C&A Organic Cotton | Dinesh Khanna

C&A Foundation has been promoting Organic Cotton Cultivation in Sendhwa and Jhabua districts of Madhya Pradesh with their associates, the Aga Khan Trust and ASA.
For the last 3 years, I have been photographing the farming activities and life of the farmers who have adopted organic methods to document the changes and to see how they evolve and benefit over time.

Organic Cotton Cultivation promoted by C&A Foundation in Madhya Pradesh.

Organic Cotton Cultivation promoted by C&A Foundation in Madhya Pradesh.

Growing and picking organic cotton has made a big difference to the health of the farmers and their families. The use of chemical pesticides used to cause diseases and illness due to exposure to these poisons, whereas the use of organic materials has eliminated these problems, thus improving overall health and reducing medical expenses.

There’s a word in Hindi - ‘Jugalbundi’ - that is usually used for musical collaborations, but comes to mind when I see the natural way in which women, men and their animals work together no matter how tough and difficult the task. Agriculture in India, including for organic cotton, is powered mostly by human and animal effort and mechanised power is a rarity.

The cows and bulls, traditionally, play a vital role in Indian agriculture. Tractors and other mechanised means are being used now but since a lot of farms are small holdings bulls are far more economical and efficient for doing the various farming jobs.

For most Indian farmers, livestock is a very important part of their ‘wealth.’ In fact, the colloquial term for them is, “Jeev Dhan,” which literally means ‘animal wealth.’ Amongst farm animals, the Cow, is considered the most important one for Indian farmers. So much so that its waste products are used as agricultural nutrients. They are dressed up and prayed to during festivals.

Some of the farmers also rear buffaloes and goats on their farms. The former for the milk and the goats are sold for meat and fetch a very good price to supplement the farmer’s income. Cow dung is collected and used as manure in organic farming and also dried to use as fuel in the kitchen.

Toiling in the fields is literally back-breaking work and from sowing to weeding the Farm worker has to bend over and work the entire field for hours. And most of the time this work is done by the women folk. Its a myth that farming is a male activity. As much else, it may be dominated by Males, however, women play a significant part in all the activities.

The Sendhwa and Jhabua districts of Madhya Pradesh, where the C&A Foundation is promoting organic cotton cultivation, is largely a water deficient area. Agriculture is monsoon dependant, but that tends to be erratic and insufficient in most years. Drip cultivation, is an excellent method for preserving water and using it efficiently. Progressive farmers like Pahad Singh have started investing in the system. They find that the benefits offset the expense in a very short time.

Women get together to prepare the organic 5-leaf mix which is used as a pesticide and nutrient. The Indian names of these leaves are: Neem, Dhatura, Aak, Beshram and Ratanjyot. The mix also includes cow dung and urine which are considered to be extremely effective and integral to organic farming.

The 10-Leaf potion is made of 10 different kinds of leaves each with their own unique properties. Each one, essentially, would have nutritional or protective values and are fermented with cow dung and urine, jaggery and water for a few weeks and then sprayed on the cotton plants to protect and nurture them.

he organic 5-leaves mix is made in an earthen pot and before it is sealed for fermenting, all the women place their hands on the pot as a way of blessing the contents. In most rural Indian practices religious and spiritual beliefs mingle with everyday activities quite seamlessly. Quite a few of them also realise and say that going organic is like returning to their roots as this was the way farming was done a couple of generations ago.

ASA, one of C&A Foundation’s collaborators have started this unique “Farm Bank” (called Jevik Ghar) where various organic nutrients and pesticides are kept in one place on a farmer’s land. Any other farmer who is doing organic cultivation and requires any of the items, is free to ‘borrow’ his requirement from this bank and replace it once he prepares the mix himself.

So did the early bird catch the worm? Or did the worm turn? The fact is that these worms play a crucial role in the preparation of organic fertiliser by turning and twisting and ingesting through the agricultural waste that is collected for preparing it. Its amazing who and what all, no matter how small, play a role as the farmer’s helper in this process.

These are the hands that labour and nurture and harvest in the fields and have the deep lines and hard corns to show for it. However, they also carry the most exquisite traditional silver jewellery on their wrists, both for their beauty and the fact that these are a substantial part of the women’s savings.

Most of the farmers’ huts have a space reserved for their livestock, like goats and even cattle. They are kept indoors to protect them from the hot summer sun and cold winter nights. The fuel used for cooking in most homes is firewood. However, agricultural waste is not wasted and, as in this case, corn hobs are being used as fuel for cooking.

Most of the farmer’s homes are small and spare huts made of earth, rough wood and dry straw. However, there is always enough space for a small temple with idols of various gods and also, at times, posters of a few more. Faith is an integral part of agricultural life and almost all activities are preceded by a prayer or ceremony.

Moti Lal, one the farmers who has adopted organic cotton with great zeal, has 4 daughters and a son. Though he and is wife are illiterate they have made all efforts to ensure that their children get a good education. The young generation in the farming community is being educated and prefer getting office jobs to farming and that will have an impact on agriculture in the future.

The harvested organic cotton is stored in one corner of the small hut in Shiv La, the farmer’s, home. The yield per acre is 4-5 quintals and once collected is taken to the market or the ginning mill. It is 3 years since started organic cultivation and he is really happy with the results.

The Jhabua district, M.P. is water deficient and none of the village homes have piped water. Women, including children, have to go to the village well or to the stream to collect water, for home use, which can be quite a distance away. Access to clean drinking water is a serious problem in rural India and affects the farming community adversely.

Literacy is rather low as is the quality of education in rural areas. 2 farmer’s sons, who have studied to high school themselves, have opened a small pre-school on their family land to give the village kids a head start in the reading and writing Hindi and English alphabets. And some basic maths.

Pahad Singh is definitely an extremely energetic and innovative farmer. He doesn’t speak English and when I translated the slogan on his T-shirt he had a hearty laugh as its totally opposite to his actual self.

Most of the farmers who are growing organic cotton have realised that they can easily, and profitably, grow other crops by inter-cropping, which is growing other crops between the rows of cotton plants. This farmer, Goba Kuka Garwal, has gone a step further by growing papaya trees amidst cotton plants and found its really productive.