The natural resources are fast depleting due to irresponsible consumption and unscrupulous practices. It is important that individuals, communities and organisations must measure, manage and mitigate their impact on the ecosystems. To help build the capacities of organisations, Caritas India recently organized three days of Natural Resource Management (NRM) training for Saksham partner coordinators and other participants from Kripa SWS, at Kripa Training Center, Ujjain from 20-22 June 2022. Around 45 coordinators/animators from different programs participated in the training.

“The objectives of Green Revolution and the strategy of multinational companies was to expand their market demand of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and even genetically modified crops,” said Dr. Mukund Deshmukh, the Assistant Programme Lead- SABAL and the lead resource person of the training. He was sharing about the negative impact of the Green Revolution and its culmination into today’s agrarian crisis.

He pointed out that the increased rate of chemical farming practices is directly proportional to a reduction in soil fertility and crop production.  Nevertheless, climate change has played a pivotal part in deciding the fate of smallholder farmers in the Indian peninsula. He reiterated that all the above factors along with price fluctuations, market dependency for seeds and loss of cropping patterns have taken a toll on the economic wellbeing of smallholder farmers.

He said, we need three important resources: water, soil and biodegradable materials along with others for the Sustainable Agriculture Practices (SAP). Moreover, he insisted on diversification of food crops to maintain the balance of the soil and its nutrients, fight climate change, poverty alleviation, strengthen food and nutrition security, fodder availability, NRM, development of agriculture enterprise etc. He stressed that due to shifting to cash crops there are regions, which are facing challenges like malnutrition. Hence, he discussed the importance of millets – minor and major. He said especially minor millets have been pivotal in fighting poverty, hunger and malnutrition in his program areas.

Dr. Mukund explained the need for Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) for smallholder farmers. He shared there are two types of bio-manure – Solid and liquid, these are growth promoters and nutrient boosters. He gave various examples of liquid bio-manure like Jivamrut, vermi Wash, cytosine, fish tonic, effective Micro-Organisms (EMO) and Panchgavya. Whereas examples of solid bio-manures are Azolla, vermicompost (khechua khad), NADEP, organic urea and organic DAP, Samadhi khad, green manuring, field yard manure etc. He underlined the fact that all these bio-manures are very cost-effective as compared to their chemical alternatives and easily available for any farmer.

Moving on to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices, Dr. Mukund discussed in detail their types and respective uses. First, he shared basic rules to avoid pests on farms like planting strong-smelling crops like onion or tulsi, which keeps insects and worms away. Moreover, he explained various IPM techniques like Dashparni ark, lamit, neem ark, tejlaal, light traps, sticky boards, and bird stands. He mentioned the basic principle of organic methods which is to avoid violence.

Soil and Water conservation measures discussed by Dr. Mukund, which he mentioned earlier as essential in SAP. He illustrated how soil erosion, water pollution and climate change is transforming the traditional agricultural ways. Hence, he reiterated the need of preserving soil and water in the farmland to sustain farmers and maintaining environmental balance. He gave the example of vegetative barriers or live gully plugs to stop soil erosion. Stone bunds, sack bags dams, water absorption trenches (WAT) and soak pits not only help in ground water recharging but also support Rabi season with stored water. In addition, farm ponds, and continuous contour trenches increase water percolation on the farm.

On the second day, Dr. Mukund demonstrated various INM, IPM and soil & water conservation measures in the field. Six groups of participants performed and explained the process, implementation and use of bio-manures to other participants.

At last, he highlighted an example of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for the smallholder farmers. He discussed the importance of CBA for smallholder farmers like increase in agricultural finance literacy, engaging skilled labour etc. He explained the steps to do CBA. Later, a task was given to six groups to present their activity plan for INM, IPM and soil & water conservation measures for their respective projects. All of them presented and discussed their plan in front of other participants and received feedback.

A coordinator learning exchange meeting took place between Ujjain and Saksham coordinators on 23^rd June where they shared the best practices from Ujjain partner with Saksham coordinators. A mutually conducive discussion and feedback session followed each presentation. Fr. Sunil contributed to crucial areas by mentioning their mission, vision and work ethic through strong monitoring and effective community mobilization.