The demand for organic food in India is low but it is increasing. So, more and more Indian farmers are discovering Organic farming, which enables them to have a better life.
Lovingly Rakash Chinappa makes the branches with the fine pods through his fingers. The yellow organic lenses are something Special. Formerly the small farmer from Kodalipura has grown in the Indian state of Karnataka only Chili. Today, from the mono-culture of spicy peppers is a lot of fruits of the field. On the edge of his half-acre field strong lenses grow and bean bushes. On the box, Chili and okra are stretching against the blue sky. From the crumb Dill and coriander chips.
“I’m now biologically,” says the 43 pride. Consumers, the Cooperative Sahaja Organics from Bangalore. It operates a buying station, a few minutes of Chinappas field. 40 organic farmers deliver from the perimeter of your products. They supply to consumers in the approximately 40 kilometers away in a metropolis of millions.
Farmer Rakash Chinappa on his field, in the foreground is an okra plant with white flower
Agriculture in India – an important economic factor
On the field of Chinappa, the bustling seems to be a large city in the distance. The humming of the bees and butterflies fluttering past. The green beans are crisp and taste like a mild walnut. Of himself he would not have come up with the idea on Organic change, he says. The National agriculture Bank NABARD has launched with the support of the German Federal Ministry for economic cooperation and development (BMZ) and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), a program to promote sustainable practices in India’s agriculture. They propagated among Indian farmers.
Alternatives are important in a country where the agricultural sector still generates about 17 percent of economic power and, thus, the KfW, “directly or indirectly, the livelihood for two-thirds of the population”. In addition, agriculture is a significant emitter of greenhouse gases, for example, because of the use of mineral fertilizer. And it consumes a lot of water.
Fertilizer from Manure, milk and sugar
Both aspects also play on the field of farmer Chinappa a role. With technical assistance from the Cooperative he has converted to drip irrigation. As a result, he consumed only half as much water than if he were to conventionally pour the bucket. What is for his personal Well-being is even more important: He only uses organic fertilizer. “Of the chemical fertilizers, I got a headache and I was often evil,” he says. “This is over now”.
Self-mixed biofertilizers, instead of purchased chemical
The organic farmers of Bangalore to make your organic fertilizer. They call him Panchajanya – a term from the Hindu mythology that is associated with the number Five. Five ingredients are also, at least in the Bio-nutrient Mix for the field: cow’s urine, cow dung, the edible fat Ghee, butter, milk and cane sugar – if available Neem and peanut residues. The mixture must be periodically stirred, and 20 days to ferment. Then the fertilizer on the field.
More stable and higher income thanks to the organic
For farmers like Chinappa, the conversion is worth it. “I earn 30 percent more than before. And the revenues are stable, because I’m of the prices for the Chili alone,” he says. Now he deserves with his little box for about 250 euros a month.
Also the marketing has become easier. Previously, he had to ride his Moped up to Bangalore to sell his Chili. Now the farmers bring their goods to the decentralized buying-in station, where she ran to transport wagon loading points of the Cooperative.
Farmers in the Biokooperative Sahaja Organics at the time of loading
Bioabsatz in India on the upswing
One of them is located in a rural suburb of the Ten-million-city. “From here, you will be transferred to Bangalore and other parts of India,” says Krisna Prasad, one of two Directors of the Cooperative. The Indian demand for organic products grow, and reach, in the meantime, a percent of the national vegetable and cereal consumption. While in the domestic markets of organic products are often up to 100 percent more expensive than conventional goods, the amount of the difference in the co-operative Sahaja Organics only 20 to 30 percent.
The Cooperative works in Karnataka with 700 in all of India, with 2,000 certified farmers. The conversion from conventional to organic farm takes three years. Therefore, many of the larger farmers who have more hectares of Land to the management dedicated the area peu a peu on Organic farming. Per acre, they generate a yield of 450 to 500 euros, according to Prasad.
Diversity
In addition to a better income and the conservation of soil and water resources is Sahaja something else: “We maintain a seed Bank to preserve the diversity of Indian agriculture”, says Anitha Reddy, one of the shareholders of the Cooperative. “The seed Bank is the responsibility of the women.” There is some Biofarmen, which are headed by women, she says.
The Array store: Anita Reddy before the semen Bank of the Cooperative Sahaja Organics
The Cooperative is currently almost 40 traditional rice – and more than 50 varieties of vegetables and fruit. In bags of loose rice, beans, and other leguminous store fruits and vegetables. Spices such as cardamom, turmeric, or cinnamon, there are pre-packaged as well as husked and raw rice, sugar, or honey.
Objective: the market in Germany
In addition to the domestic varieties, Sahaja has also exotics in the program, such as the Latin America stem end of the Quinoa cereal and the oil Seed Chia. The demand for this “Superfood” is booming in Europe. The prices are high. The Sahaja-Director, Prasad know.
“We want to be in the Export,” he explains. The first appearance on a BioFach trade fair in Germany to stand in the spring of 2019. The step that succeeds the organic lentils from small farmers Chinappa from Kodalipura are perhaps to be found in the shelves of German organic markets in the future.