Country life

BMWs versus bullock carts; software versus sadhus; the sleek security of the gated suburb versus the grubby confusion of the village.

These and other cliches about ‘the Two Indias’ are trotted out with increasing frequency. But the implication behind them – that rural life is irrevocably stuck in the mire while the city surges ahead – is deeply flawed. Rural India may be poor, but it’s not devoid of new ideas. Nor, as some of the recent protests over land rights bear witness, are rural people simply passive victims of circumstance.

Across the countryside, thousands of innovative projects are offering improved prospects to people for whom India’s new wave of wealth has yet to trickle down. Small-scale energy is at the heart of many of these [see ‘A series of small revolutions’], but there are plenty of other sectors, too – such as sustainable farming, healthcare, crafts and tourism – where rural people are reclaiming their future, as the initiatives on the following pages demonstrate.

Ashok Khosla, chair of rural NGO Development Alternatives, is convinced of the potential for economic revival through local industries meeting local needs. “Building materials, sanitation, recycling, food processing… there’s any number of industries which can thrive at a local level. And it’s local enterprises, not the huge corporations, which can create the most jobs.”

“Give people property rights so they have security to borrow from banks. Provide training facilities for the unskilled. Put people in charge of their lives by helping create income-generating opportunities. That’s how to reduce poverty.”

He sketches a vision of well-connected communities, linked by digital technology, sourcing their food and raw materials from the local area. “I don’t want to glorify the village – the village can be an exceedingly dull place! But the fact of the matter is that with today’s communications – with the internet, mobiles, etc – it is possible to lead a fulfilling life out there in a remote community. People don’t have to migrate to the city, where [all too often] they’ll find there aren’t any jobs, and they lead miserable lives in slums.”

If the world can outsource to India, says Khosla, then maybe it’s time India itself started outsourcing from the city to the village.

Magic in a gherkin

Small cucumber; big potential.

The word ‘gherkins’ may not exactly set the pulse racing, but for hundreds of small farmers, struggling to make a decent living in central and southern India, they’re a crop of great promise.

That’s partly because of a contract arrangement set up by Unilever, aimed at marginal growers in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. As part of its sustainable agriculture programme, the company supplies them with agricultural advice, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, to enable them to grow gherkins (also known as ‘cornichons’) for a range of approved suppliers. “The farmer supplies the land, water and labour”, explains project manager Ramesh Anadramiah, “and we supply all the inputs. We deduct the cost from the farmer only after he’s received the money [from the harvest].”

In a good season, an enterprising farmer can earn up to 40,000 rupees (£500) profit per acre from gherkins, which have a growing season of about three months.

Working via their suppliers, Unilever offers the farmer a guaranteed price fixed at the start of the season. Both parties benefit. For the farmer, it means a secure income, freed from the vagaries and fluctuations of the fruit and vegetable markets. For Unilever, it means a secure supply for its Amora brand – assuming the farmer can come up with a quality crop. “We pay the highest price – but that’s because we want the highest quality”, says Ramesh.

But it’s not just quality in terms of the crop that Unilever’s interested in – it’s the wider environment, too. They’re working with farmers to find ways of reducing the use of pesticides, by introducing pest traps and natural predators. Since the initiative started in 1998, fungicide use has gone down by 90% and overall pesticide use by 40% – while yields are up by a striking 60%. And they’re curbing water use too – thanks to the introduction of ‘drip’ irrigation, rather than traditional flooding. Again, it’s something of a win-win: reduced inputs cut the cost of the operation for everyone – and help satisfy the growing market demand for healthier, ‘greener’ foods. – MW


Dry rice

More crops with less water – that’s the key to India’s future food security. A revolution in rice cultivation could be one way to achieve it.

India’s population is one of the most water-starved on the planet – a parlous situation that is projected to become far more acute with climate change. Three critical crops in particular depend on large quantities of water: cotton, sugar and rice. WWF-India is working with farmers on sustainable ways of cutting water use while at the same time raising yields.

In Tripura, rice farmers have adopted a method called SRI (‘system of rice intensification’) that generates at least 30% higher yields, but uses 40% less water to do it. Contrary to popular belief, explains Dr Biksham Gujja, senior policy adviser at WWF International, rice is not an aquatic plant. The main reason it is submerged in water in conventional cultivation is for controlling weeds.

Under SRI, the paddies are wet, but not saturated. This means the rice develops a root system, which is more effective at absorbing nitrogen, making for a hardier, more pest-resistant plant (so requiring less pesticide).

SRI rice is more labour-intensive as the paddy fields need weeding. But because of the higher yields – four to five tonnes per hectare rather than three, says Gujja, “it makes land, water, labour and capital more productive at the same time.”

WWF reckons that if the method was applied to 20 million hectares of land under rice cultivation in India, the country could meet its objectives of producing 220 million tonnes of food grain by 2012 instead of 2050.

Tripura’s chief minister, Manik Sarkar, for one, is convinced: “Our farmers proved that SRI boosts productivity, and we will convert at least 40% of our rice cultivation using this method over the next five years.” – Terry Slavin


– Martin Wright

11 January 2008

Martin Wright and Terry Slavin

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Simple innovations like this bicycle pump are saving farmers money and energy, and boosting harvests Photo: Martin Wright