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"Sounding the Call to Unseen Oddballs in Eastern U.P. Ballia and Ghazipur districts, Uttar Pradesh | June 20 – 26, 2023 | 49th Shodhyatra Part II
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"Walking farther into the heart of districts Ballia and Ghazipur, 33 yatris learnt of scientific and creative community-driven solutions. In our previous issue, we introduced Dr. Ram Kumar Rai. Along with several farmers of the Shivaansh FPO in Joga Musahiba, he has created an enterprise based on flaxseed cultivation and helped foster a spirit of innovation. Yatris encountered multiple women-helmed agro-product microenterprises but paradoxically found that women were largely absent from meetings, except in two or three villages. Cultural norms still come in the way of fuller participation in knowledge platforms and other spaces.
While discovering pockets of creativity along the 49th Shodhyatra, it became evident that there was little awareness of these innovations in neighbouring villages – even of one homegrown brand which had reached the shelves of Prague. The Yatris met with many Shatayus and elder community members who imparted wisdom in their recollections of strife and strength during nation-building. They were generous in sharing the secrets to their evergreen health. It was a special treat to interact with the 10 yatris from Swatantra Talim, a Lucknow-based education and innovation-focused organisation (more info: www.swatantratalim.org). With the assistance of Rajesh Yadav, Dr Ram Kumar Rai, Mreetyunjaibhai, Jitendra Rai and Divakar Rai, the yatra was organized by the Honey Bee Network (HBN), anchored by SRISTI, and supported by GIAN, and other HBN volunteers.
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"En route to Daulatpur, we met Sri Suresh Rai who received state-level recognition in 2015 for a record-breaking yield of 390 quintals per hectare of Sukhsagar onions. Sukhsagar seeds originated in Belgium, came to Bengal and are now common in Ballia and Ghazipur. A Mechanical Engineer, he is one of few people in the village filtering out iron from water. The solution lies in using an iron pipe and brass filter, replacing the usual plastic. Though many of his neighbours have expressed scepticism, he often receives visitors who wish to taste the sweet, purer water from his pump. Sending us on our way, he showed us a cushion woven with paddy straw, and fed us laddoos made of homemade jaggery, besan, ginger, pepper and turmeric.
Un-shun Innovation
Divakar Rai did not let the “leg-pullers” dissuade him. He repurposed a power seeder machine for fertigation, and over four years built a fertilizer-cum-seed driller from second-hand parts. He has also added a third row to a sprayer machine, greatly improving efficiency. He lends these cost and labour-saving machines to farmers near his home in Awathahi, as well as neighbouring villages in Ghazipur. Jitendra Rai, a farmer from Lochain, had built an onion storage facility which has the advantage of allowing some control over the temperature and humidity. The 15 x 30 sq. ft. room has four large exhaust fans, and an iron grill mesh resting five inches above ground on bricks, with one sq. ft. spacing. Halogen bulbs in the fans provide warmth during colder months. He is a proponent of scientific farming and uses field data to improve output for himself and other farmers.
Dr Ram Kumar Rai started an FPO, named Shivansh after his son, to help more farmers adopt organic farming practices and expand their businesses. The black soil of the region is ideal for flax, yet many farmers had ceased cultivation due to harvest challenges and uncertain markets. Dr. Rai halved the RPM of a thresher and removed some blades so it would process flaxseed with minimal loss. He shared the machine with the FPO, and they are exporting these organically grown seeds to Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Throughout the yatra, he encouraged farmers to grow flaxseeds and create a business around it, for which he offered his guidance. After all, it was flaxseeds (and the spirit of cross-pollination within HBN) which first connected us to Dr Rai (see HB 34(4):3, 2023).
His export journey began when Birendra Kumar, a friend of his elder brother living in Luxembourg, asked for 10 kg of flaxseed. On his next visit to India, Birendraji asked for 50 kg and paid one lac rupees, while the local price was Rs. 50 per kg. Dr. Rai was flabbergasted at the difference. In 2018, he joined a farmer delegation to Europe and discovered that flaxseed was selling at Rs. 3,000 per kg. His eyes were opened, and so began his endeavours in export that fetched his FPO a much higher income.
Dr Rai tests grain properties at a laboratory in IIT-BHU, Varanasi, to comply with maximum residue level (MRL) of pesticides for export. He has experimented with creating omega-3 capsules from flaxseed, as an affordable vegetarian alternative to cod liver oil. He is testing their shelf-life, which he has found to be at least two years. He has also helped develop a green chilli powder with technology sourced from the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), under ICAR. They received a process patent in 2019 for this innovative product. Dr Rai exports the powder to the U.A.E., Qatar and Oman.
We encountered other instances of innovation in the district, including a bike-powered sattu machine, a few indigenous mechanisms for digging borewells, a manual pipe winch, and farmers growing Hariman Sharma’s HRMN 99 apples. A host of curious youngsters joined us at Dhanetha and shared their innovative ideas with us. Deepak Gupta suggested installing LED streetlights to make manholes and other road obstacles visible. Children at Pandepura Amrupur had hung a tin box on a tree. They used this as a “bell” to drive birds away and keep the seating platform below clean.
Women Know, Dairy Woes
Throughout the yatra, many farmers told us of the persistent disease and parasites plaguing their animals. While some had used common traditional remedies to successfully treat bloat and mastitis, few knew how to get rid of ticks and leeches which would reattach to animals after the prescribed medication wore off. We shared the knowledge of other farmers who had placed soaked tobacco leaves on the ground of the animal shed to kill these parasites (possibly since the nicotine in tobacco is a contact poison, see HB4(2&3):20, 1993. For various ways to counter ticks, see HB12(3):5, 2001; Eds.). The lumpy skin disease virus had spread in the area and was without any cure. Livestock owners were suggested preventive measures such as isolating infected animals and feeding them peppercorn, black salt, and black cumin.
Cattle-rearing is especially important in this farming belt, and the income from dairy often helps farmers tide over crop failure. After a few meetings where women had been absent or silent, they would come forward afterwards, seeking remedies for diarrhoea, wounds, and other common afflictions affecting cattle, whom they care for as much as their children. At Narohi, we decided that some yatris would visit different houses in the village to learn women’s unique knowledge and yield a fuller picture of the village. Mananiya devi and Sadhna devi at Kathauli had stitched colourful benas (hand fans) and baskets using moonj grass, scrap cloth and recycled plastic. Bamboo, declared by one person as a farmer’s best friend, features heavily in craft, as well as architecture, utensils, toys, etc.
Local Culinary Creativity
The visits allowed us to learn recipes for gojhas from Shanti Devi and Saraswati Devi of Ajorpur, karmi saag from Mananiya Devi at Kathauli, and pitodes from Radhika Devi and Suman Kharwar at Amaon. Gojha, also known as farra or ulta, is made by adding asafoetida, salt, green chilli, and garlic to a paste of soaked chickpeas. Crescent-shaped wheat dough stuffed with the paste is boiled for 20-30 minutes. A few drops of oil and a bowl at the base prevent sticking. They may be sauteed, cut and served with chutney. Karmi saag, or water spinach is cleaned, shredded, and mixed with cumin, asafoetida, salt, and dried red chillies, and fried in mustard oil. Sauteeing for another 10-15 minutes without a lid maintains the greenness. Pitodes are made by rolling taro leaves in a thick paste of besan, salt, green chillies, dry mango powder, and jeera powder. Kept together by toothpicks, these are boiled for 30 minutes, then cut, and may be fried.
Live Long, Consume Local
We continued the longstanding tradition of learning from Centenarians, the shatayus about their habits and practices leading to their long and rich lives. The elderly farmers at Mubarakpur claimed that their village was special in that everyone in their village was vegetarian, and this was what kept everyone at the peak of health. They also stated that drinking the milk of desi Gangatiri cows has helped, mentioning a local legend, ‘Chaudhary Sadhuji’ who is believed to have reared 150 Gangatiri cows.
Hariharji, an elderly former pehelwan at Mattiha gaon had no home of his own, so a few families took care of him. He seemed sustained by recalling fast-paced folk tunes he had been singing since his youth, satirizing social and political structures. At Lochain, Ram Murahat Yadavji works his fields every day all by himself, and said with a grin, “If you can find anyone who works harder than me on the fields, I’ll leave farming!” 95-year-old Sri Sarju Rai proudly informed us that he still had all his original teeth. He has been eating hearty and simple foods, and exercising daily. Throughout most of his life, he has eaten saathi, a pink-streaked short-grain rice with a sweet aroma that has lost its erstwhile popularity. He also used to drink milk twice a day and claimed that men would eat about half a kilo of ghee daily. Like his grandfather, he had been a pehelwan in his youth, and trained by lifting very heavy logs of wood.
A centenarian, Suvachan Rai, commanded the attention of everyone at the meeting at Joga Musahiba. He described lentils with rice as his ideal meal and recommended eating millets such as sweet sama rice (barnyard millet), ragi and bajra. Suvachanji used to drink milk thrice a day, walked 10 km daily, and still walks wherever he goes. He is a lifelong teetotaller, vegetarian, and only eats homemade foods.
Reflections on the River
Awadh Behari Rai at Mubarakpur likened the Shodhyatra to the Bhoodan movement, recalling the fervour he saw in Acharya Vinobha Bhave’s march past his home when he was in class II. This same fervour was evident in the Swatantra Talim yatris, including Rahul, Ridhi, students Rakesh, Sachin, Vijay, Chandan, Kuldeep, Shivam, Pooja, and seven-year-old Kabir. On the night of their departure, they presented a short play about Savitri and Jyotiba Phule’s inclusive education movement, with songs, props, and puppetry. They enjoyed learning photography, speaking to new people, and collecting herbal practices to share with others back home. All yatris were inspired by their energy and initiative (It is worth browsing Kabir’s imaginative rendering of his report on the yatra, included in the previous issue. HB 34(4):10-12, 2023; Eds.)
Communities brought their fervour to meetings as well, engaging in spirited discussion and debate. Parthenium grass seemed to invade almost every farm, and pertinent questions were raised at Kanuan. Shyamji Rai, a young farmer had fruitlessly searched for ways to counter the menace. He had read research on how each plant produces 500-700 seeds in a season, spreading as far as a five-kilometre radius. We discussed its use as mulch. Alternatively, to stop its spread, one would first have to note differences between fields where it proliferates and those where it is absent. Another farmer at the meeting had observed that flooding in paddy fields seems to prevent it. Farmers at Musardeva planned to explore the potential of growing berseem grass (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) to inhibit parthenium.
The Shodhyatra hopes to foster a space for exactly such a spirit of inquiry and collaborative knowledge-building. The same meeting threw up an interesting dilemma when one farmer asked which organic practices to employ against pests in neem or other traditionally pest-repellent plants. Farmers at Godi Khas were at a loss on how to handle a monsoonal pest called ‘das/dast’, described as a large fly that bores into the skin. While the HBN and SRISTI team hopes to revisit the area to find a solution to this insect, we put it to all our readers to join the endeavour by sharing their knowledge of any similar infestation and its countermeasures.
Tarkeshwarbhai, at Godi Khas, relayed the story of his unsuccessful campaign against alcohol many years ago. To demonstrate its dangers, he placed an earthworm in a glass of water, and another in a glass of alcohol. Seeing the worm disintegrate in alcohol, a local alcohol seller had the last laugh by quipping, “Drink alcohol and it will kill all the worms in your stomach!” We must clarify that we do not advocate the use of alcohol for any purpose; this remark is mentioned only to illustrate a local sense of dry (pun intended) humour.
In our call for all to adopt and disseminate grassroots innovations unapologetically (see HB34(4):5, 2023), might we have more success employing similarly witty and unexpected arguments? Coupled with proof of impact, could we innovate better strategies to overcome the inertia, fear, cultural factors, and other hindrances to adopting a beneficial innovation?
The Shodhyatra itself may be considered one such unorthodox strategy, generating intrigue amongst local people at the sight of so many outsiders passing their homes, and discussing innovation. In Ballia and Ghazipur, people were surprised to learn that their friendly neighbourhood weeds were potent solutions to agricultural problems. Often, they were equally surprised to discover that there were those among them using these practices. For about 35 years, the Honey Bee Network has hoped to translate this wonder into curiosity, and even an excitement for innovation. These pockets where innovation takes place in the shadows serve as a reminder that besides kindling the spirit of creativity, there is the need for many more channels that motivate innovators to experiment, try, fail, and try again – even in the face of indifference or ridicule.
(Sometimes, bystanders can not understand how we learn during and after Shodhyatra. Dr. Ram Kumar Rai revealed recently that many farmers have experimented with the use of non-edible plants as a source of herbal pesticides. More details in the next issue: Eds.)" |
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Honey Bee, 35(1)2-6, 2024 |
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