Shramik Bharti trains farmers to use desi seeds, make their own fertiliser

While the world observes Environment Day, a group of women farmers in a remote hamlet in Uttar Pradesh stirs a cauldron of cow dung, jaggery and chickpea flour to make Jeevamrit, a liquid fertiliser. Their small land holdings have a diversity of summer crops — greens, chillies, vegetables and more. Since the women sow desi seed varietals that are drought- and pest-resistant and use only cow dung and home-made crop supplements, their input costs on fertiliser, pesticide and irrigation are minimal. Meet these modern “zero-budget farmers”, who are not only saving at least Rs 2,000 per bigha in input costs but also enthusiastic partners in a new green revolution germinating in the region.  

A concept pioneered in three districts of UP by Kanpur-based Shramik Bharti, zero-budget farming has transformed the lives and livelihoods of over 1,200 farmers so far. The idea grew out of conversations with local farmers who complained that their input costs were severely eroding profit margins. “They were using high-yielding hybrid seeds that needed more fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation,” says Rakesh Kumar Pandey, who heads the NGO that has been operational since 1986. “Many farmers said that the returns from farming were so poor that their children were gravitating towards more lucrative and less risky sources of income.” Moreover, the team found most farmers practised mono-cropping. “Consequently, they had to buy most of their food from the market at prices they could ill afford,” he says.

Shramik Bharti enabled farmers to source desi seeds, trained them to make fertiliser and crop medicine using materials easily available at home and, most importantly, started creating a local market for these organic products. They also encouraged farmers to revert to the traditional multi-cropping system so that they could grow a variety of vegetables, even sugarcane for their own consumption. “Initially, they weren’t easy to convince since the lure of high-yielding hybrids was strong,” he recounts. “But their first organic harvest was an eye opener.” 

Today, these zero-budget farmers charge Rs 20-22 per kg for organic wheat, while the market rate for regular wheat is Rs 15 per kg. Similarly, they get Rs 20-40 per kg of rice, depending on the variety, while the market rate is Rs 11-20. They’ve also revived the local rice varietal Rambhog, which was once treasured for its fragrance but had disappeared with the arrival of cheaper hybrid varieties. Dhaanika, their shop in Kanpur, and organic fairs and retailers in Lucknow provide them the market for now.  

Pandey and his cohorts at Shramik Bharti want to train more farmers, and organise them into self-help groups and clusters. They plan to set up mini agri-processing units (oil mills, packaging centres, et cetera) to service small village clusters. Each unit will cost about Rs 15 lakh but will optimise agricultural output and reduce their carbon footprint. Funding from the Small Industries Development Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has sustained them so far. “But we’ll need much more to expand,” says Pandey. 

Meanwhile, the long-forgotten aroma of Rambhog rice, a part of their local lore, is attracting even the more price-sensitive Kanpur locals towards Dhaanika. “We’ve deliberately kept our prices affordable to encourage local customers to switch to our organic products,” says Pandey. “Ultimately, organic food shouldn’t be a luxury, but something that everyone should be able to access — for the sake of our health as well as that of the environment.” 

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