Small Scale Farmers Using Agroecology as a Model of Production
Ramrati Devi is a small scale farmer
from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. Her
husband was a farmer but like
many
others in India, he abandoned it due to
poor yield that led to
losses with each
harvest. That was when Ramrati decided
to take the
reins in her hands. She became a member of Laghu Seemant Krishak
Morcha or Small and Marginal Farmers Front, Uttar
Pradesh. There,
she learnt about agroecological
practices. With organic farming
techniques she
changed things around for her family today. Simple
practices - such as multiple cropping on her
one-acre farm- have
produced high yields and a
variety of food. She grows as many as
thirty-two
different varieties of crops that include wheat,
mustard, sugarcane, garlic, coriander,
spinach
and potatoes for her family’s daily consumption.
Her family of twelve members depends on
the
farm’s food. Ramrati is a role model and preacher of
agroecological practices now.
Besides its emphasis on sustaining the
environment and social inclusion through participatory frameworks, agroecological models have
produced impressive economic results in terms of
yields,
productivity, nutrition and efficiency. It
also contributes
significantly towards food security and sovereignty. Agroecology
models are
redefining the relationship between farmers, agriculture
and nature where instead of machines,
farmers’ families are
toiling happily; instead of
costly external inputs, only farm based
inputs
are the used in the form of biopesticides and
biofertilizers; where monoculture is replaced by
biodiversity; and
where women farmers have
an equal status with their men folks as
seeding,
weeding, thrashing, harvesting are their forte.
Agroecology is fast becoming a dominant
agricultural paradigm for small-scale resource poor
farmers around
the world. Farmers are adopting
this farming technique not only for
their sustenance but also to resist the corporate agricultural model
pushed through green revolution
and then, the gene revolution. In
this age of
ever increasing cost of production, indebtedness and
large-scale suicides, farmers have to make their choice for changing their
agricultural
practices towards holistic and ecological model.
The diversity of agroecological models
being
practiced in India offer them this option in the
form of
Natural Farming, Zero Budget Natural
Farming, Permaculture, Organic
Farming, Rishi Kheti. However Agroecology based organic
farming is
different from the neoliberal organic
farming model being promoted
by the same corporations who have thrived on green revolution
technologies, making farmers dependent on
non-sustainable and costly
external inputs.
Many more farmers like Ramrati Devi are
required to spread the agroecological paradigm to
defeat the
capitalist and export oriented neoliberal agriculture which has
threatened the survival
of millions of small and marginal farmers in
India
and around the world.
Nyéléni Newsletter
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