Bargarh district is famous for its commercial rice production known as rice bowl of Odisha. The farmers also grow seasonal vegetables which include cauliflower, cabbage, pointed gourd, brinjal etc. The district is among the top districts of Odisha with respect to consumption of fertilizers and pesticides (Odisha Agriculture Statistics, Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production, Odisha; 2013-14).
The application doses of pesticides sometimes are found 3 to 4 times of the recommended doses (primary data). Farmers also apply same formulation pesticides repeatedly. In addition to these, some pesticide companies are selling sub-standard formulations draining out the famers’ money. Recently Govt. of Odisha has banned 11 pesticide companies not to sell their products (Hindustan Times, 15th November 2017).
All these situations are creating an environment where most of the pathogens and insects are generating resistance against applied pesticides. Farmers are incurring a major part of their cost on pesticides. Sometimes farmers are becoming helpless on controlling disease-pest. Recent example of huge crop losses caused by Brown plant Hopper (BPH) in paddy crop causing number of farmer suicide cases and crop field burning by farmers. The time has reached to shift from pure chemical based farming to integrated approach and non-pesticide approach.
ACC Ltd, Bargarh Cement Works with partnership with BASIX Krishi Samruddhi Ltd (A BASIX group company) under Corporate Social Responsibility has initiated a programme to address such issues in the year 2014.
The programme is named as Low External Inputs for Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA).
The programme in the first year catered 100 farmers introducing integrated pest management (IPM) practices. Farmers were able to reduce 8-12 number of pesticide applications in paddy and vegetables with a reduce of cost of cultivation of Rs.1200 to Rs.3,000 per acre in different crops.
In the subsequent year, the number of farmers became double with a good response. In the year 2016, Non Pesticide Management (NPM) was adopted in seasonal vegetables and paddy with implementing partner as Sarva Seva Samity Sanstha (SSSS).
Different materials were used to disease-pest management like Chill-garlic pest, Five leaves extract, Botanical mixed pesticide, Tobacco extract, Bel leaf extract, Natural amino acid, Vermi wash, Pheromone trap, Yellow drum stick, Bird perches and some commercial bio based products. In the current year, more than 600 farmers have adopted NPM practices both in paddy and vegetables. The materials used in NPM practices not only address disease-pest but also supplement nutritional aspects. The cost of production now is reduced Rs.2,000 to Rs.5,000 per acre in different crops.
The keeping quality of NPM vegetables is longer and taste is better. There is a growing demand in the locality to consume such vegetables. Now weekly twice a market is specially created for NPM products. Farmers are directly selling their products in this market at Bargarh. To sustain the programme, a Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) is promoted having 600 plus members. The major challenge on NPM is preparation of lot of ingredients by farmers.
Many farmers don’t get sufficient time to prepare such materials. Besides packaged bio-products available in the market are having quality issue. To address these issues, local entrepreneurs including ladies are promoted to produce NPM ingredients. The selling of such materials is being started by FPO. There are six products developed till now namely Soil Charger, Sabujima, Puspika, Jad ki Dhal, Phasal ki Dhal and Pradayani.
These products are packaged to supply NPM farmers on commercial basis. National Plant Health Management (NIPHM), Hyderabad has provided culture of different microbes. Some products are prepared with R&D of a dedicated team working in this area. Some products are prepared influenced by Natural Farming (NF) ingredients by Global Natural Farming Living School & Research, South Korea and SAARA, Bangalore. Besides Regional Centre of Organic Farming, Bhubaneswar; Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bargarh and District Agriculture Department, Bargarh are continuously encouraging to the FPO and entrepreneurs to promote such products.
This has opened an opportunity for Entrepreneurs to earn Rs.5,000 to Rs.7,000 per month on production of these materials. The FPO is taking a lead role to market these NPM products as a revenue source. The NPM products are also tested in other states like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab with encouraging results creating a scope for large scale NPM practices across nation.
About the Author
Tapas Kumar Pati is Vice President of BASIX Krishi Samruddhi Ltd. With M.Sc. Agriculture, he is associated with farmers for last 17 years developing different extension service model, marketing of produce, value chain services in potato, banana etc. He is instrumental on developing various bio products currently being used in the Project LEISA supported by ACC Ltd at Bargarh Cement Works, Bargarh, Odisha.
