirvar’s achievements:
From 2006, we are campaigning for relay cropping in the five blocks of North 24 Parganas. Our year wise achievements are as follows,
Year        Bigha        No. of Farmers

2006       4000             3500

2007       4500             3700

2008       4900             4200

2009       5800             4800

‘Production of some vegetables with little care’- a case story

Nirmal Sarkar is one of our most successful organic farmers and one of the key campaigners of Sustainable agriculture in Baduria Block. He has10 cutta organic vegetable plots adjacent to his house and he and his wife Usha Sarkar look after these. He got a number of trainings from Swanirvar and he had successfully implemented these concepts in his field. He also has a small vegetable shop in the local market. His vegetables are very popular and customers are ready to pay higher prices for his products.
In 2008, he attended in a workshop on ‘production of some vegetables with little care’ – organized by Swanirvar and after that he made a trial plots with 200 sq ft areas adjacent to his vegetable plots.
He planted Black colocasia, Indian Spinach, colocasis root, bitter gourd and green Amaranth in his plot. In 2009, he got a good return from his field. He also got vegetables in March-April ( in dry season) and realized that to produce these vegetable a little care was enough but he got a good return out of these. His trial plot had inspired a number of farmers in Baduria and Swarupnagar Blocks.  His expenditure and income statements are given below.
Expenditure:
Black colocasia seeds 20 kg -                   140.00
colocasis root seeds 6 kg                            84.00
Indian Spinach seeds                                    2.00
bitter gourd seeds                                         5.00
2 labour                                                    160.00
Vermicompost & Ash 17 kg                       85.00
Misc                                                           50.00
……………………………………………………………………………………..
TOTAL                                                     526.00

Income :
Black colocasia 110 kg -                           1280.00
colocasis root 20 kg                                     320.00
Indian Spinach 30kg                                     240.00
bitter gourd 5 kg                                           185.00
Green Amaranth                                             30.00
……………………………………………………………………………………..
TOTAL                                                        2655.00
Net Profit : Rs. 2129.00

Our Achievements in-2009-10

Kindly visit the link below and download our achievement report card in 2009-10

http://www.ziddu.com/download/8774573/NumericalAchievements-09-10.pdf.html

Some Small Success Stories – January –February-2010

Spreading SRI technique in Rice Production:

        For the last 2 years, one of our main campaigns was to introduce the SRI techniques (The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a method of increasing the yield of rice produced in farming. It was developed in 1983 by the French Jesuit Father Henri de Laulanie in Madagascar.) This year we are very successful in spreading this in Balti – Nityanandakati and Bithari-Hakimpur GPs under the Swarupnagar Block of N24 Pgs. So far 14 farmers had practiced this in 12 Bighas of land. Mr. Sankar Das, Sub-Divisional Agriculture Development Officer, Mr. Amal Mondal, Block Agriculture Development Officer & Local KPs( agriculture- assistant) had visited our farmers plots and had request our staff, Tarun to campaign for it in the entire block … ...
                                                                  
Fertilizer merchant joined with us…..

        We have an agriculture training school in Nabatkati of Balti – Nityanandakati GP under the Swarupnagar Block of N24 Pgs. There are a number of farmers who produce the manures and pest controllers in their homes and are independent in farming. Local fertilizer merchants were not happy with us. But six month ago one of the fertilizer merchants, Prakash came to our school and got some idea on bio compost making. He made one chamber beside his shop in Nabatkati Bazar and was very successful in producing pit-compost from there. He collected the unsold vegetable waste and gathered these in his chamber. Now he has joined with us… and planning to produce vermicompost on commercial basis. He has started selling vermicompost and PSB, Neem oil from his shop….....

High Protein, Low Priority

Low Pulse
Savvy Soumya Misra
Surendra Nath has switched to eating grass-pea, though he knows it is not good for health. But so is tobacco, he argues. He cannot do without pulses and pigeon-pea selling at Rs 100 a kg is beyond his means. The 45-year-old electrician-cum-security-in-charge at a housing society in east Delhi earns Rs 5,000 a month and has a seven-member family to support. “My wife insists on cooking pulses at least once a day, so we have switched to khesari(grass-pea), the cheapest availabledal, that too at Rs 60 a kg,” he said.Nath belongs to Bihar, where pulses, especially pigeon-pea (known as tur orarhar in India), form an integral part of the diet. Only cattle and the poorest of the poor would eat grass-pea since it can cause neurological disorders like paralysis and stunted growth on regular consumption over a long period.
Nath recalls a saying in Bihari, “ tudup taari, bel khesari ”, which means, “while the backward caste people consumed intoxicants, the ox consumed grass-pea”. To keep good health he tries larding his conversation with humour. “Now that we are on khesari, there is nothing for the ox,” he said. In several villages in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh people now keep pigeon-pea for special occasions; peas and potatoes are the new staple.Pulses were displaced from their prime position in many an Indian platter when their prices doubled a year ago. Pigeon pea, which cost Rs 50 a kg earlier, was for Rs 120. Greengram saw a similar price rise and most other pulses were above Rs 70 a kg. While the poor cut down on pulses, their main source of protein, the middle class grudgingly stuck to its preferred pulses. “Adjustments are made in other expenses; rice, wheat and pulses are the basic requirements,” said Sonila Sinha, a teacher in Delhi’s suburb Noida and mother of two growing children. Pulses are essential for protein, body’s building blocks, she stressed. Though rice and wheat have some protein, they do not have the right amino acids. The only other source of protein in human diet is animal protein, like chicken and egg. Since the majority in India are vegetarian that source is out of question. “With rising prices we are robbed of the pulse protein as well,” said Veena Shatrugna, a nutritionist formerly with the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad.

Why prices jumped
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar blamed the jump in pulse prices on flagging imports, low production and increased purchasing power of the Indian consumer. The reduction in global production and high international prices slowed down the import of pulses in the past two years.
In 2007-08, India imported 2.85 million tonnes of pulses and next year, 2.32 million tonnes. This year imports were delayed because of late payment to exporters and low stocks with main exporting countries. “We expect imports of four million tonnes by the end of this year since there is a shortage within the country,” said K C Bhartiya, chairperson of the Pulses Importers Association.
Since India is the biggest consumer of pulses, demand within the country influences international prices. Some pulse-exporting countries factor Indian demand in their production. India is also the biggest producer of pulses.

Report from: Propoor News

Our project areas in AILA affected Hingalganj