Chronic water shortage meant that the Raju family could grow enough food for just 8 months of the year – for the remaining four they were forced to buy scraps of food from the market.
Water crisis
Govinda Raju, his wife Manglamma and their two small boys struggled to make a living on their 1.75 acres of land set in the village of Kabigere in Tumkur District of Karnataka, India. The traditional challenge that the family faced was their dependency on the notoriously unreliable monsoon rainfall. This meant that for anything up to four months they suffered a chronic water shortage. The knock-on effect was that they were only able to grow seasonal crops that were rain-fed such as ragi, a fast-growing millet that tolerates poor soil.
Family stress
To supplement the family income, Manglamma worked as an agricultural labourer but this was only sporadic, and Govinda had to work part time as a watchman on daily wages for the department of forestry. The couple was constantly worried about their future and that of their two small sons.
Sharing knowledge
It was while working in the forestry department that Govinda first heard of a joint initiative by the Bio-Energy Research Institute and International Development Enterprises (IDE), India, to help resolve the irrigation crisis faced by small farmers.
With the support of IDE India, they acquired a KB Drip, a drip system that offers low cost affordable irrigation for subsistence farmers. The Raju family installed it on 0.5 acres of their land and for the first time in their life, they were able to ensure irrigation for their crops as and when required.
Implementing change
As part of this initiative, a community bore-well has been allotted to a group of farmers called ‘The Water Users Association’ (WUA). The cost of the bore-well and main distribution line is borne by both farmers and the project organizers, while installation of the KB drip is completed at the farmers’ expense (about. Rs. 7000.00 for each member of the WUA).
Excited by the prospect of year-round water supply Govinda became a member of his local WUA. However, it was not always smooth sailing for Govinda and Manglamma – their first crop of drip irrigated bitter-gourd planted in May 2004 was attacked at the fruiting stage by the fruit borer pest. Looking at the severity of the attack, IDEI personnel advised Govinda to apply a safe input and a rich nutrient such as vermiwash, composed of compost which, sadly, he did not. The result was the failure of this crop, and Govinda made only a small fraction in net profit. The second crop planted was tomato, which again was affected by fruit borer. Despite advice from IDEI staff to use a safe input, Govinda again failed to do so and suffered another loss.
Recognising his reluctance to accept advice, IDEI personnel decided to carry out two intensive counselling sessions – which helped Govinda achieve much better results. In the third crop of bitter gourd, cucumber and groundnut (mixed cropping), he followed the advice given him by IDEI to apply vermiwash in good time, which helped him to achieve the required result. Govinda has now established a vermiwash unit and is in the process of making vermicompost. As a consequence his latest crop has earned him a net profit of Rs.10,600.00.
A brighter future
This outstanding profitability has encouraged small-scale farmers to put their knowledge to good use. Now both Govinda and his wife Manglamma work full time on their own farm. Their eldest son is going to a fee-paying English school and they have repaid Rs.5000 of the loan of Rs.7000 that was taken to become members of the farmers’ WUA.
On the back of this success, the couple are now planning for their future – their first priority is the education of their children, then to build a house and to adopt organic farming practices on their farm. The couple have also begun saving for their future and are contributing Rs.70 per month to the Self-Help Group (SHG). They are also planning to buy a Life Insurance Policy through a loan from the SHG.
They are now busy working in their fields with the hope that their days of hanrdship and dependency on the monsoons are over.
