Development Alternatives is working with Marico to rejuvenate tank-based ecosystem as an adaptation strategy in the climate sensitive Bundelkhand region in Central India. Agriculture and other productive land use compete with environmental and biodiversity goals. We needed to reconcile agriculture to achieve our objective in the area.

Farmer Field School (FFS) approach was incorporated into the Marico project to ensure food security. As per the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), FFS is an innovative, participatory and interactive learning approach that emphasises problem-solving and discovery-based learning. It aims to build farmers’ capacities to analyse their production systems, identify problems, test possible solutions and eventually encourage the participants to adopt the practices most suitable to their farming systems.

After a detailed survey of the project villages, the team decided to operate five Farmer Field Schools (FFS) to reach out to as many farmers as possible and identified the farmers who would take up the crop cultivation for demonstration. These five schools are currently focusing on the Kharif crops mainly millet however some would continue to operate in the Rabi season as well. Figure 1 showcases the farmer's participation and status of demo plots against the area under cultivation and the gender of the farmers. Drought resistant crops like Millet and Sorghum were cultivated by the interested small and medium holder farmers as a mitigation response to low rainfall i.e. 300 mm in the current year as opposed to 800 mm every year. While female farmer’s uptake of cultivation of Sorghum was relatively lower to the male farmers, uptake of Pearl millet saw equal participation by both the genders.

FFS for the Kharif season was concluded with a Field Day organised on the 23rd September 2020. The programme was initiated in the presence of officials from the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh. The objective of the field day was to demonstrate the crops to other farmers and to leverage resources and support from the local governing bodies.

To begin with, the DA field team gave an overview of the Tank Rejuvenation project supported by Marico India while farmers shared their experiences of being part of the Farmer Field Schools. Farmers accredited the quality of cultivation to the sowing and crop management lessons learnt in the FFS. They were vocal about how rain deficit in the current year has affected other cash crops including Urad, but Millet and Sorghum cultivated by them is showing good results. While other crops could not even bud, their crops managed to fair better in terms of the number of tillers and the height of the plants. These characteristics are indicative of good yield and thereby promise an income enhancement for these farmers. Crops are harvested and ready for thrashing and yield would be calculated to ascertain growth markers.

Expert from the Department of Agriculture, discussed the current agricultural practices, its aligned issues and techniques for better crop management including pest management and organic farming.

Key Learnings

• Engage people from the beginning.

• Introduce native varieties which are from the region for better results.

• Regular training and follow up is important.

• Hand holding support is must in two seasons with the primary farmers and scale up farmers.

• Linkages with local government officers is important for larger adoption.

• Focus on seed availability for next season.

Modules for Conducting FFS

Methodology

Total six sessions conducted in a farmer field school.

Module 1. Concept of Land Preparation and Use of Healthy Seed: In the first training, farmers are oriented on land preparation, what is a good seed and how to maintain seed rate, seed treatment etc.

Module 2. Soil Health and Aromatic Management for better productivity.

Module 3. Nutrient and Pest Management to secure the crops.

Module 5. Moisture Management: During this session, farmers are told about ways to protect soil moisture by doing the appropriate inter-culture operation.

Module 6. How to Estimate Yield: Farmers are facilitated to learn about simple methods of yield estimation along with harvesting, mowing and post harvesting management.

Field day: The farmers are taken to the field and all the concepts discussed are shown on the site. This includes intercropping, plant protection etc.

Following are the other aspects which are explained during the training through direct presentations:

▪ Compost manure and field waste management

▪ Making of Amritjal (organic pesticide) and herbal tonic

▪ Use of garlic and green chilly for pest management

▪ Insect management

▪ Tree plantation

Along with this, the importance of soil conservation is also explained and farmers are told the following:

▪ Use only an appropriate small amount of chemicals for insect pollinators.

▪ Use seeds with protective properties.

▪ Follow the crop cycle.

▪ Use maximum amount of organic manure.

▪ Do not burn crop surplus but put them in a pit and let them rot.

▪ Use water saving irrigation techniques such as sprinkler etc. ■

Lalit Kumar Gangwar
lkgangwar@devalt.org