Some Small Farmers Are Struggling Courageously to Respond Well to Climate Change but They Need More Help

With COP 30 in progress, I decided to visit some villages to see how small farmers, who constitute the overwhelming number of farmers in India, are coping with the challenge of climate change. I wanted to meet both kinds of farmers, those who are facing increasing difficulties as well as those who are adapting well to face the new challenges. In addition I wanted to look at adaptation as well as mitigation aspects.

Bundelkhand region in Central India, I felt, would be a particularly appropriate place to visit keeping in view the increasing problems arising here due to adverse and erratic weather conditions in recent times, more particularly the very extensive harm suffered by the previous kharif crop due to highly excessive rains as a result of which either sowing of crops could not take place, or else, even if sowing could be managed somehow, the bulk of this was ruined by continuing heavy rain.

Marumar village in Tikamgarh district (Madhya Pradesh) is one village where this harm was extensive. Shishupal Singh is a farmer owning three and a half acres of land. He told me that his entire crop was destroyed. He also did not receive any compensation payment for this. As a result of this when the time for sowing the next crop, winter or rabi crop, arrived recently, he had no money to buy seeds and chemical fertilizers. Hence he had no other alternative but to go to private moneylenders to take a loan of INR 40,000. The interest rate on this is very high at 3 per cent per month on compound interest terms. Shishupal has to pay this high rate despite the fact that he could mortgage some valuables. Other, even poorer farmers who could not arrange this have to pay an even higher interest rate of five per cent per month.

Thus while farmers like Shishupal Singh have been able to sow the rabi crop all right, but at the same time they have been pushed further into high interest debt from which it will be difficult to extricate themselves.

Now let us see how those farmers who have been striving to adapt themselves to adverse weather situations have been able to face the recent disaster in a very different way.

Balchandra Ahirwar is one such farmer who has attracted much attention in recent times for such efforts and so, although I had seen his highly creative and beautiful efforts earlier too, I decided to visit him again to see how he has faced the recent disaster of the kharif crop.

Balchandra is among those farmers who have been assisted by SRIJAN voluntary organization to emerge as a model farmer of climate resilience. In addition he has been well-connected to some local government efforts to promote natural farming. The way in which he has tried to face the recent difficulties is a good example of what SRIJAN has tried to promote in many villages to improver climate resilience.

Three important aspects may be particularly emphasized in the present context. Firstly, although Balchandra has only two acres of land, he has been using it to grow about 40 crops, including several vegetables and fruits. One part of the farm is devoted to a multi-layer vegetable garden, which grows over 20 vegetables and related crops, including herbs and spices, in the annual crop cycle. Then there are over 60 fruit trees of guava, lemon, papaya, mango and jackfruit.

For those farmers who are not growing such diversity of crops, once the three-four crops of kharif season (in some cases only one-groundnuts) were destroyed by excessive rains, this meant that there would be no earning at all from farming till the next rabi crop is harvested in March-April next year ( 2026). However in the case of Balchandra there could still be significant earning from vegetables and fruit sales, and in addition these would also add to the nutrition of his family members. So while the adverse weather brought ruin to many farmers, Balchandra could still manage the difficulties without having to get into debt for sowing the rabi crop.

Secondly, while farmers continuing with previous ways had to borrow money to buy chemical fertilizers and also had to spend a lot of time in buying chemical fertilizers at a time of scarcity of fertilizers, Balchandra did not have any such problem as he practices natural farming based on organic fertilizer prepared using cow-dung, cow urine and a few other ingredients available at or near his farm and home. Similarly to keep away pests he uses a home- made spray. Hence, he is entirely protected from the high costs of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as he does not use these.

Thirdly, as he is able to make these natural farming inputs in excess of his own needs at a bio-resource center set up with the help of SRIJAN, he can sell these to other farmers (who for various reasons are unable to make these on their own) at a fair price so that he earns some income from this as well.

Thus with his efforts helped by SRIJAN Balchandra has been able to vastly improve his climate change adaptation capacity so that highly adverse weather of the kind seen at the time of the last kharif crop does not create the kind of serious and long-term adversities for him as it does for other, less prepared farmers. While his example has been highlighted here to explain the situation better, several farmers in other villages are also able to adapt to a much better extent because of the efforts of SRIJAN to promote natural farming as well as highly diversified farming which is closely linked to local conditions and needs. In fact SRIJAN’s efforts to spread natural and diversified farming can be seen even in Marumar village but as these have started only recently so their impact will be more visible only after some time.

Balchandra’s efforts are also likely to give increasingly better results in future. As he told me very happily, soil conditions on his farm are improving steadily and there are many more earthworms in soil, sometimes so many that this surprises him. Natural pollinators including bees, birds and butterflies can now be seen in great abundance in his farm. At the same time, keeping in view the healthy growth in his farm, there are hardly any harmful pests to be seen now.

What is very encouraging is how Balchandra is trying to take his ideas of farming to more and more farmers of his village. He first convinced his two brothers and they are now following in his footsteps. Next, as he is more well-informed about government schemes, as soon as he came to know about a government scheme for assisting those who take up natural farming, he started his efforts to convince more and more farmers in his village to take up natural farming. Thus despite being from the traditionally weaker community of dalits he is able on the basis of his achievements to influence the wider village community to move in the direction of natural farming.

At the same time as helping the climate adaptation effort, Balchandra has contributed to climate mitigation also. He has avoided entirely the burden of fossil fuels that is related to chemical fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides. By using a power tiller instead of hiring or buying a tractor, he has reduced the consumption of diesel by about two-thirds. He has planted about 80 trees in his small farm and by improving soil and increasing moisture, he has created the conditions in which more trees are sprouting up on their own in the vicinity of his farm. The more porous soil can retain more rain water and in any case natural farming needs lesser water, saving water as well as reducing the need for lifting water from a traditional well. The improved soil has more capacity to absorb carbon.

Balchandra has been able to achieve all this during the last six years and the production of all the food and fodder produced on his farm is also higher, not lesser than before, if you include all the vast diversity of the produce. In addition the food and fodder produced here are much healthier and contribute more to nutrition.

However not all the farmers can be equally hard working, creative and dedicated to their work. To facilitate the process of more and more farmers shifting to this path, both the government and non-government organizations must provide more generous support and longer-term projects. Funds which are available under various climate justice and other climate concerns should also be used generously to promote such climate resilient farming of small farmers. In addition creative and innovative ways of involving landless households should also be explored.

However two problems need to be avoided for better success to be achieved. With the gradual spread of natural farming, there is a new tendency to sell all sorts of gadgets and expensive implements or products to farmers under the name of promoting productivity or convenience of natural farming. Even an otherwise very capable and wise farmer like Balchandra may be caught up in such sales talk and lured into spending beyond his means or incurring an entirely avoidable debt. Thus while natural farming is helping farmers to avoid high costs of agro-chemicals, they are being lured into other types of expenses and debts. This should be carefully avoided. It should be very clear that there is an overall objective of reducing external costs, avoiding debts and promoting self-reliance of farmers and rural communities.

Secondly, many farmers are unable to realize their full creative potential because of the increasing temptation of alcohol and related intoxicants following the opening of liquor vends in villages. Some of the best performing and most creative farmers I have met in recent times, like Balchandra, are those who entirely avoid alcohol and other intoxicants. Hence a social reform effort to reduce alcohol consumption is now acquiring increasing importance.

Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, A Day in 2071 and India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food.