Introduction:

This case study describes the collective model of farming as alternate to marginal based on the preliminary outcomes resulting from a project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Village:

Bhagwatipur village is located in Andhrathari block of Madhubani district, Bihar, India. This village is inhabited by majority of the economically and socially deprived people. Landholding pattern is very unequal; majority of the landholding is in the hand of few people including both existing and absentee landlord. Actual farmers are dependent on the landlord to rent the land for agriculture. Landlord used to give land on Batiya (sharing) basis in which tenant provide half of the produce to the landlord. All the investment in the farm would be borne by the tenant only; landlord is not investing anything for the improvement of land as well as production of the crop. The tenancy of the land to the farmer is dependent on the wish of the landlord.

Process of intervention:

Identification of farm & farmers:

Sakhi started the project interventions with the support of IWMI. The project is based on maximising the crop cultivation during dry season by judicious use of water. The intervention site was identified based on the availability and suitability of the land for the project and farmers. The major focus is on marginal and tenant farmers. The intervention process started with informal meetings with the farmers, and later formed one group comprising 12 members in Bhagwatipur village.

Shift in the crop calendar:

In the meeting the farmers were assured by the landlord regarding the period of lease. Farmers considered how they could earn more profit out of same land and vegetable cultivation emerged as the preferred solution. By adopting vegetable cultivation, they could cultivate their field round the year as well as gain maximum profit out of the same land.

Individual to collective:

After deciding the crop, when they were told that vegetable cultivation required a lot of labour, input cost and daily management, they realized that all farmers should work jointly on a cooperative basis in which they share their input as well as output equally. One farmer group came forward for cooperative farming under the leadership of Mr Jitan Ram. Earlier all 10 farmers were tenants of the same landlord and they had uneven landholding. In the meeting they decided that they will cultivate all land on a cooperative basis.

Capacity building:

The team of Sakhi & IWMI identified the requirement of the farmers so that they could manage their collective as well as improve their productivity. Many trainings were provided to the members of the group in class room as well as on site, mainly focusing on group management, book keeping, gender, crop management, irrigation management, fertiliser management, pest management.

Outcome:

During the first season they started with cultivation of potato in 10 Katta of land, wheat in 40 katta of land and vegetable in 40 katta of land. It was the first time they planted potato using ridge and furrow method, as well as applied weedicides and pesticides in their field. The first harvest of potato was 10 quintals though they planted the crop late, and earned Rs 10000. The total yield of wheat was around 16 quintals, which they stored for rent payment to landlord. At present they are harvesting vegetables every 3^rd day. They are selling to the vendors locally and earning Rs 3000 in a week.

Future:

The process of collective started by few farmers of Bhagwatipur village is becoming a model for other farmers of the village and this is encouraging other farmers of the village to go for the collective farming and change in the cropping pattern. Many farmers started to approach collective farming groups to learn the farming techniques as well as how they are managing their groups. After understanding the benefits of collective farming one more group is ready to move from individual to collective.

Sakhi with the support of IWMI, ICAR and local farmers are implementing innovative dry season agriculture pilot farms in two blocks of Madhubani district namely Andhrathari and Babubarhi. During the first Rabi season (2015-16), the team is working with 45 farmers directly. A total of 5 farmer groups have been formed and cultivation was initiated in November. Two farmer groups will be operating as pure collectives, with the sharing of land, labour and capital. The other three groups will retain their individual plots or rented holdings, and will share inputs and cooperate in marketing.

Initial bye laws of the group have been formed, but this is a dynamic process, and rules are being changed regularly as per the requirements and experiences of the group in their monthly meeting. The project is supporting farmers with seed, weedicides, multi-nutrients, irrigation and technical support.

Following recent initiation of the field activity and ongoing capacity development with farmers, a meeting with broader stakeholder groups was initiated by ICAR and hosted by Sakhi with support from IWMI.

The participants included 3 leaders from each farmer group, a landlord who is leasing land to the group and agricultural extension officers from three gram panchayats as well as the PRI representative from the Panchayat, a vegetable trader and media person.

Participants were welcomed by Mrs. Suman Singh secretary of Sakhi, followed by the lighting of lamp by representatives of each group. A brief presentation on the project was given by Mr. Anoj Kumar of IWMI who outlined progress and future plans.

The purpose of the stakeholders meeting was briefly outlined by Ritesh Kumar from Sakhi, who outlined the many players including farmers, government officers, scientists, suppliers and social mobilizes who have the common goal of improving the production and living standard of the farmers. He highlighted the need to plan together in order to set examples which could be replicated elsewhere. Farmers were given the opportunity to voice their views.

From a technical perspective, Dr Santosh Mali from ICAR briefly outlined the different irrigation interventions being planned for implementation in the field like including drip and sprinkler systems, solar pumping, mulching for water conservation and drum kit irrigation. Dr Ajay Kumar briefly gave orientation on water harvesting structures and how they could be used to preserve pond water for dry season irrigation and fish production.

In the open forum discussion Mrs. Vina Devi told the members that during this season all their group members cultivated three crops (lentil, wheat and potato) and they plan to grow more vegetable crops during summer season. Initiating vegetable cultivation will be a significant achievement. Akashwati Devi told the members that they are learning new skills this season and they will plant other crops next season.

Kisan Salahkar told the members that there were several government schemes that could be utilised by the marginal and tenant farmers like diesel subsidy, Vermicompost pit subsidy, seed support, etc. He also informed the participants of the process for getting this support. The meeting agreed it is important for officials to continue to attend future meetings to support farmers in benefiting from these initiatives.

A landlord of Bhagwatipur Mr. Lal highlighted the high cost of seed and the meeting discussed opportunities for local production.

The meeting proved an excellent exercise for raising awareness and linking farmers with broader stakeholder representatives to broaden benefits to community groups in the rural agricultural economy.

Anoj Kumar inspecting a farmers field	Dr Santosh Mali presenting on irrigation technology

Participants sharing their views in the meeting