10th Trip : Survey of Agricultural Initiative

Objective of Survey

Our 10th trip on 6th December, was a bit different. Nothing to distribute, not to train but to have a first hand assessment of what is the outcome of our agricultural rehabilitation initiative started on the 5th September,2009. So, on 6th December, a small PAKT team visited the Chargheri area.

It may be recalled that 14 training sessions, both theoretical and hands on, were arranged by PAKT for different groups of villagers. PAKT roped in agricultural trainers Mr Narayan Chandra Bachar and Mrs Anjana Mandal from the organisation SWANIRVAR, for imparting the training and planned, organised and financed the training sessions and related works. In mid October, 14 different types of seeds of vegetables, Spinach (Palong), Radish (Mulo), olkapi, Carrot(gajor), beat, dhone, lanka, kumro, barbati,Ladies finger (vendi), uchhe, Brinjal (begoon) lau, lalshak, were distributed among 560 families of the five villages covered by PAKT.

Seeds were distributed in mid October, 2009 and it was time to visit and review the results. We were eager to see the outcome of the application of different techniques (explained during the training) of growing vegetables in the lands affected by saline water intrusion during the Aila. After the Aila, many people predicted that these lands would be rendered fallow at least for two years. Our survey was critical for assessing the success of the agricultural rehabilitation initiative and deciding our future course of activities in these villages, specially in the agriculture sector.

The Survey

For covering the huge area in a single day, the PAKT team broke up in two groups. One group got down at the Lahiripur Boat Ghat RW and covered Lahiripur and part of Shantigachi. The other group disembarked at the Kakmari bajar ghat and covered Bidhan colony, Parasmani, part of Shantigachi and a few houses of Chargheri. In totality, we visited and interacted with 75 families during our five hour long walk through the villages and gathered substantial doceumentation in the form of videos and pictures (that link shows pictures taken at Lahiripur-Santigachhi; click here for pictures taken by the other team that surveyed at Porosmani-BidhanColony and part of Chargheri). Both teams were accompanied and supported by the representatives of the cooperatives (see later) from respective villages.

Observations

i) Almost all the villagers who took the agricultural training & vegetable seeds from PAKT, have attempted seriously to harvest the vegetables in their own lands. We hardly came across any family who has failed to grow anything from the seeds given by PAKT.

ii) We saw varying results. Not all could apply their trainings in a very effective manner. but those who has judiciously applied has generally got good results. However, we did not observe many cases where people has utlitsed the innovative techniques, like planting in the sack.

iii) Land condition and water availability has got a major impact on the outcome :

a) In certain area the land was flushed with saline water once, while some experienced long stagnation of saline water. The latter type, particularly the low lying field, has not observed a good yield in general (barring a few cases like Nirapada Sarkar) as the salt comes up during drying up process. Relatively higher lands which were not regularly flooded by the tidal cycle have better yield.

b) In general who used the fresh water from tubewells has got good results. But there are few tubewells in the village (particularly in Lahiripur/Santigachi area) and not many people could access them.

c) Interestingly, a number of people also got good yield by using the water from their own pond near the field. This water is likely to be saline (or nonta) to low-saline (or doodh-nonta), depending on two factors
• Duration of exposure to saline water, and
• If the pond was dewatered at least once after Aila.
A little investigation reveals that not surprisingly the ponds with favourable history of both the above events have successfully supported agriculture

d) Some villagers have used the pond water mixed with tubewell water or on alternate days with tubewell water. This should be the optimal solution , because the high iron content in tubewell water can cause impedance to the growth of the vegetables and the villagers are aware of this fact!!

iv) Several families have not utilized their total agricultural land due to the lack of availability of enough “good/fresh” water. A good option may be to take the risk of using the saline water from nearby pond and give it a try, as this has proved almost a sure option for the ponds dewaterd at least once after the Aila.

v) In a large number of cases palong shak is affected by some insects The training covered these issues. So we asked the cooperative members to convene a meeting in the village and again remind the vegetable farmers all the basics to get rid of it.

vi) We came across several families in Lahiripur who are living in temporary roadside shanties but have grown vegetables on the plot of land which was once the plinth of their house. Indomitable spirit !!!

vii) On an average, we have noticed excellent results for Palongshak, Mulo, Olkapi, uchhe, Lau & Kumro.

viii) Satisfactory results (with occasional cases of failures) have been noticed for Lalshak, Beet & Vendi.

ix) In most of the cases brinjal (begoon) seeds provided by PAKT was found to be a failure. Rather saplings procured from local markets have good results. Chilli (lanka) and barbati seeds also failed to produce good returns barring a few exceptions .

Conclusion

1. The villagers have regained quite a bit of their confidence and have started believing the possibilities of farming in the saline water affected land using the specialized techniques. The vegetable harvest this winter is a major step towards restoring their agriculture based livelihood. Even some of them are interested to try out paddy cultivation. When we asked a gathering of villagers whether they feel rice cultivation will be possible next year (precisely next monsoon), we were pleasantly surprised by a unanimous positive response. They also repeatedly requested PAKT to also consider distributing suitable seeds for repeat of vegetable cultivation before the rainy season.

2. Following our earlier suggestion and with guidance from the agricultural trainers, a 20 member agricultural community has been formed with representatives from five villages. Through this community they are trying to help each other and sharing their agricultural problems. The cooperative members are trying to take lead roles & ownerships in such cases.

Plan for Blanket Distribution

Both the PAKT teams, explained in detail to a good gathering of villagers regarding the modalities of the distribution of the blankets, specially the issue of bringing some identity proof.

To have a more detailed feedback from the villagers, we asked each of them (who took seeds from PAKT) to fill up a small questionnaire. The simple queries were about training, name of the vegetable seeds that got good and bad yields and what they want to cultivate in the coming monsoon. We explained respective representative of cooperatives to help the villagers in answering it.