KRRS embarks on co-operative natural farming to fight agrarian crisis

To turn farming into a sustainable and profitable venture, the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (Collective Leadership) is set to promote co-operative natural farming along with innovative marketing.

“Under this experiment, five farmers from each village are registered with the farmers’ Producers’ Organisation (FPO) Nammadu to take up natural farming on 20 guntas (half acre) of land as an unit. Of this, 10 guntas will be dedicated to growing crops for consumption of their own family. On the remaining 10 guntas, the five farmers will have to take up joint cultivation of prescribed crops like vegetables including creepers, tubers and greens under natural farming methods to ensure chemical-free food,” said KRRS leader Chukki Nanjundaswamy, who is spearheading this initiative.

Through santhes

The FPO will directly sell this produce to consumers through its santhes (shandies) that are already popular in Bengaluru and pass on the proceeds to farmers. These santhes will be managed by farmers by turns, she noted.

Each group of five farmers would be able to earn a total revenue that can range up to ₹1 lakh per crop cycle as per the estimates by the KRRS. It is possible to have three crop cycles a year as it requires four months to complete each cycle, she said. Five-member team of farmers can earn upto ₹3 lakh a year from 10 guntas if things go well.

The aim is to demonstrate that it is possible to earn remunerative incomes even from a small patch of land by producing and directly selling chemical-free crops. “We are particularly insisting on group farming as sharing the responsibility would reduce the burden on farmers. The intention is to build a cordial environment of co-operation instead of competition in agriculture. This also helps in fighting labour shortage,” she said.

The on-field training would be given on natural farming to farmers by experts while higher level training would be provided by the Amrita Bhoomi Trust that is dedicated to training farmers.

Idea of MDN

“This idea of co-operative natural farming was being espoused by my father (the late Prof. M. D. Nanjundaswamy who founded the KRRS). We began the groundwork for this during Covid times and so far we have registered about 700 farmers as members for the FPO. We want to expand it to at least 100 villages in the immediate future,” she noted.

She pointed out that already a system of direct marketing has been put in place by her organisation through its periodical santhes in Bengaluru where farmers are provided space and facilities to sell their organic produce directly. “Now we want to have more such santhes,” she said.

In K.K. Hundi

The KRRS State secretariat member and Nammadu FPO Director Manju Kiran noted that the initiative has been formally rolled out in K.K. Hundi village in Chamarajanagar district recently.

“What we are trying to demonstrate now is a prototype, and this has the potential to assume larger proportions. Our intention is to retain farm youth in agriculture and ensure that they get remunerative prices for their crops so that they need not come to cities in search of menial jobs. They should be able to live dignified lives in villages. This is crucial from the point of view of food security and health of society too,” he underscored.