A Model Village in the Making - Chinna Jalapuram

Written by Kabir Arora / 16 January 2009 / Read Kabir Arora's latest blog entries.

Organic farming is the meeting point of farmer and Mother Nature:The Story of Narsimha

In the largest district of Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh, lies a small village called Chinna Jalapuram. This village is on its way to become a model for rural communities across the country.

The story of this success starts four years ago from the day when the Rural Integrated Development Society (RIDS) adopted this village. The first person to opt for natural farming was the leader of the villagers, Narsimha, who is now a Environment committee member for the village. He and his son are practicing organic farming, and enjoying a good income as a result. These villagers are not even aware of the contribution of agriculture to global warming which is approximately 25 percent, but then they are also not aware that they are part of the solution for the same global crisis through the methods they are now adopting.

The story of the Narsimha is not different to any farmer in India;

With a loan of Rs. 50,000 on his head, he was making his living from hand to mouth. Then one night, four years ago, some RIDS members came to their village. They performed a play and facilitated an interaction between these farmers and those from other villages who were practicing Sustainable farming practices. From that day, Narsimha became part of a true green revolution -sustainable farming - and a role model for the village. It was a tough job in the beginning but since then his income increased five times.

They have made a great number of changes, including the following. He and his co-village members have a small seed bank and micro-financing system to invest in farming practices. They use only local materials such as Neem leaves, Cow Urine, Jaggery, water and leaves of ingua, to make the fields pest resistant. Cow dung, fallen leaves, leaves of Thangra tree, and Jaggery are also a source of manure for the farmers. Their major role is to enrich the soil with nutrients. They even use leftover food in preparing compost. Sustainable irrigation is also vital for sustainable farming, and for that he switched to the drip irrigation method. On the whole, his yield has increased by five times and in his words he has become a rich man.

In his message to fellow farmers, Narsimha and his son Narayana said "Providing food is a sacred profession, we should not spoil it by the mal-practices of chemical farming." 

This is just an overview of what's happening in Andhra Pradesh. More than 10 Lac acres of the land of the state has been declared a pesticide- free zone. All of the credit goes to the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture which is paving the way by connecting organizations like RIDS with the farmers.