Woman switches over to chemical free farming in Solan

Number of women farmers from Solan development block of Himachal Pradesh are set to become the ‘change makers’ in agro-marketing field as they have registered first all-women Farmer Producer Company (FPC) for collective marketing of the certified chemical-free natural produce recently. They first switched from chemical based farming to the non-chemical, low cost and climate resilient natural farming technique few years back after getting training under Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (PK3Y) of Himachal Pradesh government and have now taken a significant step ahead to transform their identity from farmers to entrepreneurs. The first all-women FPC comprises farmers from three Panchayats namely Jabal Jamrot, Haripur and Deothi in Solan district. To begin with, the Solan Natural Farmer Producer Company has ten primary shareholders (five women farmers on Board of Directors and five others as promoters) and 60 more women farmers are ready to be part of this FPC for marketing of natural produce, including a range of vegetables and fruits and milk products. So far, four FPCs in all (Chopal, Pachad and Karsog apart from one all women FPC in Solan) have been registered in the state for marketing of natural produce, giving a push to enable Sustainable Food Systems Platform for Natural Farming (SuSPNF) in the interest of sustainable agriculture through natural farming technique in the hill state. The SuSPNF is aimed at working out mutually beneficial producer-consumer linkage with Universities also set to play a significant role in value addition of the natural produce in collaboration with farmers. (Vice Chancellor of Nauni University, Prof Rajeshwar Singh Chandel was instrumental in conceptualizing SusPNF, while he was Executive Director, PK3Y earlier). State Project Director, PK3Y, Naresh Thakur said, “It is a step towards transformation of farmers to businessmen. It is a good development that women farmers are emerging as leaders whether it is about adopting natural farming technique or forming FPC to market the chemical-free produce at best price,” he said. He said the SPIU will support the FPCs with logistics and technical knowhow to help them get going. Most of the women farmers associated with natural farming in Solan block are educated upto matric, but are spirited enough to make a difference. Chairman of the newly registered Solan Natural Farmer Producer Company, Radha Devi, 41, said, “A shift to natural farming technique was the first important step to save our agriculture as chemical based farming had led to increasing expenditures, stagnant production and so many diseases. Coming together on one platform by forming a Farmer Producer Company for collective marketing of our natural produce is the second step that will help us get better prices and personally grow as entrepreneurs than just farmers.” Radha Devi is from Koti village and shifted to natural farming in 2019, looking at the success of women farmers’ group in adjoining Dugri village. “These women were taking multiple crops in the same field without using any chemical fertilizer or pesticide. I also got the training under PK3Y and adopted the technique,” she said. She is now doing natural farming on 5 bigha of land, which includes a lemon orchard, with turnip, beet root, onion and garlic growing in the same field. It has cut the family’s dependence on the market, reduced the cost of cultivation by roughly 70-80 per cent,  has enriched her with knowledge and exposure, and above all, her produce is now chemical free, healthy and nutritious. The women farmers in the area grow so many vegetables with natural farming technique and also make milk products. However, everything has to be sold at normal mandis individually at the same price. “If we do the marketing collectively through an FPC, we can find out specific buyers for the natural produce and negotiate the price,” said Seema, the Pradhan of Jabal Jhamlot Panchayat, who is also on the Board of Directors of the FPC. The FPCs are facilitated by fellows working with PK3Y through Access Livelihoods Consulting Ltd., who do the handholding for farmer collectives in the field under overall monitoring of the State Project Implementing Unit (SPIU) of PK3Y. Chopal Naturals was the first FPC to be registered for natural produce under PK3Y and the first consignment of its natural apples was flagged off for market recently by the Secretary, Agriculture, Rakesh Kanwar from Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan. The FPC also sent one consignment of apples for processing to Nauni varsity