It’s common talk that the people in our country have become habitual of getting everything free. Ration, electricity, water, health and education facilities. Their expectations from the government are rising by the day. They will not make any efforts for their own betterment. What one finds is that this doesn’t come on the way to becoming Lakhpati.
While discussing with the people it’s found that it hasn’t occurred to them that their economic situation can improve. So, initially they don’t agree that their family’s economic situation can improve. In the Focus Group Discussions they are made to think about the number of families owning motorcycles or pacca houses in their own village. What was the situation say 5 years or 10 years back? They suddenly realise that the situation is indeed improving. What are the causal factors? How can more and more people improve their situation?
Discussions are then steered towards availability of irrigation facilities. Can every field be irrigated? Then the two slogans of government 1. CTR – Catch The Rains When It Falls Where It Falls and 2. Har Khet Ko Pani is introduced. Then the scientific knowledge of crops requiring the actual amount of water for irrigation is shared. Like soyabean requires 15 lakh litres of water to irrigate one acre of land. This water amounts to 375 mm of rainfall. Considering 25 percent loss due to run off or evaporation if a field gets 500 mm rainfall then that field can be irrigated for one crop. What about a village getting rainfall more than 1,000 mm? There every field can have two irrigated crops. Do their village have such levels of irrigation facilities? If not, then what needs to be done?
NRM (Natural Resources Management) comes next for the discussion. Using water immediately after it becomes available for irrigating the field comes next. If availability of water is less, then judicious use of water is discussed. Drip irrigation becomes necessary. The crops selection becomes most important. The crops that not only give more production for every drop of water (PDMC) but give more money for every drop of water (PDMM). The difference between the two is that the farmers have to be mindful of the market and rates of the agriculture produce. Even if more production or productivity happens and if the market doesn’t pay for it then that crop is of no use in becoming Lakhpati.
This thought makes farmers diversify from paddy towards fruits and vegetables. Horticulture, floriculture, sericulture, bamboo plantation, pasture development and other trees are introduced as ideas for diversification. Vegetable production attracts people first as it can be done after paddy during kharif. No changes needed in traditional agriculture. They start taking rabi which wasn’t happening earlier. Many of them take wheat in rabi to begin with. When they find that water wasn’t enough for it then they are advised to shift to gram. Markets for vegetables aren’t available to all villages as of now. But vegetables are the most profitable among the crops if they are produced and marketed with proper timing. It is best produced during the rainy season. However, that may require a polyhouse or shednet. NGOs/ CSRs are also entering into it.
If water storage can be used for fisheries it’s financially most beneficial. The market is also not a problem. Pisciculture with proper technical knowledge and scientific management can make farmers Lakhpati quickly. The NRM activities are steered towards providing more water bodies for this. Farm ponds are promoted. In districts like Gadchiroli in Maharashtra on an average 10 farm ponds per village have been demanded by mostly tribal farmers. This shows that the society is also moving in the same direction as towards becoming Lakhpati. The mood of the country has been captured well by our prime minister while setting the vision for Viksit Bharat.
Nand Kumar, IAS (Rtd)
