[{"postImg":{"cover":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/826*532/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/826*532/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.jpg"},"largeCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/724*425/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/724*425/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.jpg"},"smallCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/333*138/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/333*138/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.jpg"},"metatags":{"whatsappUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/300*200/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.jpg","facebookUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/1200*630/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.jpg","twitterUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2024/1/4096*4096/101RPT1951505/story_photos_(default)_-_2024-01-31t192410.789.jpg"}},"_id":"65ba4c6eb2c13d66c4e18bc6","postId":"101RPT1951505","postTitle":"Missing MSP, awareness keep bio-fortified black wheat in the dark ","postDate":"2024-01-31T13:34:38+05:30","content":"

Farmers grope in the dark as unsold stocks pile up\nin their homes awaiting buyers in the absence of a mandi system for the produce

Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh: In 2018, Abhishek Srivastava (34) from Tandwa village in Uttar Pradesh’s\nShravasti acquired seeds of indigenously developed black-coloured wheat, NABI\nMG, from the Mohali-based National Agri-Food\nBiotechnology Institute (NABI). After harvesting 20 quintals from an acre,\nhe posted a video on social media platforms detailing its merits.

At a time when social media has become the go-to destination for those seeking information on emerging farm technologies,\nnewly-introduced crops, and exotic vegetables and fruits, Srivastava was flooded with enquiries from farmers nationwide.

“I multiplied the F1 hybrid seeds on my farm.\nI sold 100 tonnes of black wheat seeds, including what I harvested and what I acquired\nfrom neighbouring farmers, in the last couple of years. Over 500 enterprising\nfarmers from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,\nMaharashtra and Gujarat were the beneficiaries,” claims Srivastava, president, Agri Junction, an Uttar Pradesh\ngovernment initiative with 4,000 outlets across the state. “I am told exporters have taken our black\nwheat even to Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Black wheat is like ordinary wheat, but when ripe, its ears turn black.\nIts flour is greyish, similar to bajra (pearl millet) and\nunlike the regular off-white wheat. Interestingly, the grain has a longer shelf\nlife. Its flour can be\nused to make food products made with whole wheat, such as breads, buns,\nbiscuits, noodles, rotis, cakes and\nmore. Despite its advantages, not all is well with this nutraceutical-rich grain, whose fame has been\non the wane after the initial spike.

Black wheat growing in the farm (Photo sourced by Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

Benefits aplenty

“It took us seven years of research and development to come up with NABI MG. This is a cross of the Japanese variety EC866732 with the high-yielding cultivar of wheat, PBW621. It is rich in anthocyanins, protein, dietary fibre, iron and zinc,” Dr Monika Garg (49), NABI scientist and project head of black wheat, tells 101Reporters. “The coloured wheat provides more benefits without the risk of high blood sugar.”

A doctorate holder from Japan’s Tottori University, Garg began working on the\nproject in 2011 after NABI procured exotic genome plasma from Japan and the US\nbefore getting them adapted to India’s environmental conditions through plant\nbreeding. This is a method of changing the genetic pattern of plants, including\nthrough crossbreeding, to increase their utility for humans.

Dr Monica Garg (fourth from left in the first row) with NABL team which helped in developing black wheat (Photo sourced by Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

According to Garg, a pioneer in black, purple and blue wheat research in India, the colour of fruits, vegetables and grains becomes blue, purple or black\ndue to an excess of anthocyanin, a natural antioxidant considered beneficial\nfor health.

A high quantity of anthocyanin is usually found in jamun,\nblueberries and blackberries.

“In common wheat, anthocyanin content is only 5 ppm. But in black wheat,\nit is 100 to 200 ppm. There is a difference in the amount of zinc and iron, too. Black wheat contains 60% more iron than common wheat,” says the\nPunjab-based plant breeder, who has scores of papers published about her work in\nresearch journals worldwide.

NABI scientists claim that black wheat can reduce the chances of\ncardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity. Bio-fortified with zinc, it can\nfight malnutrition among children, one of the health challenges in the country.

“The productivity of black wheat, a self-pollinated crop, is about\n20 quintals per acre compared to 24 quintals of the high-yielding white variant. The size of black wheat seed is also smaller,” says Garg. However, there is no difference in the agricultural practices adopted for normal and black varieties.

Initially, NABI transferred the expertise to 10 companies by signing memorandums of understanding\nwith them. However, it did not go well. Presently, the institution sells its F1 hybrid seeds grown on 10 acres of its Mohali campus\nto farmers who ask for it.

Showing comparison between black and white wheat (Photo sourced by Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

Uttar Pradesh led the way

In the last few years, villages in Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Pratapgad, Varanasi, Chandauli, Raebareli\nand Gorakhpur adopted black wheat cultivation. It slowly spread to almost all the districts in Uttar Pradesh.

Last October, agriculture department officials in Uttarkashi district\ninitiated a pilot project for black wheat cultivation in 20 villages of Dunda\nand Naugaon blocks to increase farmers’ income. Strangely,\nthere is no policy in place to encourage black wheat from the\nMinistry of Agriculture or the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, which also\ntranslates into a lack of data regarding the acreage and the total number of\nhouseholds cultivating it. No incentive is given to farmers to grow this grain.

Among those who initially took to the charm of black wheat was Ravi Prakash Maurya (40), a career journalist.\nHaving returned to his village in 2016 following his father’s death, he has\nbeen cultivating black wheat from 2018 on one bigha in his\nfarm at Mansoorpur in Prayagraj.

Maurya, who also cultivates black rice, black tomato,\nniger seeds, black turmeric and black potato, is a regular invitee to the agricultural\nfairs held in different districts of Uttar Pradesh. He was also felicitated by\nthe Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Department for popularising black wheat.

“I am a regular black wheat grower and have so\nfar sold 12 tonnes to farmers keen on growing it in Bundelkhand, Madhya\nPradesh, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal,” he says. “My household has totally\ngiven up regular wheat. We consume rotis,\ndalia, suji and cakes made from black wheat.”

Like Maurya, Atul Singh Rajawat (35) of Urai village in Jalaun district has been growing black wheat on five bighas. His harvest has been around eight quintals per bigha. In the last five years, he sold 150 tonnes, having reached wannabe growers through Facebook and WhatsApp.

In Rajasthan, district-level award-winning farmer Kishan Singh (64) of Deoli village in Sirohi grows black wheat on two-and-a-half bighas. Ajay Singh (45) of Sikar district, who took to cultivating black wheat three years ago, gets a yield of 20 quintals from an acre. He has become a go-to seller after a YouTube channel featured him.

Dayaram Chaudhary (64) of Sandera in Tonk district eschewed chemical fertilisers such as DAP and urea to sow 40 kg of black wheat seeds in one acre. In return, he got a yield of 20 quintals. However, there is more to it than what meets the eye.

Disenchanted growers

The interest in sowing black wheat is slowly waning\namong the farmers as stocks remain unsold. Kishan Singh has an unsold stock of 17\nquintals from last year’s harvest, while Dayaram Chaudhury had to launch a\ndistress sale last year. Ravi Prakash Maurya has 15\ntonnes of unsold stock in his home waiting for buyers. Normally, the price per quintal is between Rs 2,200 to 2,400, while the input cost is Rs 12,000 to 14,000 per acre.

“In villages of Prayagraj, farmers have either stopped growing it or reduced its acreage. Similar is the case in other\ndistricts,” says Indrajeet Yadav, who until recently was the District Krishi\nSahay Adhikari of Prayagraj and now has been transferred to Kaushambi.

“The sole reason is the lack of a market.\nNo mandi [marketplace] accepts black wheat, mainly because the prospective\nconsumer is unaware of such a product and its merits.”

Only a handful of people market black wheat\nflour. Balkumari Agro Foods of Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad retails it under the brand name DR RBL’s black wheat flour for Rs 250 a kg. Unwilling to share its\nsales figures, GC Katiyar of the brand informs,\n“Black wheat is not very popular due to a lack of awareness. However, the\nmarket is growing as the first-hand experience of its use is getting shared.”

In such a scenario, a farmer from Maharashtra\nis showing the way ahead — focusing on black wheat’s value-added products rather\nthan plain flour. For the last three years, Akshay Jagtap (28) of Kinjal\nvillage in Satara district has been encouraging farmers to grow black wheat by\ngiving them seeds that he had acquired from a farmer in Indore.

“In Wai taluka, we have eight farmers who\ncollectively grow black wheat on 10 acres. We buy the harvest, paying them an\nattractive rate. Our women's self-help groups make dalia, rawa and sewai,\nwhich we sell to the shops in Mahabaleshwar,” says Jagtap.

Can an ecosystem be created for black wheat,\nso that farmers continue to grow it and the community at large benefits from\nit?

“I would suggest that agricultural\nuniversities should be involved in popularising it. Food start-ups should be encouraged\nto invest in it as has happened in the case of millets. Chefs should be onboard\nto develop recipes,” Vinod Sharma, District Agriculture Officer,\nRaebareli, tells 101Reporters. “But most importantly, authorities need to fix the minimum support price\nof black wheat, introduce it in mid-day meals and distribute it through the public\ndistribution system,” he says.

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

Cover Photo - Farmers in a wheat field (Representative image sourced from Flickr)

","postTitleURL":"Missing_MSP_awareness_keep_biofortified_black_wheat_in_the_dark","mainCat":["agriculture"]},{"postImg":{"cover":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/826*532/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/826*532/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).jpg"},"largeCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/724*425/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/724*425/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).jpg"},"smallCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/333*138/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/333*138/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).jpg"},"metatags":{"whatsappUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/300*200/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).jpg","facebookUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/1200*630/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).jpg","twitterUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/11/4096*4096/101RPT1844851/story_photos_(default)_(75).jpg"}},"_id":"654624ecacb81e51e341ca48","postId":"101RPT1844851","postTitle":"Farmers in six villages of Maharashtra’s Shirala ditch high-yielding varieties, switch to native paddy","postDate":"2023-11-04T11:03:08+05:30","content":"

They sourced 23 indigenous seeds during the\nCOVID-19 period, formed six SHGs that would cultivate and market five to six of these varieties

Sangli,\nMaharashtra: “We have cultivated high-yielding\nvarieties [HYVs] for decades, but now grow only folk rice varieties,” says\nfarmer Dhanaji Patil (29) of Patwarun village in Sangli's Shirala taluka, off the State Highway 58.\n\"Grown organically, the folk varieties have not only given us good yields\nbut also assured us good returns.\"

Patil began\nto grow 11 desi baan (folk varieties) in a three-acre plot at the\npeak of the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak. Soon others joined in. At\npresent, rice growers spread in six villages of the taluka – five km from Chandoli National Park – grow only folk\nvarieties.

\"We\ncollectively grow 23 varieties during the kharif season. Some are scented and the rest have nutritional and medicinal properties,” says Sujay Deshpande (37), a farmer from\nArla village growing Gobindobhog on 30 gunthas (0.75 acre) for three years now with a yield of 22 to 23 quintals per year.

Most paddy cultivators in Sangli limit\nthemselves to growing at most two to three varieties, of which HYV rice, namely Indrayani, Sonam and Kolam, are preferred, followed by Tulas, Bakasul,\nVarangala, Jondhala Jirga, Tak Pandhar, Masad Bhat and Shirala Jada — all\nindigenous varieties grown mainly for self-consumption.

Shirala taluka was once home to 45\nnative rice varieties, of which Jirasal and Tamsal have become extinct. Besides\nbeing a part of the staple diet, they were used to prepare bhakri (rice\nchapati), poha (beaten rice), phuglela bhat (puffed\nrice), tandulacha kheer (sweetened rice) and murmure (rice\nbubbles).

Folk\nvarieties, adapted to local ecologies over centuries, have proven hardier\nagainst pests and droughts, unlike modern varieties designed for intensive\nagriculture and large doses of chemical fertilisers. In fact, in 2012, two\nresearchers from Kolhapur-based DAB Naik Arts and Science College identified\nnine native varieties that are still grown in the villages of Shirala.

“Over\nthe years and lured by HYVs, farmers have confined themselves to a handful of\nraces and ceased cultivating folk or local varieties due to poor yield and\nlesser market demand, despite the scarce inputs needed to grow them,” Sudhir\nMahajan, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola,\ntells 101Reporters. “But farmers in\nShirala are now bucking the trend with the folk varieties spread over 200 acres\nand involving over 2,000 households.

A view of the harvested paddy field (Photo - Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

Humble\nbeginnings

When\npaddy seeds and chemical fertilisers were scarce during the second wave of COVID-19, the Sangli district agriculture department\nofficials held a series of meetings with farmers elaborating on the benefits of\ngrowing indigenous varieties by adopting organic methods. At the end of the three months, farmers spread over six villages decided to embrace folk varieties.\n“Growing native varieties was new for us. We took up the challenge also because\nthese varieties are nutritionally rich and can be grown with fewer inputs,”\ninforms Deshpande.

A lot has been written about the nutritional benefits of folk varieties. Antioxidant-rich Gobindobhog helps boost metabolism, keeps digestion smooth and supports good\nhealth. Rich in anthocyanin, Kala Namak rice contains 11% protein, which is almost double\nthat of common rice varieties and has a low Glycemic Index (49% to 52%). Considered\nthe first food for babies, Ghansal nourishes body tissues and is easy to digest. Shashtika Shali has\nproved its efficacy against muscular and neurological disorders.

At present, farmer groups\nwith 15 members each grow five to six varieties in plots\nranging from 20 gunthas to three acres each. Besides paddy, they\ncontinue to grow sugarcane, millets and pulses. They have adopted cultivation\ntechniques such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and the Saguna\nRegenerative Technique (SRT).

The SRI\nuses fewer resources and reduces environmental impacts while increasing rice\nyield. The SRT is a zero-till method, under which rice and other rotation crops\nare cultivated without ploughing, puddling or transplanting.

“A lot\nof logistics were involved. It took us close to three months to collect the\nnative seeds. By the time sowing season dawned in June 2021, we had collected 23 varieties,” Shirala’s Agriculture Supervisor\nGanesh Kshirsagar tells 101Reporters.\nHe had motivated the farmers to take up cultivation of indigenous varieties and\nguided them through the entire process — from sourcing paddy seeds to\nmarketing of the harvest.

Elaborating\non the process, he adds, “Kala Namak, a scented black rice variety, came from\nUttar Pradesh’s Siddharth University. Also known as Buddha Rice, legend has it\nthat Lord Buddha gifted the variety to the locals during his visit to Kapilavastu.\nWe sourced Gobindobhog from Bardhaman in West Bengal, Champakali from Manipur, and\nRaktashali and Shashtika Shali from Kolhapur’s Kaneri Math. The GI-certified\nGhansal also came from Kolhapur and Ambemohor from Maval in Pune. The improved\nrice varieties, Ratna 7 is from Dr Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth and Madhuraj 55\nis from Raipur-based Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya. We added nine local\nvarieties to the list, which are grown by a handful of farmers.”

Besides\nhaving medicinal and nutritional properties, they also possess several\nstress-tolerant properties, which act as positive factors in the retention of\nrice landraces in the face of increasing propaganda for cultivating HYVs.\nTraditional rice varieties therefore represent important genetic reservoirs\nwith valuable traits.

The\nparticipating farmers were introduced to organic agronomic practices\npopularised by Maharashtra’s agriculturists Subhash Palekar, PV Jadhav and\nHaridas Kousdikar. “We were instructed on making non-chemical fertiliser with composted\ncow dung and urine as its base. Also, we were taught the basics of\nvermicomposting and provided with earthworms,” says Deshpande.

(Extreme Right) Shirala’s Agriculture Supervisor Ganesh Kshirsagar with the farmers (Photo - Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

From SHGs\nto own brand

Six\nfarmers' self-help groups (SHGs) have\nbeen formed to market the produce under the brand name Chirayu Healthstop. \"We pool our resources. Be it preparing the field, sowing, harvesting the crop or removing the weeds, everything is done jointly. We do not hire any labour, which brings down our costs,\" says Deshpande.

The first-of-its-kind rice festival was held in Patwarun village during the rabi season in December 2021. Two tonnes (20 quintals) of rice were sold at prices ranging between Rs 4,500 and Rs\n10,000 per quintal, unlike in the\npast when HYVs like Sonam and Kolam fetched Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500\nper quintal.

The cost of growing HYVs is between Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per acre, while it is between Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 per acre for native varieties. While the native varieties mature between 120 and 145 days and give a yield of 30 quintals per acre, the HYVs are short-duration, harvested within 90 days, and yielding a maximum of 40 quintals per acre.

Purchasing\nnew seeds each year is not mandatory for native varieties or open-pollinated\nones. Seeds of HYVs cost Rs 30 to Rs 80 per kg, while native varieties are priced between Rs 100 and Rs 150 a kg. Seed companies produce hybrids\nbecause they have to be replaced yearly, providing them with\nbusiness. Moreover, the open-pollinated seeds do not have a significant market\nsize.

In\nMaharashtra, the market for exclusive hard-to-find varieties such as Ambemohar,\nChampakali, Ghansal and Jondhala Jirga is growing. Wealthy health-conscious\nurbanites living in Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Nagpur and other\nplaces are now willing to pay a hefty premium for desi varieties. These forgotten rice varieties —remnants of\nIndia’s rich agricultural heritage — have\nturned into premium food items and are sold in eye-catching packages for Rs 80\nto Rs 200 a kg.

As\nfarmers from other districts queue up for native seeds, the endangered and\nignored paddy varieties are getting a new lease of life. “We have sold\naround seven quintals of seeds to farmers belonging to Kolhapur and Satara, and\nhave received queries from Nashik, Nagar, Konkan, Palghar and Vidarbha,” says\nKshirsagar. \"We have reached out to 20 more villages and will share the seeds of native varieties.\"

The\nfarmers have established a demonstration plot in Arla village, which they\naddress as a beej sangrahalya for it has all the 23 varieties growing on\na 20-guntha plot.

Hailing\nthe role played by the farmers in bringing extant native varieties to the\ndining table, Kshirsagar adds, “Their efforts provide us with the opportunity\nto tap into its germplasm to develop new varieties that can mitigate climate\nchange and address issues like erratic increase/decrease in temperature and\nhumidity, resulting in the appearance of new pests and diseases.”

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

Cover Photo - A woman farmer with the harvest (Photo - Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

","postTitleURL":"Farmers_in_six_villages_of_Maharashtras_Shirala_ditch_highyielding_varieties_switch_to_native_paddy","mainCat":["agriculture"]},{"postImg":{"cover":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/826*532/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/826*532/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.jpg"},"largeCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/724*425/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/724*425/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.jpg"},"smallCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/333*138/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/333*138/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.jpg"},"metatags":{"whatsappUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/300*200/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.jpg","facebookUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/1200*630/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.jpg","twitterUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/6/4096*4096/101RPT1670562/farmer_gajanan_bhikaji_in_his_shade_net_house.jpg"}},"_id":"64918a96bc86b63d3e3f2921","postId":"101RPT1670562","postTitle":"Tupewadi embraces change, earns crores from vegetable seed business","postDate":"2023-06-20T11:16:38+05:30","content":"

Five years into the Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture, farmers of this Maharashtra village have nothing to regret. They still\ngrow cotton, which is prone to pest attacks, but do not depend on the crop for\na living

Jalna,\nMaharashtra: From cotton to high-value vegetables,\nthe farmers of Tupewadi village\nin the drought-prone Jalna district of Maharashtra have come a long way. When\ncotton was their main crop, pest infestation gave them blighted harvests, which\neventually forced them to migrate to the sugarcane belt of the state to work as\ncane cutters.

That was five years ago. Now, they have reversed their fortunes by\nbecoming vegetable seed growers under the Project on Climate Resilient\nAgriculture (PoCRA), implemented by\nthe state agriculture department and the World\nBank in 2018 to develop a drought-proof and climate-resilient strategy\nfor agriculture. Farmers of Tupewadi made use of the PoCRA by becoming beneficiaries\nof the Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjeevani Yojana.

Hundreds of shade net houses dot the fields of these small and\nmarginal farmers, making the village with 600-plus households undergo a\nradical transformation — from being a parched and irrigation-constrained area to a thriving farming community. By regulating\nthe entry of sunlight, moisture and air, greenhouses create an appropriate microclimate for the\ncrops and protect them from heat, rain, storm and\npest attack. Drip irrigation meets their water requirements.

$\"\"$ Shade net houses dotting the landscape of Tupewadi (Photo - Taluka Agriculture office, Badnapur)

Once the vegetables are harvested, seeds are extracted and\nprocessed. Seven top seed companies in the country — Mahyco, Syngenta, Nath Seeds, Monsanto, Bayer, Agro Biotech and Nirmal\nSeeds — buy\nfrom them and sell under their brand names.

Outsiders refer to Tupewadi as ‘shade-netchi gaon’ (shade net\nvillage). “Two\ndecades ago, we began growing vegetables in bamboo shade nets provided by seed\ncompanies. However, bamboo poles had to be changed every season. Now we have\npermanent shade nets with galvanised iron frames and cladding\nmaterial,” informs\nArjun Sagaji More, whose family owns 17\nacres and has shade net houses spread over one-and-a-half acres.

$\"\"$ Arjun More (left) with a friend (Photo sourced by Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

The idea of growing vegetables in bamboo shade net houses was picked up by an\nenterprising local farmer from neighbouring Tapovan village.\nSoon, it caught the fancy of Tupewadi residents with everyone raising a bamboo structure and entering into contracts with seed\ncompanies.

However, it was the PoCRA that\ntransformed the village, located 18 km from Jalna\ntown, into a state-of-the-art vegetable seed growing centre. Farmers got to\nknow about the scheme through the media and WhatsApp groups,\nand from the extension workers who visited them.

With time, they entered into buyback agreements with seed\ncompanies, ushering in economic prosperity that is visible in the pucca houses lining the village located\nin Badnapur taluka. Children of these\nhouseholds study in English medium schools and every male member rides a two-wheeler.

Seeds of growth

Under the Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjeevani Yojana, every farmer beneficiary gets a 75% subsidy to raise a shade net house, which\nlasts for five to six years. “Farmers can choose the shade net’s size depending on\nthe amount they can contribute. The subsidy component is available for\nstructures covering up to 20 gunthas. A 10 guntha (10,000\nsq ft) shade net house costs Rs 4 lakh and the farmer has to bear around Rs 1 lakh from it,” Venkat Thakke, Taluka Agriculture Officer,\nBadnapur, tells 101Reporters.

As per Thakke’s estimate, each seed grower makes Rs 4 to 5 lakh annually.\nHence, the business in Tupewadi is worth around Rs 20 crore.

The year begins with cucumber and ends with chilli, with each variety of\nvegetable taking around four months to mature. “We grow chilli, cucumber,\ntomato and bitter gourd. The seed companies provide seeds or\nseedlings for cultivation. With every new crop, the mulching sheets are changed and the rows\ntreated with fungicide and fertilisers,” says Pankaj Rathod, an agriculture graduate\nfrom Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh\nKrishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, and owner of a shade net structure spread over\nhalf-an-acre plot. “Each year, the companies increase our earnings by 10 to\n20%,” he beams.

$\"\"$ Farmer with his bitter gourd crop; (below) Tomatoes growing under shade net (Photos sourced by Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

$\"\"$

Associated with Tupewadi’s seed growers for the last three years, Nath Seeds product in-charge Sanjay Shinde feels farmers who have mastered the art of growing high-quality seeds should include high-value crops such as marigold, capsicum and bell pepper in their bouquet of products. “It is time they formed their own farmer producer company to enter the market with their brand,” he says.

The village has not only provided livelihood to its inhabitants, but\nalso generated employment in places\nlocated within a 20 km radius, including Pimpalgaon, Pathalgaon, Jalna, Rajur, Asankheda, Mongaon and Chandhai.

“Every day, close to 300 workers, the\nmajority of them being women, are transported to Tupewadi in tempos and trucks arranged\nby our seed growers. At the end of the day, they are taken back to their\nvillages,” informs Eknath More, a former village sarpanch.

Not a beneficiary of the state’s irrigation schemes, Tupewadi takes\nwater conservation very seriously. All irrigation activities are dependent on bore\nwells and shet tale (farm\nponds), which are\nreplenished by rainfall (around 700 mm usually) that the\ntaluka receives.

The residents have collectively dug up a 20-hectare-long continuous\ncontour trench, raised two earthen and seven concrete dams, built a 700-hectare\nembankment and deepened 30 drains to catch the rainwater over the course of\nmany years.

$\"\"$ Farm ponds laid beside shade net houses (Photo - Taluka Agriculture Office, Badnapur)

Around 150 farm ponds ensure water for crops growing on the open fields.\n“Shet\ntale helped us double our income. When not busy in the shade\nnet houses, we devote our time growing cotton, soybean, bajra (pearl millet), jowar (sorghum),\ntur (pigeon pea) and groundnut. We\nuse either drip or sprinklers for irrigation. For harvesting, we engage workers\nfrom neighbouring villages,” says Arjun More.

Though erratic weather has been affecting their other crops, seed\nfarming has been helping them tide over the crisis. Last year, particha paus (retreating monsoon) damaged kharif (June to November) crops in Maharashtra. The high-intensity rains, which are\nincreasingly lasting longer, hit small and marginal farmers hard. The districts\nin Marathwada and Vidarbha regions were severely affected.

On the other hand, bollworm\nattacks have emerged as the biggest problem for cotton farmers. Pink\nbollworms infested nearly 32 lakh hectares of cotton crop in the state last\nyear.

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

Cover Photo - Farmer Gajanan Bhikaji in his shade net house (Photo sourced by Hiren Kumar Bose, 101Reporters)

","postTitleURL":"Tupewadi_embraces_change_earns_crores_from_vegetable_seed_business","mainCat":["agriculture","environment"]},{"postImg":{"cover":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/826*532/101RPT1541860/1.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/826*532/101RPT1541860/1.png"},"largeCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/724*425/101RPT1541860/1.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/724*425/101RPT1541860/1.png"},"smallCard":{"webp":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/333*138/101RPT1541860/1.webp","original":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/333*138/101RPT1541860/1.png"},"metatags":{"whatsappUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/300*200/101RPT1541860/1.png","facebookUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/1200*630/101RPT1541860/1.png","twitterUrl":"https://assets.ramen.101reporters.com/imgs/2023/1/4096*4096/101RPT1541860/1.png"}},"_id":"63b96728cdb3a443119272a5","postId":"101RPT1541860","postTitle":"Blooms of despair for Sonchafa growers of Palghar","postDate":"2023-01-07T12:35:52+05:30","content":"

Rapid\nurbanisation and the effects of climate change pluck out yield and income, put\nfloriculturists in a quandary

Palghar\nMaharashtra: It is 5.30 am. Subhash Bhatte is\nalready in his garden plucking the golden-coloured sonchafa flowers (Magnolia Champaca), a routine that he has been following for years together. By\nthe time the sun settles over the coconut trees,\nhe ends up\nwith a vast heap. But not anymore, as the harvest\nhas dipped to just a handful since September last.

$\"\"$

Subhash Bhatte preparing his day's harvest to sell in the market (Photo - Hiren Kumar Bose/101Reporters)

Like Bhatte, 500-odd floriculturist families in 25 villages of Vasai-Virar municipality in Palghar district are battling the effects of climate change, which locals\naddress as hawaman baddal. Unseasonal showers, sudden cloudy days\naccompanied by thunderstorms and fewer light hours are all part of it, adversely\naffecting the flower yield.

While farmers growing cereal, grains and pulses are\ncompensated under crop insurance schemes for climate exigencies and blighted\nharvests, flower growers have no such cover. \nAdditionally, they are denied bank loans under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme as floriculture is not applicable.

Affordable and rapid transportation, along with easy market accessibility, had helped Vasai-Virar sub-regions (VVR) flower growers earn good returns. The sea-facing villages were earlier known for mogra (Jasminum sambac), which then attracted premium rates in Mumbai’s Dadar flower market. However, in the last two decades, sonchafa became the growers' favourite as it brought comparably better returns.

A medium climbing shrub, the five-petalled sonchafa produces greenish flowers that\nfade to yellow as they mature. The highly fragrant flower needs minimal\nirrigation. When young, it grows like a regular shrub, but starts to vine around\nsix ft. It is grown in farm plots varying between four gunthas (4,000\nsq ft) and three acres in the 18 km radius from the coast of Arnala in Virar to\nVasai. The place is home to lakes, ponds and bawkhals (traditional water\nponds).

$\"\"$

A bawkhal is a waterbody that is an important part of their ecosystem as it holds rainwater.(Photo - Hiren Kumar Bose/101Reporters)

Describing the local ecology, Marcus Dabre, a veteran\ntrade unionist, environmentalist and editor of the weekly Vasai Times,\ntells 101Reporters that despite its\ncloseness to the Arabian Sea, bawkhals in\nthe area hold rainwater. Their subterranean linkages nourish each other and provide\nwater to irrigate the fields.

Development\npangs

Gone are the vast stretches of fields where kharif paddy flourished. These farmlands\nwith their edges ringed with coconut or palmyra palms have given way to high-rise\napartments, gated residences, office complexes, shopping malls, cinema\nmultiplexes and eateries.

In 2009, Vasai town was joined administratively with\nneighbouring Virar (north) and a dozen other surrounding communities to form\nVVR, which soon became one of the most populous urban areas in the State. The\nmarshy lands that held the water during high tide and the wetlands that\nwelcomed migratory birds have all vanished, swallowed by the emerging city linked\nto the metropolitan Mumbai by local trains (40 km) and road (64 km).

Though VVR receives approximately 1,586 mm (62.4 inches)\nof annual rainfall, waterlogging has become a regular feature as open fields\nthat once absorbed rainwater are no longer present. This, in turn, inundates\nthe flower gardens.

Three-and-a-half decades ago, the farmers here\nspecialised in growing betel leaves and velchi\n(a variety of miniature-sized bananas). Much before that sugarcane was grown in\nplenty. While betel leaf, which was exported to Pakistan, witnessed a slow\ndeath as the country’s relationship with its neighbour deteriorated, velchi was initially affected by banana\nblight and subsequently lost out to the Grand Nene, a tissue culture variety.

Sometimes in the early 70s, farmers in large numbers\nshifted to floriculture by growing mogra.\nAccording to Kiran Patil of Arnala village, his grandfather Moreshwar Bhoir was\nthe first to introduce sonchafa in\nhis garden in the late 80s.

$\"\"$

A close-up of sonchafa flower (left): Bare sonchafa shrubs with no bloom (Photo - Hiren Kumar Bose/101Reporters)

“It was just one among the many flowering plants. He did\nnot realise that one day sonchafa\nwould become our source of livelihood and prosperity,” says Patil, the chairman\nof the 1,100-member-strong Arnala Farmers’ Cooperative Society. \"This\nGanesh Chaturthi, we barely got any yield, which triggered flower shortage and price\nrise. The situation continues the same even in December.”

Sonchafa shrub blooms throughout the year with each shrub offering 150 to 200 flowers a\nday. However, in winter, flowering witnesses a slight drop. Incidentally, the\ndrop has been drastic this year, giving only half the yield of earlier times.

A plastic box of 100 flowers normally fetches Rs 150 in the\nDadar flower market. During the 11-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival, the price\ngoes up to a whopping Rs 700. The same happens during the wedding season and Navratri\nfestival. “Both Ganpati festival and wedding season are the best time to get\npremium rates,” confirms veteran sonchafa\ngrower Robert D'Britto (66).

$\"\"$

Sonchafa flowers packed in plastic bags (Photo - Hiren Kumar Bose/101Reporters)

Either D’Britto or Bhatte, both recipients of the\nprestigious Vasantrao Naik Shetimitra Award for farmers, have mentored most of\nthe floriculturists in the area. Incidentally, sonchafa shrubs flourishing in VVR originated\nin a Kudal-based nursery owned by Uday Gopinath Velankar and is known\nthroughout the State as Velankar chafa.

Sexagenarian Bhatte tends to the 400-odd plants standing\non his one-acre plot at Satpale village along with his wife Sheela and half a\ndozen labourers. Once picked and packed in polybags or plastic boxes, the flowers are ready for\nthe one-and-a-half-hour journey to Dadar market. On average, about 11,000\nflowers used to leave his garden each day for the market, but it has come down to\na few thousand now.

He made close to Rs 75,000 a month from one acre and\nnearly Rs 9 lakh a year, post the expenses. However, adverse\nclimatic conditions have affected his income immensely. So much so that he is\nconsidering axing the sonchafa shrubs\nand planting off-season jackfruit or turf grass.

“Whatever we grow, we are unlikely to get as many\nreturns as sonchafa offered. A couple\nof gunthas devoted to the flower could give us more than what\nthe sugarcane growers of Solapur or the vineyard owners of Nashik made.”

Dwelling on the characteristics of sonchafa, horticulturist Lahanu K Gabhale of Agricultural Research\nStation, Palghar, says the shrub needs a minimum of 10 light hours, but regular\nbouts of cloudy days are affecting this.

\"In September, sonchafa\ngoes into a state of dormancy only to return to normal around January,\nresulting in low yields. However, it is a fact that high humidity is causing fungal\nattacks, leading to fewer blooms,” says Gabhale, who visited the flower-growing\nvillages of Vasai-Virar in early September.

He adds that farmers need to adopt climate mitigation\nmeasures like pruning the new branches regularly to maintain internodal\ndistance, splitting the fertilizer dose into four rather than two annually and taking\npreventive steps in case of weather advisories.

Vagaries\nof weather

In early September, Palghar experienced 50 mm of rainfall on a single day. Though October is considered ‘clear’ in meteorological speak,\nPalghar had more dhakal (cloudy days)\nto be followed by showers. Similarly, in November, the area witnessed seven\ndays of occasional showers. In mid-December, more dhakal marked\nthe adverse effect of Cyclone Mandous over the Arabian Sea. Farmers believe it\nspiked humidity levels and caused fungal growth, which hampered bud formation.

Weather expert and formerly of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Uday Deolankar provides\nthe appropriate perspective on the climate change crisis. “Unprecedented urbanisation\nand accompanying industrialisation in the VVR have affected the air quality\nindex. Climatic aberrations like unseasonal showers and cloudy days add to this,”\nsays the adviser of the Department of Agriculture, who also cultivates ginger\non his farm at Aurangabad.

“These patches of green in a predominantly urban zone will soon\nbecome unproductive,” he adds prophetically.

Interestingly, there have been reports of Chrysanthemum\ngrowers in West Bengal and dragon fruit farmers in Telangana using LED lamps in\ntheir fields to increase light hours. \"We too can attempt, but it needs a\nlot of investment. Plus there are the recurring costs of power consumption,”\ninforms Bhatte.

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

“If the government can provide subsidies for drip\nirrigation and farm ponds, why not for installation of LED lamps,” he asks.

Cover image by Hiren Kumar Bose

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

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Rain-deficient districts increasingly\nadopt the exotic variety, which gives better yield for a longer duration than custard\napple or pomegranate

Solapur, Maharashtra: Rajendra Deshmukh (62) set his eyes on a dragon fruit sapling when a friend\ngifted one worth Rs 250 in 2012, in exchange for a bunch of freshly harvested\ndates. Hailing from Barshi village in Solapur, Deshmukh collected two stumps of\nthe exotic variety again during a visit to Vietnam in 2018.

Over the years, his dragon fruit plant collection multiplied, making him\nthe proud owner of a farm spread over six acres in a rain shadow area with\nan average annual rainfall of 510 mm. He also runs a highly profitable\nnursery.

Traverse the rain-deficient districts of Maharashtra, and you will come\nacross farmlands with rows and rows of erect poles thick with ornamental climbing\nvines adorned with green-scaled and pink-skinned fruits.

“Dragon fruit is cultivated in around 1,500 to 2,000 acres in Maharashtra.\nIts popularity is increasing in the semi-arid areas of Western Maharashtra,\nincluding Solapur, Sangli, Pune, Nashik and Kolhapur. Things are no different\nin Marathwada’s Latur, Beed, Aurangabad, Parbhani, Hingol and Osmanabad and\nmost of Vidarbha, besides the dry land areas in the Konkan,” informs Dr\nMadhukar Potdar, who earlier worked with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid\nTropics and is the president of the newly-formed Maharashtra Dragon Fruit Association.

The distinctive variety with a nutty taste was given a new name wherever it was adopted. For instance, the Chinese call it long guo, the Malayans buah naga,\nand the Indonesians buah mata naga.

The colonial masters in the early 19th century introduced the fruit to Vietnam,\nwhere it is called thanh long.\nIncidentally, Vietnam is the world’s leading exporter of the fruit. In India, Gujarat\npioneered its cultivation in the 1990s and named it kamalam.

A cost-effective crop

“Farmers in semi-arid zones have realised that dragon fruit is the\nfastest and easiest way to double their income. Though the initial input cost to\nset up an orchard is high, the investment can be recovered within three years,”\nsays Dr G Karunkaran, Principal Scientist, ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru.

Mohegaon-based Rajkumar Dynaoba Dadge was conferred Maharashtra’s Udyan Pandit Award in 2004 and the Best Regional Exporters Award in 2007 for grapes by the Ministry of Industry. He now grows residue-free dragon fruit (Photo: Sourced by Hiren Bose)

Elaborating on its virtues, Dr Karunakaran, the lead author of a paper\ntitled ‘Dragon fruit country report from India’, says, “Perennial fruits like custard apple or pomegranate take three to five\nyears to give yield. However, dragon fruit is ready in the very first year. Moreover, the harvest period is for six months. The grower thus gets income for a longer duration, unlike cereals, pulses or\nvegetables.”

It takes around Rs 5 lakh to initially prepare an acre of land for\ndragon fruit cultivation. A major chunk of this amount goes towards setting up\nconcrete columns to support the climbing vines, besides a round/circular frame\nmade of concrete or metal, which is seated on the top to help the vines move\ndownwards facilitating fruiting.

Around 2,000 vines can be planted on an acre of land. As each vine gives two to five fruits, a farmer gets four to five tonne in the\nfirst year. It touches 12 to 15 tonne by the third year. The fruit fetches Rs\n80 to 150 per kg. “While Rs 1,000 is needed for maintenance of a grape\nor pomegranate plant,\nit is just Rs 50 for dragon fruit,” explains Dr Karunakaran.

Shambhaji Kodag(47), Avandi village, Sangli, Maharashtra (Photo: Sourced by Hiren Bose)

No doubt, it is a boon to farmers living in arid and semi-arid zones,\nand even those with non-productive and less fertile land. “Dragon fruit is\nhighly drought-tolerant and climate-smart, with a high water use efficiency rate.\nIt grows with 10 to 20% water when compared with rice and sugarcane,” elaborates Dr Potdar.

According to him, Gujarat grows the fruit on 2,500 acres. In\nMaharashtra, its acreage is between 1,500 and 2,000 acres. “While the farms in\nGujarat are big, some of them covering 100-plus acres, the largest in Maharashtra is\non a 30-acre plot,” he informs.

Pioneers in the field

If there is one individual who has done the most to popularise dragon fruit among farmers, it is Shambhaji Kodag (47) of\nSangli’s Avandi village. After planting the variety on two acres in 2011-2012,\nhe realised there were hardly any takers for it.

Kodag then printed 25,000 copies of a pamphlet extolling the virtues of dragon\nfruit farming and elaborating on its wellness quotient. “Whenever I\nattended a farmers’ meet or visited a doctor’s clinic, I distributed my pamphlets\nthere,” he says. “A free seminar that I organised brought in 1,000-odd farmers. And\nwhen a local daily wrote about my novel crop, some 10,000 farmers turned up at\nmy farm.”

Dragon fruit is highly drought-tolerant and climate-smart crop, with a high water use efficiency rate. It grows with 10 to 20% water when compared with rice and sugarcane (Photo: Hiren Bose)

In order to attract the attention of the State’s agriculture department,\nhe shot off a representation signed by vice-chancellors of agricultural\nuniversities and 10,000-odd farmers, which paved the way for the introduction\nof government subsidy to prospective dragon fruit farmers last year.

A Class 9 dropout, Anil Salunkhe of Bamni in Solapur took to the crop in\n2011, at the age of 26. “My elder brother Sunil is a wrestler. He visited China\nin 2009 and came across this fruit in the market. When he told me about it, I\ndecided to get some stumps,” reminisces Salunkhe, whose 26-acre farm gave 200\ntonne of the fruit last year. He also runs a nursery that sells around 10 lakh\nsaplings a year.

Of the several marginal farmers, Nilesh Parjare (31), an engineering graduate\nhailing from Khalapuri village in Beed, stands apart. In 2019, he abandoned\ncotton, tur dal and urad dal crops to take the bold step of\nconverting the family’s two-and-a-half acre plot into an entirely drip-irrigated\ndragon fruit farm. “Wherever I am likely to get a good price, I go there — be it Pune, located 135 km from my village, or Aurangabad, at a distance\nof 250 km. Last year, I harvested seven tonne and made a lot of money,” he\nbeams.

In India, Gujarat pioneered the cultivation of dragon fruit in the 1990s and named it kamalam (Photo: Hiren Bose)

Vijaya Ghule (55) of Kelsangvi village\nin Beed saw an opportunity in the vacant space of 12 ft left between the rows\nof dragon fruit vines totalling 800. She planted 240 apple, 80 date palm and\n300 guava trees in that space — all prospering well now.

Latur, known for its export quality grapes, is witnessing a major\nshift. Mohegaon-based Rajkumar Dynaoba Dadge (57), who was conferred\nMaharashtra’s Udyan Pandit Award in 2004 and the Best Regional Exporters Award\nin 2007 for grapes by the Ministry of Industry, now grows residue-free dragon fruit, a novel concept, in his two-and-a-half\nacre plot.

“Latur has around 75 hectares devoted to the fruit and the same is\ngrowing by 100 acres each year,” says Dadge, who has taken the lead to form a farmer-producer company with 55 growers.

A super fruit

Thanks to its nutritional qualities, this super fruit has become popular\namong the health-conscious, with its consumption increasing after the pandemic. \"In the\nlast couple of years, Indians have been consuming more fruits and nuts, which\nhas benefited farmers,\" says Dr Karunakaran.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare categorises dragon\nfruit as a foreign fruit, along with kiwi and passion fruit. To encourage their\ncultivation, it has so far provided financial assistance to the tune of Rs\n164.38 crore to Maharashtra.

Farmers here believe the State government needs to do more and\npoint to the disparity: neighbouring Gujarat offers financial assistance up\nto Rs 4.5 lakh per hectare, while Maharashtra offers a measly Rs 1.60 lakh.

As price drop due to a supply glut is highly likely in near future, Dr\nKarunkaran suggests that farmers should become entrepreneurs to make value-added\nproducts. \"Making ready-to-serve products — be it jam, squash, freeze-dried cube, spray-dried powder or jelly — available throughout the year will\ncreate new markets and ensure continuous demand for the fruit,\" he\nadds.

Edited by Rekha Pulinnoli

The cover image is of dragon fruit vines, planted in rows in rural Maharashtra, clicked by Hiren Bose.

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