Farmers Of Maharashtra’s Tupewadi Embrace Change, Earn Crores From Vegetable Seed Business

Hiren Kumar Bose

Jalna (Maharashtra): From cotton to high-value vegetables, the farmers of Tupewadi village in Maharashtra’s drought-prone Jalna district have come a long way. When cotton was their main crop, pest infestation gave them blighted harvests, which eventually forced them to migrate to the state’s sugarcane belt to work as cane cutters.

That was five years ago. Now, they have reversed their fortunes by becoming vegetable seed growers under the Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture (PoCRA), implemented by the state agriculture department and the World Bank in 2018 to develop a drought-proof and climate-resilient strategy for agriculture.

Farmers of Tupewadi made use of PoCRA by becoming beneficiaries of the Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjeevani Yojana.

Hundreds of shade net houses dot the fields of these small and marginal farmers, making the village with 600-plus households undergo a radical transformation — from being a parched and irrigation-constrained area to a thriving farming community. By regulating the entry of sunlight, moisture and air, greenhouses create an appropriate microclimate for the crops and protect them from heat, rain, storm and pest attack. Drip irrigation meets their water requirements.

Once the vegetables are harvested, seeds are extracted and processed. Seven top seed companies in the country — Mahyco, Syngenta, Nath Seeds, Monsanto, Bayer, Agro Biotech and Nirmal Seeds — buy from them and sell under their brand names.

Tupewadi has come to be known as ‘shade-netchi gaon’ (shade net village).

“Two decades ago, we began growing vegetables in bamboo shade nets provided by seed companies. However, bamboo poles had to be changed every season. Now we have permanent shade nets with galvanised iron frames and cladding material,” informed Arjun Sagaji More, whose family owns 17 acres and has shade net houses spread over one-and-a-half acres.

The idea of growing vegetables in bamboo shade net houses was picked up by an enterprising local farmer from neighbouring Tapovan village. Soon, it caught the fancy of Tupewadi residents with everyone raising a bamboo structure and entering into contracts with seed companies.

However, it was PoCRA that transformed the village, located 18 km from Jalna town, into a state-of-the-art vegetable seed growing centre. Farmers got to know about the scheme through the media and WhatsApp groups, and from the extension workers who visited them.

With time, they entered into buyback agreements with seed companies, ushering in economic prosperity that is visible in pucca houses lining the village located in Badnapur taluka. Children of these households study in English medium schools and every male member rides a two-wheeler.

Seeds Of Growth

Under Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjeevani Yojana, every farmer beneficiary gets a 75% subsidy to raise a shade net house, which lasts for five to six years.

“Farmers can choose the shade net’s size depending on the amount they can contribute. The subsidy component is available for structures covering up to 20 gunthas. A 10 guntha (10,000 sq ft) shade net house costs Rs 4 lakh and the farmer has to bear around Rs 1 lakh from it,” Venkat Thakke, Taluka Agriculture Officer, Badnapur, told 101Reporters.

As per Thakke’s estimate, each seed grower makes Rs 4 to 5 lakh annually. Hence, the business in Tupewadi is worth around Rs 20 crore.

The year begins with cucumber and ends with chilli, with each variety of vegetable taking around four months to mature. “We grow chilli, cucumber, tomato and bitter gourd. The seed companies provide seeds or seedlings for cultivation. With every new crop, the mulching sheets are changed and the rows treated with fungicide and fertilisers,” said Pankaj Rathod, an agriculture graduate from Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, and owner of a shade net structure spread over half-an-acre plot. “Each year, the companies increase our earnings by 10 to 20%,” he beamed.

Associated with Tupewadi’s seed growers for the last three years, Nath Seeds product in-charge Sanjay Shinde felt farmers who have mastered the art of growing high-quality seeds should include high-value crops such as marigold, capsicum and bell pepper in their bouquet of products.

“It is time they formed their own farmer producer company to enter the market with their brand,” he saids.

The village has not only provided livelihood to its inhabitants, but also generated employment in places located within a 20 km radius, including Pimpalgaon, Pathalgaon, Jalna, Rajur, Asankheda, Mongaon and Chandhai.

“Every day, close to 300 workers, the majority of them being women, are transported to Tupewadi in tempos and trucks arranged by our seed growers. At the end of the day, they are taken back to their villages,” informed Eknath More, a former village sarpanch.

Not a beneficiary of the state’s irrigation schemes, Tupewadi takes water conservation very seriously. All irrigation activities are dependent on bore wells and shet tale (farm ponds), which are replenished by rainfall (around 700 mm usually) that the taluka receives.

The residents have collectively dug up a 20-hectare-long continuous contour trench, raised two earthen and seven concrete dams, built a 700-hectare embankment and deepened 30 drains to catch the rainwater over the course of many years.

Around 150 farm ponds ensure water for crops growing on the open fields.

“Shet tale helped us double our income. When not busy in the shade net houses, we devote our time growing cotton, soybean, bajra (pearl millet), jowar (sorghum), tur (pigeon pea) and groundnut. We use either drip or sprinklers for irrigation. For harvesting, we engage workers from neighbouring villages,” said Arjun More.

Though erratic weather has been affecting their other crops, seed farming has been helping them tide over the crisis. Last year, particha paus (retreating monsoon) damaged kharif (June to November) crops in Maharashtra. The high-intensity rains, which are increasingly lasting longer, hit small and marginal farmers hard. The districts in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions were severely affected.

On the other hand, bollworm attacks have emerged as the biggest problem for cotton farmers. Pink bollworms infested nearly 32 lakh hectares of cotton crop in the state last year.

(Hiren Kumar Bose is a Maharashtra-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)