Report of Kisan Mela organized by NEEV to mark the conclusion of SRI Kharif , 2011 program with 600 farmers in 3 blocks of Potka, Bodam and Jamshedpur in East Singhbhum District

1. Kisan Mela by NEEV
8th November, 2011
NEEV Concludes SRI Kharif 2011 with Kisan Mela
On 8th of Nov. 2011, a Kisan Mela was tive from our RA (Resource agency) Mr.
organized by NEEV, which marked the Sanjay. On behalf of NEEV were present Highlights
culmination of all efforts made by NEEV to Chairman, Mr. Anurag Jain, Managing Trus-
promote SRI in the Kharif season. Spon- tee, Mrs. Shikha Jain, Director and SRI Co-  NEEV SRI FIELDS REGIS-
TER DOUBLE PRODUCTIV-
sored by NABARD, this year NEEV took ordinator, Mr. Suman Sarkar, SRI Facilita-
ITY AS COMPARED TO
up the tar- tors, Mr. Daya- TRADITIONAL FIELDS
get of train- mayee and Mr.  TOTAL 600 FARMERS
ing, hand- Vinay. Also in the PARTICIPATED IN THIS
holding and function were YEAR’S SRI KHARIF PRO-
GRAM CONDUCTED NY
distributing about 60 farmers NEEV
agricultural from different
 FUNCTION ATTENDED BY
equipments villages who had DDM NABARD
to 600 farm- participated in
ers in three this year’s SRI
blocks of Kharif program.
East Singhb-
hum Dis- NEEV SRI Fields in Bodam
The function was
trict : Potka, conducted in the
Bodam and primary school in Inside this issue:
Jamshedpur Muchidih village.
blocks. YIELD MEASUREMENT BY 2
We sincerely ap- MR. SANJAY
The function preciate the ef-
INTERACTION OF MR. 2
was at- forts of NABARD SURIN WITH FARMERS
tended by and the farmers
GOOD YIELD 2
DDM, for making the
NABARD, Kisan Mela, a suc-
Mr. Upal cess. THE FUNCTION 3
Surin and by
Samples of Paddy of SRI Farmers
representa- THE AWARDS 4

2. Kisan Mela by NEEV
Yield Measurement by Mr. Sanjay
For the purpose of measuring
yield, the plot of Farmer, Falguni
Singh was chosen. Measurement
was done by calculating the
weight of grains and straw from
1m2 patch of field at five differ-
ent places.
The smiles and bubbling enthu-
siasm in the face of farmer,
Falguni Singh was perhaps more
indicative of the satisfaction
achieved rather than the scien-
tifically measured yield data.
Interaction of Mr. Surin with the farmers
Mr. Surin had a detailed discus- his family for the entire year. whether he was ready to train
sion with the farmers present at Mr. Surin also enquired other farmers in the area for
the field during meas- growing paddy the SRI way,
urement and he en- to which Falguni replied that
quired about the bene- he would always be ready to
fits to farmers in doing help any interested farmer.
SRI. Falguni replied that
next year he would
double the plot size of
fields done under SRI
methodology and also
that such a yield would
ensure food security for
Good Yield
Prior to the program, Mr. San- ous fields. The results were there for all
jay of Resource Agency, SPWD to see.
conducted on field assess-
While the grain yield of tradi-
ment of the yield of an SRI
tional field was 2.2kgs and straw
field as well as a tradition-
yield was 6.2 kgs, the grain yield
ally grown paddy field
of SRI field was 4.5 kgs and
which served as a control
straw yield was 9 kgs. There
plot for comparative
was almost double the amount
analysis of yields. On dis-
of grain yield and straw yield in
play were also paddy sam-
SRI as compared to traditional
ples of farmers from vari-
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3. Kisan Mela by NEEV
The Function
Mr. Dayamayee, the SRI field co paddy forms the chief source of money or materials. Doubling
-ordinator for Bodam was the food security. When NEEV of yield is achieved only by
anchor of the program. Wel- started working first in the adopting different techniques of
coming the participants of the slums it discovered that there cultivation. NEEV started with
program he mentioned how he was lot of migration of people SRI in the year 2009 with only
and vinay had invited NEEV to from the villages to the cities 30 farmers. This year NEEV had
carry out devel- completed
opment work in training of
the village and 600 farmers
how in a very in 3 Blocks
short time NEEV and the re-
offered to pro- sults have
vide training to been very
200 farmers on encouraging.
SRI technique in He shared
Bodam block. the chal-
Vinay, the SRI lenges he
facilitator was faced in im-
given a special parting train-
training by the ing to villag-
resource agency ers and he
to carry out field also shared
training of farmers. He men- for food and livelihood. While the happinees he received when
tioned that both he and Vinay the city did give these facilities villagers reported bountiful
were first very apprehensive of to the migrants, the people of harvest in their fields this year.
the results and feared a back- the slums lived in degrading Mr. Upal Surin, in his speech
lash from the
spelt out
villagers if the
the kind of
technique failed.
support
He was finally
NABARD
glad that the
gives to
results were
farmers. He
very good in all
said that
the SRI fields
NABARD
and the smiling
uses the
and contented
NGOs out-
faces of the
reach to
farmers attested
make farm-
this fact.
ers aware of
Mr. Suman various
Sarkar, started government
the meeting by schemes.
detailing the reasons behind conditions with no healthcare Speaking on SRI, he shared with
NEEV taking SRI training to the or government facilities. NEEV all the farmers present in the
villages. He said that Jharkhand then started work in the villages meeting, the conversations he
is a state primarily depending to improve livelihood opportu- had on the field with the SRI
upon agriculture and there too nities and food security options. farmers and how satisfied they
SRI came in handy for this pur- were with the result. He ex-
pose because SRI does not pressed hope that these farm-
require any additional inputs of ers, who had reaped the bene-
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4. Kisan Mela by NEEV
The Awards
fits of SRI this year, would actu- resistant to diseases. Mrs. Shikha Jain, ended the
ally propagate the technique to Kisan Mela with a vote of
Mr. Anurag Jain, shared with the
other farmers so that the whole thanks to all the members pre-
farmers about initiatives NEEV
village could benefit from the sent. She said that of all the
would be undertaking next year professions, it was the profes-
technique. He said that the aim
to improve the conditions of sion of the farmers which de-
of NABARD was to just seed
farming and farm income. He served the greatest respect; the
the idea amongst some farmers
informed the participants that world can go on without tech-
and cre-
nology, but it cannot go without
ate a the work of the farmers. She
demon- thanked the farmers for co-
stration operating whole-heartedly with
for other NEEV in developing and cultur-
farmers ing the fields of SRI. She said
could that she felt a special warmth
emulate from the farmers who also
as the helped out in all the prepara-
tions required for the Kisan
funding
Mela. She thanked the DDM,
for this
NABARD who made it to the
two year
function despite having re-
program turned from abroad just the
ends this year. He said that he NEEV has already opened 15
previous day. Lastly she thanked
would personally undertake an farmer’s clubs in the villages of
Mr. Sanjay, who conducted the
informal visit to the villages in Bodam and he exhorted them yield measurements on behalf of
Bodam next year to assess to start conducting meetings to SPWD, our resource agency.
whether the technique had develop their organizational
actually spread to other famers. discipline as well as brainstorm Awards
on problems affecting their
Mr. Sanjay from SPWD, in his Finally, awards were presented
villages. He said that the farm-
speech demonstrated his pen- to the best SRI Farmers to en-
ers cannot just rely on develop-
chant for SRI and his knowledge courage them, along with a
ment schemes and support certificate.
of grassroots issues faced by
from the government but start
farmers. In order to check
thinking of enterprise models First Prize - Deepak Mahato of
whether the farmers actually
wherein they can develop Muchidih Village
understood the procedures to
sources of sustainable income.
be adopted in SRI, he asked Second Prize - Falguni Singh of
He said that the small size of
several questions to the farm- Muchidih
land-holding was the major
ers. Mr. Arun Singh, a progres-
limitation in developing a lucra- Third Prize - Deepak Das of
sive farmer of the area bril-
tive farming economy. He said Madhaopur
liantly explained the entire op-
that by pooling resources
erations to be carried out in SRI 4th Prize - Jogeshwar Singh of
through the farmer’s clubs,
to all the participants. Mr. San- Koira
villagers could scale up opera-
jay ended his speech with the
tions and lower input costs. He
hope that farmers continue Appreciation Awards to Banka
said that in the following
using SRI technique even after Bihari and Amit Hansda of
months he would have inde- Telidih
the project gets over and he
pendent meetings with all
urged them to use traditional
farmer’s clubs to assess the
varieties of seeds rather than
problems and come out with
hybrid seeds as they are more
solutions to the same.
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