Day 2

20th April, 2011

There was a workshop in grampari for farmers in and around panchghani. The work shop was on Zero Budget Natural farming. The workshop was taken by Mr Subhas Palekar. He is a farmer by profession and is involved in spreading awareness of Natural farming and disadvantages of chemical and organic farming. The subject covered was very new for me. I do not know a word in farming. But I could easily understand the economics behind the agriculture that was going. He is a believer of Gandhian philosophy and says that Green Revolution is a pseudo revolution. Instead, it is a tool for exploiting the rural economy. He also explained how the MNCs are trying to destroy the rural economy through selling the concept of chemical farming. Chemical farming is a very dangerous technique. He said that it is also partly responsible for the increase in the number of AIDS cases and Cancers patients. The chemicals used in it are responsible for decreasing the immunity. There are also some carcinogens present in the chemical fertilizers. I never knew that there is a train called 'Cancer Train' running between Bhatinda and Bikaner.

Then Mr Palekar moved to Natural farming. Natural farming is the technique in which the help of nature is taken in growing the crops. How does the jungle grow! does the tree in the jungle need any artificial fertilizers of waters to grow? no! It grows on its own. Taking this thought further, he explained how natural waste can be turned into good fertilizers and can be utillized to the best. Zero-Budget says that the farmer should grow everything ranging from seed to the crop. In this way, he would not have to borrow for buying the seeds and the fertilizers and would save a lot of money. Further explanation can be found here on his website.

During the workshop, I interacted with a lot of farmers, had lunch with them and talked about their villages and their life. I was surprised to see many farmers speaking in fluent english! There was a farmer Mr Ashok Vandre from Abhepuri village of Satara district. He explained me how he and his 2 brothers are handling the farms in the village and their business in Mumbai. He also asked me to visit his village and see how they are developing it and wanted me to report it on a website for them. In the next week I am planning to visit Abhepuri.

All in all, a wonderful day again and a lot of learning about agriculture economy!

- SD