EcoZeal

The benefit of growing awareness about organic products in the West is percolating down to remote villages in India, where more and more farmers are taking to organic farming, often joining hands to form a community.
One such project, Vasudha, launched from village Karhi in Madhya Pradesh is now one of the largest organic farming projects in India.

A brainchild of Indore-based textile firm Pratibha Syntex Ltd, it today engages 28,000 farmers and is spread over 125,000 acres of farmland. Shreyaskar Chaudhary, managing director of Pratibha Syntex said:

“Organic farming has multiple benefits. Over a period of time the farmland becomes more fertile and builds immunity to pest attacks. We have seen the yields go up from 350 kg of seed cotton per acre, when we started the project, to over 800 kg per acre.”

Organic farming has been a win-win proposition for all the parties concerned – the farmers and the manufacturers, mostly based in the US and Europe.

The income levels of the farmers have increased considerably as their input costs have come down by almost 30 to 40 per cent. What’s more, the farmers get roughly 30 per cent more for organic cotton as compared to the ordinary variety. The fibre quality is also better, and all this has been achieved without making use of the genetically modified (GM) seeds.

Last year, farmers associated with Vasudha produced around 34,000 metric tonnes of cotton, which was cultivated on roughly 63,000 acres. Farmers also grew pulses and grains on the rest of the organic farmland.

Source: Hindustan Times