Green Revolution Reaches India’s Destitute Farmers

When agricultural experts told the villagers in this barren swath of southern India that they could make their farms better, one indigent man told the scientists to try it themselves.

M.S. Swaminathan, who fathered India’s “Green Revolution” by developing higher-yielding crop varieties for large-scale farming, took up the challenge.

The independent research foundation that bears his name adopted a farm in this village near the Bay of Bengal, 150 miles south of Madras. Two experts moved onto the 4.2-acre site owned by P. Manivel, who agreed to try all their ideas.

Five years later, Manivel has doubled his annual income to 120,000 rupees, the equivalent of about $2,740.

“I now earn money every day,” he said, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together.

The area is dry much of the year, and farmers have been dependent on the Cauvery River, which flows into the nearby Bay of Bengal.

For seven months a year, Manivel and other farmers in Keelmanakkudi raised only two crops--rice and lentils--because of lack of water.

“If it rained, we grew one more crop. Otherwise our fields were barren,” Manivel said.

A. Gopalakrishnan, one of the experts who worked here, said the study’s goal was to see if “the intensive integrated farming system will work at a small farm level.”

“We also wanted to identify the optimum level for various types of crops and ensure that laborers have work throughout the year,” he added.

The researchers taught Manivel the rudiments of organic farming as well as the integrated system that the center is devising for small-scale farming. It has seven principles: soil care; water harvesting; crop, pest and energy management; post-harvest care; market links; organization; and empowerment.

Manivel dug big ponds to trap every drop of rain that falls during the monsoon season--water that once flowed into the river. It was enough to raise shrimp and five types of fish.

He planted different types of fruit trees, grew vegetables, bananas, marigolds and mushrooms, and raised honeybees.

He bought two cows and a goat and raised ducks, pigeons and chickens to supplement his income. The dung went into a biogas plant to produce cooking gas and manure. Waste organic matter was fed to earthworms to make compost.

He raised barn owls, which swooped down silently at night to grab rats from the farm--saving money he had spent on chemicals to kill rodents.

There is now plenty of work throughout the year on Manivel’s farm. And other farmers in the district, who see the patch of green in the dry, dust-brown landscape, are beginning to adopt some of Manivel’s practices.

On the Net:

M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation: https://www.mssrf.org.