Traditional practice in hill villages

BD Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, May 1

Organic or bio-farming has a big scope in the hill region as farmers have been practising it traditionally since ages. According to agricultural scientists, the use of fertilisers in hill districts has been between 700 kg and 750 kg per hectare while organic manure in form of cow dung and agricultural waste was used traditionally in hill fields. “Fertiliser in the hills is used to grow grass instead of cereals, making cereal production in hill districts purely organic,” says Dr RK Singh, an agricultural scientist at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pantnagar University.

He says the high altitude region of Pithoragarh, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts could become fully organic as traditionally animal manure was used here for agricultural purpose. However, as a deviation from the tradition, pesticides maybe used in these regions for purposes other than agriculture. “If we have to increase the existing 35 per cent area under organic farming, we will have to adopt a block or district level approach to saturate agriculture beginning from the upper regions of Munsiyari and Dharchula where it had been practised since ages,” he adds.

About organic vegetables, fruits, and pulses, Agriculture Department sources say these bio-products find market only in big cities where health conscious people are ready to pay a higher price for these. “Instead of selling organic products in the local market, we need to sell these in big cities such as Haldwani, Bareilly Lucknow and Delhi. We need an organic marketing cell in each district to tag the product as pure organic before sending it to the market,” says RK Singh. 

He adds, besides vegetables, fruits and pulses, organic milk also has a huge scope in the hill districts. But the way forward is not easy for farmers in organic milk as described by scientists theoretically. Jeewan Singh Danu is the only farmer producing bio-vegetables and fruits in the Nachni area of Pithoragarh district. However, he is yet to be certified as an organic farmer by the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board,  Dehradun. The board pays less attention to the hill region and focuses mainly on the Terai area. The criteria of the board are tough and necessitate the use of organic manure for three years to begin the process of registration of any villager or produce as organic farmer or organic product. “As the process of registration or certification is tough for farmers, none has been registered as organic farmer in Munsiyari subdivision of Pithoragarh district,” says Danu, who has been felicitated several times for organic farming in Pithrogarh district.

The board has constituted a cell at the agricultural officer’s office at the district level under the ATMA project. Farmers are taught how to produce snail and other earthworms to make vermi compost. But the cell has not advanced and is yet to declare any farmer or village as organic farmer or organic village. Thus the financial gains of organic farming have failed to reach farmers.