Punjab farmers form Kisan Clubs

A young generation of farmers in Punjab have got together and formed farmers clubs in order to diversify their crops, adopt organic farming and have a common marketing strategy for their produce.

By Sunil Sharma

Chandigarh, Oct 6 : A young generation of farmers in Punjab have got together and formed 'farmers' clubs' in order to diversify their crops, adopt organic farming and have a common marketing strategy for their produce.

The set up of such type of clubs make farmers self-efficient.

Farmers' meetings are routine since 2002 in village Gorali near Morinda. To strengthen the Punjabi farmer, the Regional Rural Bank started the Farmers' Club movement.

At present there are 24 clubs in Nawanshahar, Ropar and Hoshiarpur districts which have brought about a revolutionary transformation in the mindset of the farmers, who over the years have been exploited by money lenders and traders.

"The concept of farmer's club was started in Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries. People got together and formed a forum to stand against frauds and register growth in agriculture and the social front. I thought of this concept, because farmers are poor and are being exploited by the money lenders," said Resham Singh, a District Coordinator, Regional Rural Bank.

"There is good production in agriculture but they are unable to reap the profit. Both the consumer and the producer are unhappy. When the farmers take a loan from a bank they have to repay it. If he borrows money from the money lender, the returns are made only by shelling out his household items," Resham added.

Making Punjabi farmers' debt free through diversification is the major challenge of a majority of clubs. Farmers are given free advice ranging from growing quality crops to selling them directly to the consumer.

Prabhjeet Singh of Tira village, who is a club member, followed the guidance principles and today he is earning a handsome profit by growing populas trees.

"Now people are coming to us to find out how to diversify the new crops. They want to break free of the wheat and paddy cycle. We are trying to grow in our farms fruits, turmeric and other crops," said Prabhjeet.

Another organic farmer, Avtar Singh of the same village, set up an 'Akal Sahai Kissan Club' and persuaded its members to shift to organic farming.

He has been promoting organic farming with the help of Wormiculture, a process under which waste is converted to manure by the use of worms.

Avtar, who produces wormicompost in his farm, educates and guides farmers to produce foodgrains and vegetables free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

"We didn't target individual members but we made the whole village members of the club. We appointed one individual as the co-ordinator from each village. The co-ordinator would forward club activities to his village," said Avtar.

Avtar also said that regular meetings will be conducted so that people are made aware of the innovations and diversification in agriculture, and an appropriate market for their produce.

"Our club work acts as a mediator between the consumer and the producer. We are getting regular demands for clean vegetables, wheat and paddy. We further advice farmers to grow such crops and vegetables so that we are able to deliver them directly to the consumer," he added.

To uplift the farming community, the clubs added a social front as well. Working as a self-help group, most of the clubs strengthen the economy of villagers by promoting self-employment for women.

It promotes piggery, goat rearing, floriculture and dairy farming, which farmers can easily handle without affecting their agriculture-related daily routine.

Besides promoting agriculture, employment-oriented training programmes are also organised by the clubs for the unemployed youth.

ANI