An organic revolution with women in the forefront

Anuradha Balaji has just finished taking classes for a group of farmers on the benefits of organic farming, at Thiruvallur. Having grown, harvested and marketed her produce from her farm in Periyapalayam, the Kolathur resident is vouching for the benefits of organic food, especially vegetables and fruits. 

From gooseberries to sapodillas and bananas, and a variety of vegetables like peerkankai, pushinikai, etc., she has been retailing her products at the Organic Farmer’s Market and at stores nearby, apart from customers who buy them directly from her.

Going by her success story, she is roping in more farmers to follow in her footsteps. She said, “I hail from a service class family and my father was employed with the Southern Railways. However, I have been deeply influenced by my uncle, who was an expert in organic farming. So, I began doing it myself, almost a decade ago. 

For six years, I have been selling my products at the OFM and I have been seeing a steady increase in the demand for organic food items, including value-added products.” Similarly, near Tambaram, in Agaramthen, 

AM Malathi has been cultivating a rich line-up of greens in half an acre of land, apart from micro greens like radish, methi and cabbage. Malathi who has been retailing out at her house and at the farmer’s market on and off has tried almost every vegetable before arriving at her choices of greens — from Parupukeerai, pachamulakeerai, puplichaakeerai, Sirukeerai, etc. “There is no harm in trying them all out. My experiments have yielded a lot of fruit, or should I say greens,” she added with a smile. 

Malathi spends several days, carrying out every step in the farming process. For a few steps, she availed the services of an old lady. “However, I spend as many as 20 to 25 days tending to my vegetables here,” she added. “Greens are a lot more challenging and there are a lot of pests, but if you put your mind and soul into it, there is nothing more rewarding. I sell 600 to 700 heads of greens each harvest,” she said.

Contrary to common beliefs, women contribute almost 70 per cent of the total farming efforts. These include ploughing, sowing, winnowing and threshing. However, when it comes to marketing or selling them, they take a step back, said Subha Bharadwaj, coordinator, OFM. 

“However, they never receive credit for it,” she said. Observing that it was about time to give them the credit and help them develop their business, OFM and the Tamilnadu Corporation for Development of Women (TNCDW), have come up with a monthly event where women self-help groups and women farmers dealing with organic products put up stalls. 

The first edition held in the beginning of September had women participating from more than 16 districts. Senthil Kumar, executive, Tamil Nadu State Supply and Marketing Society, said, “The idea was to make them understand the kind of demand for organic products and food. 

OFM, which has years of experience in the field, was roped in to make them women understand what exactly organic products are. It includes every aspect of the preparation, starting from the seed to other inputs and even packaging.” Senthil added there was a large demand and women could tap it to have a sustainable business model. “The first edition of the market gave them an idea on how to fulfil the demand,” he said.

M Shanthilakshmi, secretary, Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs, Tamil Nadu Chapter who has been setting up organic rooftop gardens and gardens through her enterprise Harvest Organic has a farm in Karamadai and another in Pollachi, where coconut, bitter gourd and pudina are grown. “We have been practicing organic farming for the last two years. Even as we retail the products, the pricing has been an issue,” she said.

Malthi echoes the same concern. She said, “Many customers still demand organic products for the price of their nonorganic counterparts. They say that they want the vegetable or greens in one particular size or shape and bargain. It becomes difficult to haggle or explain why it is priced different,” she added.

Shanthilakshmi added that for guaranteed pricing in the Uzhavar Sandhai, one must get organic certification. “It is not easy if you have switched to organic farming just recently. The chemicals from fertilisers remain in the soil for close to two decades and that can hamper the process of availing the certificate,” she said.

There are hurdles in the path of initiating women into the field, observed Subha. “Many don’t realise that every element has to be organic or natural to call something organic,” she said.

Many are also unaware of the cost-effectiveness, pointed out Shanthilakshmi. She said, “They don’t understand that they save on fertilisers. They are composting, and their manure is taken care of and there is panchakavyam (an organic product made of cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd, jaggery, ghee, banana, tender coconut and water and has the potential to play the role of promoting growth and providing immunity in plant system). In a 25-cent land where a variety of greens can be grown, you get around Rs 8,000.” Looking beyond raw produce

However, the experts suggest that entrepreneurs should look beyond farm produce and look at value-added products. Anuradha said, “I have been telling farmers that one has to look beyond just the bananas grown and consider banana-based products.”

At the Anna University, the Centre for Entrepreneurial Development has been involved in organic farming in a unique way. A one-and-a-half acre land has been cultivated with millets like kambu, thinai, keezhvaragu, etc. apart from bananas and a host of vegetables. With women forming more than 50 per cent of the student population in various courses, a unique approach has been employed, according to G Ravikumar, director, CED. 

He said, “We have those from Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and other branches of engineering coming here. They have their own inputs that can drive the field of organic farming. From the natural seeds to the equipment and even panchakavyam, the farm gives them a scope to improvise in any of the methods or techniques used,” he said. The farm is supported by COWE and Indira Agrotech.

In the late 80s, a number of women agricultural officers were roped in to take the benefits of natural farming far and wide in Tamil Nadu, apart from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Under the DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency)- assisted programme, the Agriculture Department, way back in 1986, introduced the concept of ‘Tamil Nadu Women in Agriculture’ (TANWA). Women agricultural officers who were only given stationary jobs till then, as an extension, went across districts, training women in various aspects like crop protection, irrigation management and soil conservation techniques. 

Mangalam Balasubramanian, founding president, COWE, TN and then chief advisor, DANIDA, said. “Now, we are talking about organic farming, but there are women who have been doing it since the last 80s.” The women who were trained under TANWA were made link leaders, an interface between the department of agriculture and the community and the numbers multiplied through their communication. “The agricultural officers who played a big role in garnering the movement are now deputy directors, said Mangalam. COWE will be having regular sessions for students at their events with interactions with the link leaders to take the spirit and message of entrepreneurship into the community.