Farmers go organic, reap rich harvest

Faridkot, April 8
Unlike their less-fortunate peers, farmers like Vinod Jyani, Harjant Singh, Gurmail Singh Dhillon, Hartej Singh and Amarjit Sharma are a happy lot. Less than five years ago, they couldn't have imagined that the wheat they are growing would stir demand from the health-conscious section of society. Now, they realise that their decision to adopt organic farming was a step in right direction.

At the time when a majority of farmers with 4-5 acres of landholding are under debt and every rabi season, they wait for days at procurement centres to sell their crop, these farmers growing organic wheat are selling their produce at their doorsteps and that too at a price up to Rs 3,000 per quintal. While the MSP of wheat is Rs 1,285 per quintal, the organic produce is already booked at prices between Rs 2,700 and Rs 3,000 per quintal.

On his four acres of land, Amarjit has introduced diversification in a big way. He has sown over 20 varieties of crops, including vegetables, fruits, sugarcane, potatoes, onion and pulses, by dividing his farm in small segments.

Calling it zero budget natural farming, Vinod Jyani, a farmer with 120 acres under organic farming in Katehra village of Fazilka, says: “In this system, we use those things which are available naturally. Besides savings on fertilisers and pesticides, water required for organic farming is 70 per cent to 80 per cent less than the conventional farming," says Jyani.

Cow dung, jaggery and gram flour is used in natural farming. In the first two to three years, the yield falls by 40-50 per cent, but with zero inputs and the produce fetching 100 per cent more price, natural farming brings no loss, says Harjant Singh of Rai Ke Kalan village.

A study titled "Economics and Efficiency of Organic Farming vis-à-vis Conventional Farming in India" by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad, reveals that though the yield under organic farming is nearly half, but the market price realisation of per kg wheat is significantly higher (117 per cent). The study indicates almost 16 per cent higher gross returns per acre of wheat under organic farming over conventional farming, says Umendra Dutt, executive director, Kheti Virsat Mission, a voluntary organisation for promoting natural farming..