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Caritas helps Kashmir farmers go organic

Through training, once-struggling farmers now able to maximize their returns
Caritas helps Kashmir farmers go organic

Dharam Chand in his wheat field some 25 kilometers outside of Jammu. Chand was considering giving up on his farm until he switched to organic methods, learnt from Caritas, which has made his farming enterprise profitable. (ucanews.com photo by Umar Shah)

Published: May 27, 2016 07:31 AM GMT
Updated: May 21, 2021 04:26 AM GMT

With each new day farmer Dharam Chand is closer to the harvest season and his hopes for a decent wheat crop get higher.

Had he not switched to organic farming with the help of a Catholic Church agency two years ago, he'd be working in a different job today.

"We were all disheartened by falling yields. I had almost decided to quit farming and to take some other job, like working in a grocery or a restaurant in the area," Chand said while working in his wheat fields some 25 kilometers from Jammu in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

With crop productivity dropping and input costs rising, Chand faced a crisis.

"Excessive use of pesticides and the falling yield swelled my debts," he said.

His change in circumstances began when he attended a training session for local farmers offered by the Jammu Kashmir Catholic Social Service Society, the Jammu-Srinagar diocesan branch of Caritas India.

"Experts introduced us to the advantages of organic farming and its methods," Chand said.

Subsequently, Chand and other farmers in the area adopted organic farming methods.

"We then began to witness a gradual increase in yield," he said, adding that he now earns enough income from the farm to look after his family and save for the future.

 

Members of the Jammu Kashmir Catholic Social Service Society interacting with farmers participating in the organic farming program. (ucanews.com photo by Umar Shah)

 

Agriculture is the backbone of the Muslim-dominated state, which is situated in India's most northern part. As an industry, it provides employment directly or indirectly to around 70 percent of the state's 12.5 million people.

But according to research conducted by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, the environment sustainability of the state's agricultural industry is worsening. Increased use of fertilizers and other agrochemicals are listed as factors contributing to the deterioration of soil health and overall environmental degradation.

Organic farming is the only way to mitigate the emerging challenge for food security and environment sustainability in Jammu and Kashmir, said Mudhulika who goes by a single name, the church agency's manager in-charge of the organic farming program.

Caritas India, the arm of the Catholic Church in India, has been promoting organic farmingcountry for the past decade through its regional collaborators at the diocesan level.

In Jammu and Kashmir state, the church's social service wing operates in seven areas where they train and assist farmers to start and maintain organic farms.

 

Manga Ram at his organic pit where he makes natural fertilizers. (ucanews.com photo by Umar Shah)

 

Farmer Manga Ram said the agency's volunteers arrive at farmers' doorsteps to provide them with organic pesticides and fertilizers.

"They also assist us in supplying tools and taking care of shelter needs," he said.

Ram said he and other farmers were also taught to make low-cost organic pesticides and fertilizers using cow dung and earthworms.

Ashok Kumar, who cultivates basmati rice in Jammu's Smailpur area, said that the church agency also supplied him with a variety of native seeds. "We don't use imported seeds anymore, especially not the hybrid variety," Kumar said.

According to him, native seeds are heavier because they are packed with nutrients and vitamins whereas the other seeds are lighter because chemicals have stripped them of nutritional value.

Shahid Ahmad, who is doing research at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology on the impact of organic farming, said that an unbalanced use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can cause a range of problems.

"It is not only damaging the soil bacteria and fungi but it has also given rise to phenomenon such as pest resistance and pest resurgence," said Ahmad.

These have led to increased crop failures, which has trapped many farmers in debt, he said.

 

 

Ranbir Singh says organic farming made him self-sufficient and independent. (ucanews.com photo by Umar Shah)

 

But organic farming does not provide instant results, said Ranbir Singh from Jammu's Bisnah village. His experience in the first year organically farming maize on his land was "terrible."

"My yield witnessed a sudden drop but I was told during the training that we could mitigate the loss in the following two years," Singh said.

"And that is what happened. The yield started turning profitable because we lowered our costs and stopped using expensive chemicals," he said.

Mudhulika, the program manager, said the main objective with organic farming is to create an integrated production system.

"Such a system is one which is environmentally and economically sustainable, allowing a farmer to maximize their reliance on their farm," she said.

 

Famers from Jammu at one of their weekly meeting where they discuss organics farming methods. (ucanews.com photo by Umar Shah)

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