“I grow lots of seasonal vegetables and sell it in the market along with other eatables that I collect from my gardens,” proudly shares Ranjit Bangthai, one of the farmer from Kumarkuchi village, Gova panchayat, Morigaon district in Assam during a village level meeting. As he was sharing his agricultural activities, everyone was listening to him with much admiration. But then he said something which surprised everyone that while returning home he buys vegetables that are available in the market which is consumed by the family.

The ignorance and innocence of this man shocked those who know the value of indigenous in comparison to hybrid food. He was not aware that the vegetables that are grown in his garden are from indigenous seeds having very high nutritive value. He got attracted by the looks, shape and size of the vegetables available in the market and used to buy for his family.

This was a very common practice by almost all the farmers in his village and his neighbouring villages. All the efforts of the farmers were going in vain as they themselves were not able to eat the fruits of their hard work. They were not only depriving themselves of the nutritional food intake that they were supposed to have, but it could also be seen as a threat to their good traditional way of agricultural practices that needs to be valued and preserved.

Farmers cannot be blamed for their ignorance as they are from very remote villages and never exposed to the outer world much and trapped in the shiny marketing trap. They were very simple farmers who toiled day and night in their fields to support their families with basic needs.

Caritas India FARM team from Guwahati Gana Seva Society (GGSS) along with some of the lead farmers identified the issue and started the intervention to ensure that the farmers realize that they should be very proud of their traditional agricultural practices and the kind of produces they are growing with indigenous seeds. This intervention was also targeted to ensure that farmers ensure their own food security loaded with nutritional value.

Series of meetings and community interactions were conducted mainly to focus on the issue. Farmers were informed that their products are very high in nutritional value and should be consumed by themselves and their families and only the surplus products could be sold in the local markets for the income. They should not get lured by the products available in the market and compromise, instead, all the farmers should come together and ensure that their local products are sold at a good market price.

As they went through such awareness program, trainings and capacity building program, they started realizing about their mistake that they were doing unknowingly. They slowly started taking initiatives to correct it. During this period the farmers got the opportunity to visit some of the line departments such as Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science and Dept. of Forest Nursery. The farmers had great exposure and very soon they understood the importance of such initiatives.

They not only started consuming their own grown products but made a conscious effort to increase their production through multi-cropping, optimize utilization of land and growing wild edibles in their garden. They are now selling only their surplus products in the market at very satisfactory rates.

Farmers have come together and formed a group to link themselves with institutions such as Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK). 50 acres of community land have been identified and the farmers are cultivating Dhaincha, Local Paddy, Mustard, Banana, Lemon & Papaya in it. They are constantly in touch with KVK, their officials are also making frequent visits to their field and are undergoing various trainings to make themselves eligible for organic certification.

The biggest impact could be seen during the time when millions of people were affected due to the pandemic situation and were facing the brurt due to shortage and lack of food. The farmers from Kumarkuchi, Garangkuchi, Notungaonliya, Puronigaonliya, 1 no to 4 no Kuthuri, Kalbari, Gurigaon & Mokoria had the privilege to feed themselves with the nutritional produces that they were growing by themselves.

“We cultivate in a small piece of land and manage with it by growing whatever we possibly can, and to be honest during this lockdown period we managed to survive without much difficulty because most of the things were there in our farm,” shared Rashmi Inghipi from No 1 Kuthuri village.