Natural farming and the revival of rural livelihoods in Bundelkhand region

By Bharat Dogra 

If the most important question relating to development, livelihoods and environmental protection is to be identified, it is likely to be this: can small farmers cultivate their land in economically viable ways while also protecting the soil and water base for sustainability, producing enough healthy food for themselves and others, and contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation?

If the answer to this question is yes, then it is very encouraging news. It would mean that the largest number of villagers who depend on small-scale farming for their livelihoods can not only secure satisfactory incomes and adequate nutrition, but can also contribute significantly to resolving the environmental crisis. If this is achievable, then the entire paradigm of necessarily identifying development with urbanization must change. Instead, we can think more in terms of strengthening harmonious rural communities, as Mahatma Gandhi envisaged, with people cooperating closely in the willing adoption of highly creative, ecologically protective and climate-resilient livelihoods.

Of course, what constitutes a small farmer or a small farm holding differs greatly across countries — between India and the United States, or Bangladesh and Canada, for example. In several Western countries, a two-acre farm holding would not be considered viable. Yet it is heartening and reassuring to find examples of small farmers who are content and fulfilled in highly creative livelihoods based on just one to four acres of farmland, producing a diversity of healthy food in ecologically protective ways while conserving soil and water. Deeply involved in nurturing their farms and crops, they work hard and often become physically exhausted, yet they remain happy and enthusiastic. Sustained by healthy food and constant physical activity, their two acres of land mean all the sky to them, keeping them creatively engaged from morning to evening.

However, the wider reality for most small farmers in many parts of the world is marked by various forms of crisis, including growing difficulties in meeting basic needs and increasing debt burdens. At the same time, sustainability has been adversely affected in many places due to the depletion of soil fertility and falling water tables.

This raises an important question: what kinds of policy measures or development initiatives can create conditions in which small farmers are not trapped in crises, but instead are placed in hopeful situations characterized by creative livelihoods, economic viability, sustainability, environmental protection and climate resilience?

Development experts around the world have long grappled with these issues in an effort to create more satisfactory conditions for small farmers and their farms. It must be acknowledged that several costly mistakes have been made in recent decades through the spread of chemical-intensive, fossil fuel-dependent, expense-increasing systems that heightened farmers’ dependence on external inputs. As these approaches contributed to ecological degradation as well as indebtedness among many farmers, more thoughtful development policies are now attempting to move away from such imposed, centralized and costly systems toward approaches rooted in ecologically protective practices and the traditional wisdom accumulated over hundreds of generations of farmers.

The search for ecologically protective, sustainable and cost-reducing alternatives that produce healthy food has taken many creative forms across the world. One initiative that has proved particularly useful in India has been promoted thoughtfully by the voluntary organization SRIJAN (Self-Reliant Initiatives for Joint Action), sometimes independently and sometimes in partnership with other organizations, as in the case of the BIWAL initiative in the Bundelkhand region. Essentially, this has involved the spread of natural farming practices that avoid the costly purchase of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides, relying instead on bio-fertilizers, pest repellents and other locally available village resources. The approach encourages the cultivation of diverse crops and farm produce on small farms by combining agriculture, orchards, vegetable gardens and animal husbandry in creative ways. This helps secure more regular income flows throughout the year while reducing costs and advancing soil and water conservation, climate mitigation and climate adaptation.

In the process, cooperation and unity within rural communities are strengthened in ways that enable weaker sections of society, poorer families and women in particular to play a greater participatory role. Village Development Committees (VDCs) are formed with representation from all sections of society, while ensuring that women and poorer households are adequately represented. Special attention is also given to working with tribal communities and Dalit households.

The encouraging results achieved through this approach, along with the positive response from small farmers, particularly women, have generated considerable hope. If greater support can be extended to such initiatives and to the farmers involved through climate finance, natural farming and livelihood programmes, the conditions for the wider spread of such efforts are likely to improve further.

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The writer is Honorary Convener of the Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food, Man over Machine, A Day in 2071, and Planet in Peril