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Sustainable Agricultural practices

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Sustainable agricultural practices



Three training programmes on Sustainable agricultural practices (farm technology, machinery, integrated pest management and sustainable farm model) were conducted with support from KVK, ICAR and RRTC for all the villages.

For centuries Indian farmers have been practicing sustainable agricultural practices like mixed cropping, crop rotation, using organic manure and pest management which kept our agriculture sustainable. But things reversed since the dawn of Green Revolution which gave birth to chemical intensive model of agriculture resulting in systematic degradation of soil. Now again the focus is on Ecological or Organic farming to give boost to sustainable agriculture. This form of agriculture conserves our soil and water resources, protects our climate, enhances agro-diversity, ensures biodiversity, meets the demand for food and safeguards livelihoods.
The Holistic Rural Development Project (HRDP) in Meghalaya sought to increase the awareness among the farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices through technological and other interventions. It aims at enhancing soil nutrition, cropping intensity, pattern and rotation, and the use of organic fertilisers. The farmers were oriented mainly on horticulture crops, integrated pest management and soil nutrition.

Farmers' groups formed in all the villages created greater understanding on technological interventions, alternative cropping and winter crops.

Farmers Groups

The HRD Project looks at farmer groups as agents of change and facilitators for sustainable agricultural practices and implementing them to meet the benchmark. It also envisages approaches to farmer participation in sustainable natural resource management with focus on a process of assessing and identifying issues, setting and monitoring farm productivity, crop patterns, cropping intensity and natural resource management.

To achieve this, mere awareness about new agricultural practices is not sufficient to ensure their implementation. The chief objective of forming farmers' groups is to build social capital as they learn together and develop as a group. This has helped them acquire a high level of personal self-confidence, get to 'know' each other as individuals, develop shared values and trust, regard each other as credible sources of support and advice and commit to fellow members.

Training and support for specific horticultural cr ops cultivation were conducted twice in the first year for all villages. Nearly 180 households were supported for vegetable cultivation and setting up kitchen garden.

Training and support for specific horticulture crops cultivation

The HRD Project envisages promotion of horticulture crops in all the target villages. Certain horticulture crops specific to Ri-Bhoi district have been identified which could be beneficial to the farmers both in terms of nutrition and the enhancement of their income. For this, awareness programmes and farm demonstration are being held. Kitchen gardens are also being promoted to help families increase nutrient variety. SACH is also distributing seeds for new and traditional crops.

Agriculture tool banks were set up in all villages to help small and marginal farmers after assessing their needs.
More than 120 Vermicompost and Trichoderma units set up in target villages gave a boost to organic farming.

Agriculture tool bank

The project helped the small and marginal farmers set up agriculture tool bank in the intervention villages to use them collectively. This has been done after the consultation with the farmers and proper assessment of their needs.