Scientists and farmers are allies

Antisar is around 40 km from Nadiad. The apex science institution for water and land management is at Dehra Dun. They have been working at Antisar for quite some time. Amongst others, they are famous for Mishraji, who was the spirit behind Sukho Majri and then went on to Chhattisgarh where he died. I remember him as a no-nonsense person, always in a hurry because there was so much to do.

The message of Antisar is terribly important. In a flat soil landscape, perhaps even with a mild slope, community action which is a precondition of conserving water down a hill slope, gives way predominantly to individual action by the farmer. Second, the farmer invests a great deal. Third, he still makes a lot of money. Fourth, no financial institution helps him. In Antisar, the typical pattern was to build a check dam on private land. The ownership fields farmed were big enough, four to six hectares, such that the farmer could get the benefit of raised water levels and, in some cases, the farm ponds still had water although this was a drought year.

The scientists from Dehra Dun basically alerted the farmer to the slope of the land 8212; about three hundred metres from the ridge of the watershed boundaries to the larger of the water bodies in the area, the Zalzali pond and the Antisar village talab. They suggested the location of conservation structures. The design of the check dams was a pleasure to behold. I have always maintained that it is far more difficult to design a small dam rather than a big one. But by now we have that skill. I know at least three institutions who do a beautiful job.

I remembered the problems that I faced when I decided to build three check dams in JNU, which now has the best water conservation structures on the Delhi ridge. We talked with a farmer who had migrated from Kutch to Khaira over three decades ago. We also spoke to a prosperous Patel family, who had invested around a lakh of rupees a hectare with help from the Institute in a check dam and conveyance and recharging structures. There were in fact 11 such structures already built in the watershed on private land and corresponding recharging structures.

Now a lakh of rupees is a lot of money and the question can be asked as to why the farmer would invest it. The answer is very simple. In the prosperous agricultural regions, the farmer opts for high value agriculture. Water management is the key, for if he has no water he has no options. But once he has built up the levels he may recover his investment in a single season. In Antisar, those who have access to water do not grow traditional varieties of cotton or the hybrids. The crop is all genetically modified and produced not only by large MNCs, but also by smaller companies. The pesticide costs go down by a big margin and the farmer makes around forty thousand a hectare. This is a fantastic payback period for the investment.

I worry about bankers and their regulators who keep lecturing us at the drop of a hat on non-repayment of loans. Yet they are absent from most productive activities going on India today. If they were present, the farmer in Antisar would not be begging the scientists to stay on after their demonstration projects were completed. Instead, the farmer would do the rest of the work himself. Today, only the man who has the resources to make large investments can take on the challenge of globalising agriculture. It should not be so and need not be so. Yet the problems of agriculture lie outside it.

Scientists showed the farmer that grass was growing in the ten hectare plot the village had given to them from the common land.

If farmers became business-like they could grow and sell fodder. Foraging animals then wouldn8217;t destroy vegetation and the village would protect grasslands. They may learn this lesson when they see the grass growing. As the scientists went back to Dehra Dun, they felt happy that the villagers who had ignored them at first, did not want to let them go.

The villagers gained a great deal of confidence as well as scientific knowledge. We worry about the falling price of timber and wonder when the government will put in a decent tariff rule on imports. It8217;s still OGL at 5 per cent. Some big contractor probably still calls the shots. The farmer lobbies make a lot of noise. The others make the gravy.

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