A Patch of Green in the Forest: Organic Farming in Paraswada

Shifting from agricultural practices that were expensive, unsustainable, harmful to the environment, degenerative to the soil, and biased towards rich farmers, the women of Paraswada, Madhya Pradesh, with PRADAN ’s support, decide to make the transition to organic methods of farming, which include using indigenous seeds, SRI, crop diversification, bio-manure and a host of other practices, showing positive and promising results

T he Green Revolution is well-known for its dramatic effects on the global yield of food grain and other agricultural products. It is often considered an example that defied the Malthusian theory of the end of the fast-growing world population, by introducing technology to expand production and crop-yield. With Dr. Norman Borlaug’s creation of high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of seed, the revolution spread all over and was a much-celebrated success. Advertisements and video documentaries showed spreads of lush green and bountiful crops swaying in the wind, representing prosperity.

India too underwent the Green Revolution and aimed to reduce the high number of famines, by which it was characterized. It mainly focussed on the expansion of farming areas, introducing double cropping in existing farmlands, and using HYVs of seeds. The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides was required alongside. Whereas all these methods were successful in increasing farm yields, these also required specific inputs, preferred mechanization and the introduction of chemicals in the environment.

The Green Revolution in the farms was accompanied by a whole slew of policy and institutional interventions. It included the building of large dams and the setting up of agriculture universities and research stations. It resulted in the setting up of the Public Distribution Systems (PDS) with Food Corporation of India (FCI) storage facilities. There were also several grain procurement protocols—such as Minimum Support Price, nationalization of banks to push rural credit, and last but not the least, fertilizer subsidies.