Ideal farmer, Pawar style, in Pune

With the launch of Mahatma Phule integrated agriculture development pilot project, the district administration is confident that farmers in Pune district will not only make profit of Rs 15,000 –20,000 a month by changing crop patterns but will also become a model for other farmers to follow.

When the project was formally launched on Monday there was no mention as to why it was started in Pune and not in any of the distressed districts of Vidharbha. “This is saheb’s own home ground and once farmers here are happy, those across the country will become happy,” said Shantaram Jagtap from Jejuri. His only reservation is that the farmers selected for the project are already of the well-to do variety and often doubling up as politicians.

Those shortlisted for the project are about 5,000 farmers who have between one and three hectares of land holding who will be trained in 24 crop patterns and loans made available to them. “ In the last two weeks, out of 2,500 loan proposals, banks have cleared 1,850 and loans worth Rs 47 crore has been disbursed,” said Pune district collector Prabhakar Deshmukh.

State Agriculture Minister Balasaheb Thorat is convinced that these ‘ideal farmers’ of Pune will inspire others. “We will take this concept to six districts where distressed farmers have been committing suicide. Pune district will have to take a lead,” said Thorat.

“It’s difficult to give up bad habits but farmers should give it a try,” said Marketing Minister Harshawardhan Patil.

There are the sceptics too. “We don’t know how farmers were selected for the pilot projects. We came to know that something is done for farmers and we came rushing here,” Vasudha Chavan of Pimpri said.