Freedom from agri chemicals

On World Environment Day last year — which happened to be one of the hottest summer mornings — as we stood on the main road roughly a kilometre from Kedia village, in the Jamui district of Bihar, we heard loud voices in the distance.

Soon we found 50-60 children marching and shouting in unison, ‘ Jeevit maati ... jeevit khet !’ (alive is the soil... alive are the farms). Some of the children were as young as four, and all of them were brimming with enthusiasm. We joined them in the celebrations.

It is two years since all the 96 farmer families in Kedia decided to adopt ecological agriculture — the most potent way of bringing their soil back to life after years of abuse from the overuse of chemicals. Today, even the smallest child in Kedia can explain the benefits of ecological agriculture.

Kedia has bid adieu to chemical pesticides and limited the use of chemical fertilisers to 42.6 per cent. In the past two years the farmers have seen a good yield with a 92.5 per cent reduction in input costs.

The village now has 282 vermi-composting units, generating a steady supply of nutrient-rich natural fertiliser. Teeming with earthworms and other insects, the soil has been rejuvenated. Birds like the Kingfisher, which prey on these insects, are also back, completing the complex food web.

Kedia has turned into an ecological agricultural model that can be easily replicated by involving small and marginal farmers, the State Government and civil society.

With the building of pucca cattle sheds and the addition of EcoSan toilets, which stress on using human waste as manure, the families in Kedia are effectively ensuring a steady supply of the organic raw materials they need as ecological inputs for the fields.

This year the number of biogas plants will go up to 61. The village-level Jeevit Maati Kisan Samiti has decided to pressure the government to construct more EcoSan toilets under the Swachh Bharat campaign. Under the scheme ₹12,000 is given for constructing a toilet, which usually costs a family about ₹14,000. Just last month 10 more EcoSan toilets were built in Kedia.

That’s not all. With over 40 per cent of agricultural produce going waste without proper storage, and with product prices at the mercy of market conditions, a cold storage facility is vital to maintain incomes from organic produce.

Earlier this month, with help from Greenpeace, Kedia farmers launched an online crowdfunding appeal to help them buy a solar-powered eco-freezer to be able to store tonnes of produce, increase their shelf-life and hold back for favourable market conditions. Generous donations have poured in from all corners of the country.

On Independence Day this year, the farmers of Kedia are hoping to install the eco-freezer. Once that is in place, Kedia hopes to celebrate freedom from chemicals, freedom from the threat of wasted produce, freedom from financial insecurities… in short, the freedom to enjoy an agricultural living in the truest sense.

The writer is a Greenpeace India campaigner who was involved with the project

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