When Munshi Sitaram, a marginal farmer from Gogaipur village in Madhya Pradesh left his family to work in the city, he did not do it out of desire but out of compulsion to feed his family. Above all, the burden of heavy debts and the impact of frequent crop losses forced him and his family to frequently migrate to cities and town for sustaining their livelihood and to repay the debts.

His 3.5 acres of cultivable land was not sufficient to fulfil the family needs. Overuse of synthetic chemicals has deteriorated the soil health and adversely affected the production. The marginalised farmers use these chemicals in their fields in anticipation of good harvest but over the time the yield started decreasing.

Caritas India’s integrated programme ‘Sabal’ was working in this area to address the chronic malnutrition and hunger to support the farming communities in improving their food production.

Mushi got the chance to attend one of the Sabal’s farmers meeting and was impressed to learn about sustainable agricultural practices that could be opted for preparing effective solutions as an alternative to chemical supplements for the crops. He volunteered and requested Rajendra, Sabal Nutrition Health Worker (NHW) to develop trial plots in his farmland for practising organic farming. The farmer-owned couple of livestock which was enough to stock cow urine for preparing various bio-manure solutions.

He initially started practising organic farming in half-acre of his land which was also followed by his wife to set up backyard nutrition garden at home implementing the bio-solutions.

Munshi devotedly practised every method as taught by the NHW. The first year’s harvest was not very favourable compared to the chemical treated land, however, he did not lose hope. He continued the practice of organic farming extending his half-acre of land annually bringing under this initiative. In the third year, his hard work was rewarded, and the yield was equivalent to that of synthetic farming. Considering the impact, he also set up a vermin-bed, Azola unit and prepared organic DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) and organic Urea at his farmland. He is frequently broadcasting and treating his land with organic supplements only.

Munshi shared “Jaivik kheti se main apna karz chuka paya aur dukaan bhi khol liya gav me. Ye sab Sabal walo ki madad se hua.” (With organic farming I was able to repay my debts and started a petty shop in the village. It all happened with the support of Sabal). Recently Munshi also bought a bike with the savings he made from his farming. This year he has first time started cultivation of potatoes and tomatoes in his farm and setup up bird trap and yellow sticky boards for pest control.

Learning from Munshi’s success many other nearby farmers have also started organic farming by setting up bio-manure units and preparing various nutrition and pest management solutions. Anita (wife of Munshi) is always at the forefront in supporting Rajendra, NHW in organizing all the meeting for the women farmers.