The Scenario

Four decades of planned development since the fifties have failed to alleviate rural poverty, what to sayh of its eradication. There are more poor people in the villages today than at any other time.  Nearly three hundred million people are living below the poverty line.  The executed development projects, on the other hand, have exacted a heavy price in the form of gross exploitation of resources, degradation of  the environment, dislocation of habitat and traditional way of living of whole communities, vanished forests depriving communities of fodder and fuelwood and medicinal plants.  Bio-diversity is greatly diminished.  Unsustainable agricultural practices have caused loss of soil fertility, erosion, and water scarcity.   Use of chemicals have damaged many eco-systems: hundreds of species of flora and fauna are threatened or endangered.  The population grows at the rate of two percent per annum.    The land holdings get smaller and smaller, the scope for employment in the villages is stagnant at best.  Men and Women move to urban centres in search of work uprooted from their base only to live in squalor at a sub-human level.  The list of woes is long and familiar.  Gross societal inequities lead to crime and voilence sending shock wavwes through civil society.  It is a sad scenario.

Is a Reversal Possible ?

The reversal of this process has to come from direct rural development through the route of resources regeneration and enhancement.  It requires great human effort and will to recover and rejuvenate wastelands, regenerate and plant new forests, improve the moisture regime, conserve, store and use water wisely.  The answer to removal or poverty and unemployment lies in the production of more and more biomass – food, cash crops and fodder.   Some crops might to be grown that can provide fibre and fuelwood as inputs into production units that can provide sustainable livelihood for men and women in their own environment.  All this has to be done via alternative routes.

Wasteland Development and Watershed Management

Wasteland development projects and watershed management schemes aim at micro-level development.  The outlays run into thousands of crore.  The schemes generate employment for local people, involve NGOs and often create tangible assets.  As yet, nobody has thought of safeguarding and maintenance of assets such as checkdams  and forests after the executive agnecy’s job is over!  One  unfortunate aspect is that these continue to be top-down projects which do not always have a substantial community participation content.  However, the regerneratede  and newly planted trees are visible on many lots.  There is a greater biomass availability to the community where it has taken over the responsibility  of managing the assets.  But, there are instances where the land is located away from the community, the government is not able to provide the manpower for the protection of the usufructs.  Illegal removal of young trees has already started.

Another disturbing aspect of this devleopment scenario is that private landowners are reluctant to have afforestation done on their land.  They apprehend that such land is liable to be taken over by the Forest Department and no assurance that the fears are unfounded is forthcoming!

Watershed management projects and construction of check-dams have been promoted to attain the following objectives :

q	To check the land degradation and enhance the moisture regime by simple, cheap but effective soil and moisture conservation measures.
q	Afforestation including farm-forestry.
q	Development of pastures and fodder resources keeping in mind the large cattle population of the area.
q	Ground water charging.
q	Effective involvement of farmers, NGOs, Government departments, and research institutions.
q	Education and training of farmers for resource conservation and management.

Development Alternatives has successfully executed a number of these projects in Bundelkhand region of central India.  Some  work  is still in progress in Jhansi district (UP).  In Karnataka state also, it is executing a watershed management scheme in Tumkur district.

Regenerated Forests

The species that has regenerated on wastelands in a prolific manner is Butea monosperma, dhak or palash – also commonly known as the flame of the forest.  In the months of February and March forests of Bundelkhand are really aflame – the leave drop off, only the flowers remain.  The flowers, unfortunately, do not attract bees. The leaves which are thick and turgid take a long time to decompose and remain a  source of firehazard during the summer months of April, May and June.  The regeneration of forests seems pointless unless the communities can benefit from them – traditonally  from the non-timber products. Dhak has potential for employment generation.  Three things  ought to be possible with technology intervention.

q	A dye from the flowers
q	Extraction of gum from the tree
q	Making donas or plates from leafs.

Even the elderly people can be engaged in these activities.

Watershed Areas

When we look at the managed watershed areas, we may note that the moisture regime has improved with the construction of water harvesting structures, aquifers are recharged.  But, the benefits have not spread uniformly.  There are pockets of assured irrigation.  The farmers can grow three crops now.  The quality  of soil varies from very good to poor within a range of a few hundred meters – at times on adjoining plots !   The big farmers seem to have adopted the green revolution package of practices using agro-chemicals and copious quantity of water without realising the long-term damage to the soil. 

They want to make good now – more food security first and then whatever brings a good profit – be it soyabean, sunflower or sugarcane! Be that as it may, an extra crop means additional employment for landless people – sporadic though it be.

The medium quality land can also be enriched with a leguminous food or fodder crop. Some irrigation is required.  The poorer quality of soil with a thin layer of topsoil, needs treatment – a good deal of human effort and patience.  Not much economic benefit can be expected for three to four years during which green manuring and addition  of farmyard manure or compost and growing a legume crop should vastly improve the quality.  But where does a farmerget his manure or compost from ?  The dung is the source of energy – unfortunately not through the technological route of a biogas plant, but in the form of dried dungcake which are used for cooking at home and even for firing bricks in clamp type local kilns.  Hopefully, with increased access to fuelwood from regenerated forests on revenue land, the dependence on dung will decrease and more manure will be available for use in fields.  With an average ownership of five heads of cattle in many families, a biogas plant ought to provide clean cooking fuel.  The slurry is available within days for direct application on fields.  Why the biogas plants have not found favour with the farmers needs an analysis.  The associated benefits to the women in that they do not have to spend hours gathering fuelwood or making cowdung cakes are obvious.  People have tractors,  pump-sets -  why not biogas plants in Bundelkhand ? However, there is another crop that provides energy for cooking.

Growing  a Legume – Sesbania bispinosa (Dhaincha)

Air Vice Marshal S. Sahni of  Development Alternatives, Jhansi is an ardent protagonist a common legume – dhaincha (Sesbania bispinosa or  S. aculeata ) as a Kharif Crop.  Its versatility  is impressive.  In 45 to 60 days, it is excellent green manure when ploughed  into the soil.  When allowed to grow to full maturity in about 16 to 18 weeks, it provides :

q	Fuel wood and pulp (from the stems)
q	Cordage (from the sking)
q	Gum from seeds (commercially of high value)
q	Cattle feed from seeds
q	Nitrogen to the soil

The yield per hectar will greatly vary depending on the quality of land, availability of water for one or two irrigation, the quality of the seeds, the sowing technique, and agronomic practices.  What is expected from one tonne yield are :

a)	Stem	900 Kg
b)	Cordage	80 Kg
c)	Seeds	20 Kg

Possible Enterprises

All these are inputs for enterprises and with technological intervention, can sustain some enterprises.  The stem goes into :

q	Handmade paper production
q	Boards – particle boards/ hard boards/ fibre boards)
q	Power generation through a  Gasifier

The cordage (fibre) can be utilised to make ropes commercially.  Another crop  - Sann hemp is cultivated in pockets of  Bundelkhand and communities are engaged in rope making.  Yarns should be spun as with jute and the natural gloss ought  to make it an attractive input for furnishing materials.

Processing the seeds is done in UP and Haryana with a simple ‘chakki’.  The gum is attractively priced.  The value additon is manifold.  The husk and the kernels  make good cattlefood.  Endosperm of the seed provides the gum.

Rope making and seed processing are ideal cottage industries under the local conditions.  A 15 tonne pm handmade paper unit can employ  as many as 100 people on a regular basis.  There will be additional work for those engaged in transportation, be it a bullock cart or tractor trolley.  The domestic fuel situation can also be altered dramatically if a producer retains part of his produce (stem) for use as fuelwood.  An average household may not need more than a tonne per annum.   The stems burn very well, but their storage presents some problem.

Sustainable Agriculture

We go back to the idea of sustainable agriculture.  When the dung is not used up as dung cakes, it is excellent material for producing a rich compost by Indore/ NADEP method.  It sounds  unbelievable that manure from one cow or buffalo can be used to produce nearly 20 tonnes of compost per annum.  All this going into a not-so-good quality soil will vastly improve the humus of the soil and its productivity.  The possibilities are indeed exciting.

Demonstration to Create Awareness

What is missing is awarenss and extension facilities to the farmers.  The state agricultural departments may not see cultivation of dhaincha  as a magic solution to the unemployment problem and may not be very enthusiastic about it.  But  economics of growing dhaincha needs to be disseminated through media, particularly the radio and through a simple  booklet in Hindi.  The best way to convince all is to demonstrate.

Seeing is believing for almost all of us.  Since, we at Development Alternatives, are working on the technological interventions toward creating micro-enterprises, may be we should get down to the fields, get ten odd hectares of land on lease, carry out the best practices, and show the economic results to the local farmers of growing ‘dhaincha’.

There are complex problems such as rural unemployment and poverty, that remain as problems till someone comes up with a location – specific simple solution.  Dhaincha may be one such case.  It is worthwhile going the wholehog in making this idea work!

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