Damayanti Nayak’s inspiring journey is causing many farmers to take up collectivized and synchronized farming. Here Damayanti recalls how she went from growing crops for self consumption to earning 2 lacs from farming - in her own words
15th August 2022 – India’s 75th Independence Day was being celebrated at Keonjhar town in Odisha with great pomp. At least 300 people had gathered for the occasion.
The air filled with claps. Everyone was cheering for me – Damayanti Nayak. Tears of joy rolled down my cheeks as I received the ‘Adarsh Chasi Award’ (meaning ‘An Ideal Farmer’) from Smt. Pramila Mallik, the Minister of Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Odisha. Shri Ashish Thakare, the District Collector, and many other officials were present too.
It was such a momentous occasion that I didn’t realize how and when the whole day passed.
After the crowd dispersed I commenced my journey back to my village, Jamuda, which is 60 kms away. As I was sitting in the bus to return home, a flurry of memories crowded in front of my eyes. Memories of struggle, hope, despair – everything.
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It was just five years back when my spouse, Gobind Nayak, used to work as a mason and earn a meager sum of Rs 5000, for almost six months in a year, that too at irregular intervals. We had four acres of land where we grew crops like paddy, maize and vegetables for our own consumption.
Rs 5000 was not sufficient to meet all ends. We were suffering. Lack of employment opportunities in the village compelled Gobind to migrate to cities in search of a better life and more income opportunities. I stayed back to take care of the farm and household.
In 2017, I came in contact with SHRISTI, an NGO, where I attended a training session on the benefits of growing vegetables, their cash-remunerative prospects and the use of drip irrigation systems.
To sensitize the farmer on the importance of Farmer Producer Company (FPC), Producer Group (PG) meetings were organized in our village where I participated and learned about FPC.
Both PRADAN and SHRISTI provided training on the FPO structure and functions. As a result of my meaningful participation I was able to be an effective member of the Board of the FPC. From the various orientation and discussions I also learnt about the need of collectivized and synchronized farming which helps in producing crops in bulk.
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If small farmers like us come together and produce a lot of crops in tune with the demand at the markets, then it becomes very easy to set up links with bigger and distant markets and sell our produce at a higher price.
It is normal to grow crops as per our own wish. We used to be super happy with our own produce, but wondered why these harvests won’t fetch a good price in the market?
These training sessions actually opened our eyes. Yes, we used to grow crops, but we never used to think strategically keeping the rhythms of market-based demand-supply in mind. Our knowledge of big markets or Mandis at Barabati – Jaipur (Odisha), largely remained limited to what the middle-persons used to tell us. More often than not we were cheated as we were unaware about the distant and bigger markets.
Organizing women farmers of our area into PGs and FPC has shifted the farmers’ perspective to get collectivized and adopt synchronized farming practices. My active participation led me to become a member of PG as well as the Director of Udyogi Farmer Producer Company formed in February 2021.
The FPC was supported by the Department of Mission Shakti (women empowerment as development initiative) with the facilitation of SHRISTI under the ‘Agriculture Production Cluster’ initiative.
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SHRISTI organized an exposure visit to a nearby village, Nipania, where farmers had a comprehensive understanding on growing cash crops with support of drip irrigation. I felt excited to see the agricultural practices of those farmers which motivated me to install a drip irrigation and mulching system around the base of crop plants.
While I prepared the irrigation infrastructure, 30% of the total cost was contributed by me and the rest (70%) by SHRISTI. Given the marketing assurance by the FPC, I decided to grow brinjal and bitter gourd on 0.8 acre of land with drip irrigation and mulching which helped me to realize the increased productivity of crops and an increased income.
Gobind and I decided to grow crops commercially. I earned Rs 2 lakhs in 2019-20. Inspired by the major shift, ten more farmers came forward the next year to install the drip irrigation system.
In 2021-22, more than 20 other farmers in the area installed a drip irrigation system with the support of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) and the Horticulture Department. After the application of the new methods, increased productivity, marketing channels and structural framework allowed the farmers to earn an average of Rs 80,000 – 1,00,000 annually.
Today the FPC is supporting 1600 women farmers and bringing about synergy between farmers and the agricultural value-system by enhancing income and providing end-to-end services. These irrigation technology systems help the marginal farmers to overcome the challenges and emerge victorious.
For the past two years I have been actively engaged as a resource person to support the farmers by providing farm equipment services as well as demonstrate field trials. There are Agro-Service Centers under PGs where farm equipment like thresher, rotavator, power tiller, sprayer, weighing machine, and vegetable crates are rented out to farmers and delivered at the farm gate.
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Despite contributing the most to agriculture women remain the least recognized. Receiving support from government and NGOs led to our inclusion in FPC, encouraging many other women to engage in farm-extension activities and participate in decision-making at farm and home.
It is all about our joint action in FPC that will certainly bring a transformative change in women’s identity as farmers and help them drive the change, both at family and society.
Hemendra Kumar Pratihari is a development professional at PRADAN with more than 18 years of experience of working for marginalized women in collaboration with government and other stakeholders
In the lead image Damayanti Devi is beaming with pride about her bitter gourd produce (Photo by Hemendra K Pratihari)
