The farming communities and the Agri Economy needs to be changed with time to match the requirements of the farmers, the next generation farmer urge.

Ram Achal, a young model farmer from Mawana Kalan village in Uttar Pradesh suggests other farmers grow horticulture crops instead of growing regular crops like rice, wheat, and maize to maintain the fertility of the land soil.

For the last 15 years, Ram Achal was engaged in agriculture, but he was not happy with his produce. He had some knowledge and experience in horticulture but lacks expertise and finances.  He always looks for ways to increase his yield which was materialised through one of Caritas India’s Saksham programme meetings where he learnt about agriculture and organic farming.  With time his curiosity and interest in enhancing agriculture led him to be associated with the farmer clubs to gain a good knowledge of horticulture crops.

Saksham III staff identified Ram Achal as a potential farmer for livelihood restoration support under the EKIKARAN program. He received Rs. 7000/- for livelihood restoration which he utilised to grow vegetables like bottle gourd, bitter gourd, cauliflower, brinjal, coriander, cucumber etc. to grow on his farm. He was assisted by Saksham III staff to plan the seasons with the crop’s cultivation. Currently, he had planted bitter gourd, bottle gourd and two types of brinjal. Once he harvests the first crop, he will grow cucumber, cauliflower, and coriander for the next season.

He shares his ideas with Jung Bahadur, the coordinator of the Saksham program to improve the plight of marginal farmers. A rural village of 1,000 residents sends crores of rupees worth of goods and services to the urban areas but if the farmer gets a fair price in his own village then the farmer’s income can increase.

He opines that if a farmer from the village sells his goods @ Rs 60 per KG to a retailer, and then a resident of the village goes and purchases the same product from that retailer at Rs 100 per KG, the farmer will suffer a loss of Rs. 40. He feels that not only people but our cash too is flowing from rural to urban areas.

“We need to build a rural economy which has education, dairies and horticulture crops,” says Ram Achal. We will not be able to manufacture items like clothes, but we can make the rural economy up to 80% self-sufficient. The money that goes from farmers to middlemen should go to farmers. We need to stop the outflow of money to urban areas.

He proposes rather than focusing on single-harvest crops, farmers should focus on multiple crops. Relying on major crops, they should do mixed farming. He says the soil here is quite fertile. The farmers, rely on one or two major crops in a year and buy vegetables from the market at higher rates for their kitchens. It is always best to grow food items for one’s own kitchen on your farm. He says this will be particularly beneficial for low-income families. He has understood the fact that organic farming has a low cost of production, quality products with the best taste and the opportunity to get a good premium price. Organic production is economically viable. To make our life progressive we need to carefully think about all these processes.