Khatriwada, Gir Somnath Sustainable agriculture
“I did not pay attention to these people”
Bharatbhai Bambhaniya farms saline coastal soil at Khatriwada. He ignored the SSKK facilitators for a long time before he listened.
Bharatbhai Kalubhai Bambhaniya farms at Khatriwada in Gir Somnath, near the coast, where the soil is saline. He has six people in his family, a cow and a buffalo, and he has been farming for many years. He first told this to Vijay Solanki of SSKK in March 2021, five years into his involvement with the Better Cotton programme. What follows is his own account, lightly edited.
I have been involved in the project on cotton quality run by SSKK with Cotton Connect for the last five years. Trainings are conducted through the year by the project team, according to crop stage and season.
Initially, when the facilitators of SSKK came to meet me, they would tell me the full name of the project — Better Cotton Initiative — and the full name of the organisation, and the project objective, criteria and principles.
I did not pay attention to these people and farmed as I wished.
They continued to meet me. They kept inviting me to come to the training. I went to the trainings. It talked about accurate information and methods that can be applied in agriculture. Gradually I came to know about diseases and pests, and I also used limited amounts of chemical fertilisers. Farming costs decreased. Production increased.
In the water stewardship training they explained alternate furrow, drip and sprinkler. Which system is more expensive, which is more profitable, which saves water. Our village is on the coast and the soil is saline. From this training I decided I wanted to install drip. They gave me the advantages and disadvantages of the technology, and the general information about the subsidy.
I put cotton under drip and took the first crop. Because of high rainfall and constant waterlogging, the cotton did not produce much. But after that I put three vigha of chickpeas under drip. I gave less irrigation than other farmer brothers, the growth of the chickpeas is good, and my estimate is that production will also be more than theirs. I have reduced the cost of weeding.
So there are advantages and disadvantages to this method. Ever since I adopted it, I have had to work less in farming, different costs have come down, and production has increased.
Recorded by Vijay Solanki, SSKK field team, March 2021.