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Category PROFILE
 
Title Breeding varieties for frugal farming
 
Details Mahavir Singh Arya (b. 1951) from Neva village in Churu district of Rajasthan, is a farmer who has developed many varieties of wheat and mustard. Arya was born in a poor family. His father was a freedom fighter and was a knowledgeable farmer who used many herbal and traditional methods of treatments for plants as well as humans. During the British rule the family’s land was confiscated leaving them landless and forcing the family into a life of poverty. Their financial struggles forced Arya to discontinue studies after class 10. Today, Mahavir Singh Arya has a meagre landholding of less than a hectare. He has a small but beautiful home in the village, has married off three of his daughters and the other children are studying in school. Raising a large family with six children drove him to experiment in order to maximise the yield of his limited land. He is now famous in the region for producing bumper harvests using innovative agricultural methods and practices. Apart from working in his own field, he also works for the development of his region. He claims to not have used any chemical fertilisers. He manages to generate good yield using organic manure. He also advocates the use of organic manure to others in the village. Apart from experimenting and developing new crop varieties in the field, Arya practises herbal and traditional treatments of patients in his region. The knowledge of those treatments he has inherited from his father and also developed through his own interest and enterprise. Already famous in his village and surrounding area as an enterprising farmer, seed producer and a simple man, Arya still puts in lots of effort to develop new varieties of plants. Due to acute scarcity of water, he and his neighbours face many problems. Arya still works the fields of others, some of whom are located in neighbouring villages. This way he has managed to preserve some of the varieties developed by him. BOX 1 describes the journey of Mahavir from an ordinary farmer to an innovative plant breeder. BOX 2 lists major mustard and wheat varieties developed by Mahavir Singh Arya as well as the general algorithm that he followed. Arya is ably assisted and supported by all the members in his family. It is only when he has to uproot and discard some plants while making variety selections, that he faces some resistance from his family. They complain about him wasting plants, which have been produced after hard labour and care. He then explains the reason behind the selection process, making them knowledgeable and passing on his experience, too. Other farmers often invite him for guidance and assistance. Hence, he spends much of his time travelling. His wife mentions that he does not have much time for the family. However, the family understands his devotion to the cause and supports him in his activities. They would like him to help as many people as possible. They know he has been working hard for the past many years and hope that his efforts will be appreciated by the society one day. Keeping their expectations firmly grounded, they have the humble wish to have a tube well in the village. That way problems related to water scarcity can be solved for the entire village and Mahavir and his family are able to carry out experimentation without hindrance. Box 1: A JOURNEY OF EXPERIMENTATION FOR MAHAVIR SINGH ARYA Visit to Hisar Agricultural University in 1985 • Learnt plant breeding after carefully observing crop growing patterns • Sowed T-59 mustard variety • Sowed golden variety seed brought from Delhi Developed a new variety called ‘Sunahari’ Began experimenting with breeding various cultivars • Visited various research institutes and agriculture universities • Developed ten new varieties of mustard by crossing the varieties available in and around Delhi • In 1987, he met a trader who told him about a tall high yielding local variety of wheat • Acquired seeds from the trader and crossed them with the Sonalika variety • The first cross gave some plants which were tall and resistant to disease In 1990, Mahavir Kisan Mahan, a variety with stable characteristics for height and disease resistance, was developedContinuing on the same lines he developed 15 varieties of wheat
 
Volume No. Honey bee 23(4) & 24(1) 28-29, 2013

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