Experiences from Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
What is Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture ? Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture is a concept
of making agriculture economically viable and ecologically sustainable
Major Components Locally suitable production systems and local resource based
production practices which help in managing natural resources like water and soil
Improving energy efficiency Community Managed learning and Extension systems though
Community based organisations like SHGs (women or men), Cooperatives (producer and consumer) etc
Mobilising public support from large government programs like RKVY
Engaging with local markets
Policy support Media Resource
Centre
Human Resource
Development
Support to promote
sustainable models
Regulation and
restriction on
unsustainable
practices
Farmers institutions
Cooperatives: Strengthening
production
Vedika: for entitlements
ProductionFarmers’
knowledge
Local resources
and natural processes
Locally adopted cropping systems
Natural Resource
Management
Andhra Pradesh
Maharashtra
PunjabChattisgar
h
Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture
What we are doing? Working with Large Government Programs
Andhra Pradesh: Provided handholding support to SERP to promote NPM and Sustainable Agriculture to reach 18 districts, 1800 villages, 7 lakh acres, 3.5 lakh farmers
working with CADA in command areas to improve water productivity, reduce external input use, increase farmers net incomes-250 villages
Rehabilitation in flood effected areas-30 villages Chattisgarh: working with worldbank to design institutional systems for
scalingup of sustainable agriculture practices and come up with a scoping study-10 villages
Working directly with farmers Sahaja Aharam farmers Cooperatives: A Federation of farmers and one
consumer cooperatives to organise production Ecologically safe and economically viable healthy food products and a fair marketing system
Case study of
Pest management in india
Largely based on pesticides and now on pesticide incorporated GM crops
Methods largely borrowed from countries with large farms, less labor, more machines
High costs of externalities were never accounted
Technology driven rather than problem driven
Scale neutrality question
Pests, pesticides and distress Chemical pesticides are a treadmill technology-
pesticide induced pest problems are on rise Pesticides have problems in manufacturing, usage
and with residues in food, water, land and air after harvest
Acute and Chronic impacts are well documented Pesticides and poverty
Agriculture workers/small farmers who spray often suffer poisoning
The acute poisoning is compounded by malnutritionSpray person has no choice on time of spray as
advocated97 % of farmer suicides are by ingestion poisoning
Pesticides take major share in the costs of cultivation
safer and cheaper alternatives exists
Cancers in Punjab
Source of data and information National Cancer Registry Program
(ICMR) Hospital Based Registry Population Based Registry
Districts surveyed in population based registry: Bhatinda,
Faridkot, Muktsar, Patiala, Rupnagar
Genetically Modified crops More resource use
Newer pests and diseases
Animal morbidity Skin allergies Reduced soil fertility Monoculturing genes
Non Pesticidal Management
Ecological approach to pest management using knowledge and skill based practices to prevent insects from reaching damaging stages and damaging proportions by making best use of local resources, natural processes and community action
Uses a set of practices which include Monitoring methods-trap crops, pheromone traps
etc, light traps, Preventive measures-border rows, sticky plates,
resistant varieties, mixed crops etc Control measures-hommade biopesticides, mass
trapping Mostly evolved based on experiences from
working with small and marginal farmers
Habitat conversion and enhancement
Stress pest/enhance beneficials
Reactive inputs
Build healthy soils
Other practices to reduce crop stress
Growing healthy plants
Reducing pest numbers
Minimal pest damage
Non Pesticidal Management
NPM Scaling up in Andhra Pradesh
Worked with SERP in promoting Non pesticidal Management designed the system and provided handholding support for 4 years
2004-05 started with 225 acres in one dist and reached 7 lakh acres in 2007-08 in 18 dist. today the prog covers 20 lakh acres in 18 dist
National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture is now designed based on this model
World Bank says this is a good tool for poverty eradication
With 50 % development expenditure one can double the incomes of the farmers
2004
2009
2006
InstitutionalizationConsortium on
Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture
SERP State Level Secretariat
CSAState level
Executive committee
District level
Zilla Samakhya(District Federation of poor women’s SHGs)
District committee of NGOs
District Rural Development Agency(Coordination)
Mandal level
Mandal Mahila Samakya(Federation of WomenSHGs)
NGOs
Village level
Producer collectives
Village Resource Centres
Grama Sangham(Village Organisation of women SHGs)
Cluster coordinator
(for 5 villages)
Village activist
Implementation and financial management
Technical Support
Mandal NPM sub-committee
DPM-NPM
Integration of innovation by civil society through women farmers and support by Government.
…aiming to reach 100 lakh acres across crops in all districts of AP in by 2014
Farmers and area covered under CMSA
pilot
CSA handholding support
NGOs technical support at field level
SHG groups ind. handling
RKVY funds Rs. 167 Cr.
for 5 yr
Area under different crops (2007-08)
NPM vs conventional pest management
Strategy Genotype No. of chemical sprays
Cost of cultivation (Rs/acre)
Yield (kg/acre)
Gross returns (Rs/acre)
Net returns (Rs/acre)
NPM Non Bt 0 6524 889 18036 11512
NPM Bt 0 6222 888 17469 11247
Control Non Bt 5.0 6555 835 16500 9945
Control Bt 3.8 7235 897 17786 10551
Comparative economics in cotton
Source: Study by CRIDA in WWF project on Sustainable Cotton production, Warangal, 2007
Economics of NPM v/s conventional Paddy in Kurnool dist (2005-06)
Sl. No
Village Farmers Area (ha) Costs of plant protection (Rs/ha)
Yield (q/ha)
NPM Con NPM Con NPM Con NPM Con
1 Arlagadda 16 15 8.4 12 400.00 2525.00 56.83 56.132 Durvesi 5 15 5.2 59.4 490.40 3116.80 61.87 65.53 Bhupanapadu 4 5 1.6 2 440.00 2000.00 56.25 58.874 Alamuru 17 23 7.6 10 480.00 3240.00 55.45 53.85 Konidedu 6 9 2.4 3.8 520.00 2280.00 64.05 50.126 Panyam 5 9 2 3.6 724.80 2680.00 64.5 48.13
Total
Source: Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Yagantipalli, 2005-06
Distinguished visitors
Dr. V L Chopra, Member Planning Commission
Jairam Ramesh, Honble Minister for Commerce
T. NandakumarSecretary AgricultureGOI
Healthy Food.Ecology.Livelihoods
Sahaja Aharam, 12-13-445, Street no-1, Tarnaka, Secunderabad-500 [email protected] www.sahajaaharam.in, 040-6526 8303
Sustaining Farming and livelihoods Research and scaling up of Sustainable Agriculture
practices NPM practiced in more than 14 lakh acres Entire village becoming pesticide free and Organic Successfully demonstrated in Punjab and Maharashtra Designing and hand holding support to SERP on Community Managed
Sustainable Agriculture Reports show sustainable agriculture as a potential for poverty
eradication
Organising farmers to access markets Farmer to Consumer Marketing: through Farmers cooperatives and
consumer cooperatives Sahaja Aharam Cooperative Federation to increase market access
USP: Efficient Organic production system (reduced costs and better yields) Healthy foods, Speciality foods (pound rice, colored rice, millet mix etc) Affordable prices (5-10 % over regular market prices) Helping farmers and environment (60 % of consumer price to
producers) Robust Quality Management System
What is Sahaja Aharam?
An F2C initiative to create a meeting ground for nature-friendly consumers and farmers blend the values of traditional bazaars with ecological
concerns to build a new supply chain on Farmer to Consumer (F2C)
model which helps Increasing farmers’ income
by realising better prices for their produce, locally grown by adopting ecological farming practices
More employment opportunities by value addition and selling processed produce .
consumers in getting access to healthy and diverse food
By establishing a Participatory Food Quality Assurance System and a Fair Trade Model
By direct retailing to consumers (bulk/individual consumers) partnerships
Producers’ Cooperatives (7)
Other project villages (130)
Consumer Cooperative (1)
Sahaja Aharam Cooperatives
Sahaja Aharam Mutually Aided Marketing Cooperative Federation
District Name of the Cooperative Village, Mandal
Facilitating Organisation
Producer Cooperatives
1 Warangal
Yenabavi Organic Farmers’ Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Ltd
Yenabavi, Lingalaganapur
CROPS, Jangoan
2 Swayamkrushi Organic Farmers’ Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Ltd
Parvathagiri MARI,Warangal
2 Nalgonda
Bommalaramaram Organic Farmers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Ltd
Chowdaripalli, Bommalaramaram
PEACE, Nalgonda
3 Ananthpur
Kadiri Swasakthi Organic Farmers and Forest Producers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Ltd
Kadiri REDS, Kadiri
4 Guntur Abyudaya Sustainable Agriculture Farmers Mutually Aided Cooperative Trift and Marketing Society Limited
Koyavaripalem, Pattipadu
Rakshana, Chirala
5 Khammam
Punukula Organic Farmers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Ltd
Punukula, Palvoncha
SECURE, Palvoncha
6 Mahaboobnagar
Nallamalla Agriculture Products Marketing Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Limited
Venkatagiri, Balmoor
CONARE, Achampet
Consumer Cooperative
7 Hyderabad Sahaja Aharam Consumers Cooperative Society
Tarnaka, Hyderabad
CSA, AID india Hyderabad
Producer Co-op-1Farmer Group B
Consumer Co-op
•Healthy food•Affordable Price•Max share to farmers Organic Store
Mobile Store
Direct to Home
Producer Co-op-2
Other farmers and farmers groups
Farmer Group A
Farmer Group C
Sahaja Aharam Cooperative Federation•Capacity building•Institutional building•Investment support•Brand building•Qualtiy Management•Fair Trade
Market placeDirect to resellers
Whole sale to traders
Bulk buyers
Organic Store
Processing unitsSeed market
Yet to estiblish
Sahaja Aharam Cooperative Federation•Organising Cooperatives, Capacity building, Strategy planning•Production, Marketing and investment support•MIS of seasonal availability of products, Product and Market Research•Organising Food Quality Management system and Fair Trade system (based on PGS)•Creates a market space for farmers and Producer cooperatives to sell their products in bulk to traders and retailers
Producer Cooperatives•Support member farmers to have sustainable production
• Seasonal plans to ensure diversity, staggered production
•Provide Marketing Support to member Farmers
• Develops business plans • Quality Management through PGS
•Establishing and managing processing units•Warehouse support•Increasing bargaining power with buyers•Aggregating the produce for market•Organizing retail marketing
Consumer Cooperatives
•For directly reaching out to consumers•To create a consumer base who can support sustainable production and adapt sustainable consumption model•Contribute capital• Membership fee Rs. 100• Share capital Rs. 5000• Deposits @ low interest (about 4 %) • Monthly purchase of atleast Rs. 500•Direct to Home marketing
Farmers cooperatives Currently two cooperatives are into functional business (50
farmers each) Bommalaram Coorative, Chowdaripalli, Nalgonda dist Enabavi Cooperative, Enabavi, Warangal dist
Running two shops Bhongir Jangoan Abyudaya Cooperative, Guntur is selling Chillies for last two years to
buyers from Mumbai
Status Currently only doing collective planning for production Elections are due in two cooperatives Business plans are underway
Strengths: all cooperatives have large production of NPM (pesticide free) and Organically grown food products
Cotton processing unit (ginning, micro spinning, dyeing, weaving) at Punukula
Primary processed foods Grains: Rice, Millets like korra, sajja, jonna, ragi Dal: Split dal of redgram, greengram, whole and split of blackgram
etc Groundnut beans Fruits Vegetables
Secondary processed (processed to cook) Atta and Suji from cereals and millets Cold Pressed Oil Jaggery
Tertiary processing (processed and preserved-Ready to eat) Pickles Pappads/fryams Fruit juices Purees of tomato, tamarind Onion/garlic paste Masala powders
Main Products
Guntur: Rice and Chillies (pesticide free dry chillies and powder)
Warangal: Pulses, chillies, oilseeds, Rice (Pound rice, colored rices) Nalgonda: Vegetables, rice, millets (millet mix) Mahaboobnagar: pulses, honey (cold processed) Ananthpur: millets, groundnut (cold pressed oil) Khammam: rice, chillies, pulses, cotton (seed to cloth)
Existing processing units Chilli processing unit: Guntur Dal processing unit: Mahaboobnagar Millet processing unit: Nalgonda Cotton processing unit: Khammam
• Chillies’ in 1200 acres in SERP’s NPM prog
• Savings on pest management more than 15,000/acre
• M/s Laxmi Exporters Mumbai purchased at Rs. 1500/q premium over the existing market price of Rs. 4500/-
• Hon’ble Minister for Commerce Dr. Jairam Ramesh and spices board officials visited
• From the Guntur coop 300 q/yr pesticide free chillies are sold every year in the last three years
• There is demand for specific varieties for dye extraction, oleoresin extraction etc which can be tapped
• Similar experience with Turmeric but not yet had a large marketing exp
• Lot of scope of value addition
Chillies in Guntur
Sahaja Aharam Participatory Food Quality Assurance System To ensure the quality of the produce ‘Sahaja
Aharam’ has attempted to establish a reliable Food Quality and Fair Trade Assurance System with participation of producers and consumers which is simple, efficient, affordable and cheaper.
The Food Quality Management involves various levels and various players. Sahaja Aharam is establishing quality standards and processes to ensure safety and ecological sustainability in production,
processing, transporting and storing and selling. based on honesty and mutual trust between producers and
consumers of food, provides scope for understanding farming realities and village
economy at grass root level, social relations and maintaining the dignity of the farming family and
affordable both at farmer and consumer level.
Individual farmers maintains PGS recordsAll operations and costs involved maintained plotwise
Farmers’ group at the village level for learning, decision making and monitoring Meet every Week/ten days
PGS committee at Village levelMonthly reviews
Producer Cooperative
Producer Cooperative
Consumer Cooperative
Consumer Cooperative
Producer Cooperative
Consumer Cooperative
Facilitating Organizatio
n
PGS Quality Assurance TeamInitially after sowing
Visits during the seasonReviews after the season
Farrm level data available for any product for consumer
CSA
Name of the Cooperative No of farmers adapting PGS
Enabavi cooperative society 50
Abhyudaya Co.Society 287
Bommalaramaram Co.Society 35
Kadri Co.Society 50
Nallama Co. Society 30
Total 452
What is Guaranteed ?•Ecofriendly in production (NPM/Organic)•Healthier for consumption (no residues, better processing)•Fair price and Fair share for farmers’ in consumer’s price
Food Quality and Fair Trade Assurance System Production level: ‘Sahaja Aharam Farm Certificate’ to
farmers adopting NPM (Non Pesticidal Management-grown without using chemical pesticides and GM crops) or Organic (grown without use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and GM crops). The quality is ensured based on the Farm records maintained by the farmers reviewed by Farmers groups
monthly. Random cross verification during the season by the PGS committee Random testing for residues in the food products Maintaining source identity (details of production and farmer’s group)
Processing level: using only natural colorants, preservatives and flavors and low processing. The appraisal/monitoring and certification processes are followed for the Sahaja Aharam Certified Food Processing Units.
Marketing: During storage utmost care would be taken that the food is preserved safely.
No chemical fumigation, spraying would be taken up during the storage. Maintaining product identity preservation (produce is separately handled at all
levels from harvesting, processing, packing, distribution and sale to avoid mixing up)
Market strategy
Direct to consumers Organic Store (currently one organised at Ground floor of CSA,
House no 12-13-445, Street No.1, Tarnaka) Mobile Store which will operate bi-monthly in 15 locations in
Hyderabad. Pick up points where consumers can pickup their orders delivered
on a weekly basis. Consumers can place their orders through a telephone 040-6526 8303 or email: [email protected] or through the website http://www.sahajaaharam.in
Direct to home: door delivery for single orders of more than Rs. 1000 (delivery charges applicable) and single orders of more than Rs. 2000 free delivery.
Bulk consumers: Canteens, hostels etc
Direct to resellers: (by 2012) Perishables, processed foods, grains Market place where small resellers can buy wholesale
Direct to Traders: (by 2010) Taking orders from traders and placing them with Producer
cooperatives
Direct Marketing outletsSahaja Aharam outlets have been established across the three Cooperatives
Name of the NGO
No of Outlets
Date of establishment
Business Turnover
Membership fee Share capital
No of members
Amount in Rs.
No of members
Amount in Rs.
PEACE 2 04/11/2008 185000.00 55 550.00 55 5500.00
02/03/2009 35000.00
CONARE 1 05/02/2009 20000.00 70 560.00 56 5600.00
CROPS 1 26/03/2009 15000.00 100 1000.00 100 10000.00
Sahaja Aharam Organic Store
1 23/07/2009 211462.00 22 2200.00 18 82500.00
Mobile store 2 15/12/09
4,66 462.00 247 4310.00 229 1,03600.00
Key learning:1.Advantages of having Coop by members are yet to be realized2.Co.op need to improve their marketing functions3.Range of products and availability over time is required4.Ownership of cooperative haven’t felt by members.
Punukula, the first pesticides-free village
Yenabavi -Organic Village
• Entire village (55 farmers’ 228 acres) organic for last five years
• Most of the inputs internalised into farming• Land Productivity increased, crop yields maintained• In SRI paddy 44 bags were also recorded • Recently awarded Krishi Gaurav Award by Baba Ramdev’s
Patanjali Trust for their role in promoting organic farming• More than 30 thousand farmers visited the village in last
three years
Contacts
Organisational Website
http://www.csa-india.org
Learning Portal http://www.takingroots.in
GM Crops http://www.indiagminfo.org
Agrarian crisis http://www.agrariancrisis.in
Marketing Portal http://www.sahajaaharam.in
Email [email protected]
Phone 040-27017735, 040-27014392