A farmer carries vegetables from a farm in Noida, India.
Farmers Santhosh Kittur and Abhijit Kamath wanted to grow pesticide-free vegetables between the rows of the banana plots each separately owned. Their shared interest in old-fashioned agricultural practices brought them together to grow bitter gourd, cucumbers, beans, cabbage, tomatoes, green chiles, red peppers, onions and garlic — staples of the Indian customers and kitchens they planned to serve. But their modern approach to marketing has put them in direct contact with customers in a high-tech manner.
Across India, WhatsApp groups are not only connecting farmers to their customers in the virtual market, they’re creating a network of resources and support for the country’s farmers who need it most.
In Kittur and Kamat’s WhatsApp group, created last August, they post updates from their farms, including photographs, as well as what produce is available to the group’s 80 members. Vegetables are sold on Thursdays and Sundays, and members can place dibs on the quantity of specific vegetables they want, and can pick their order up or have it delivered. It’s like a CSA built on social media.
“First preference is given to the members of the group. The system has worked well for us, even financially,” Kittur told The Deccan Herald. Recognizing their efforts, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad honored them with an “Outstanding Young Farmer” award.
The social-media enabled supply is helping to meet growing demand for chemical-free produce in India. In October, a report published by the Agriculture Ministry showed the amount of vegetables, fruits, meat, and spices with pesticides residues above the permitted maximum level had nearly doubled in the past seven years. Vegetables accounted for more than half of the samples that exceeded the residue limit set by the food regulator, with green chiles, cauliflower, and cabbage ranking as some of the greatest offenders — and Kittur and Kamath’s greatest sellers.
“It is very hard to find chemical-free vegetables. We had stopped using cabbage, cauliflower and brinjal [eggplant] after learning about their high chemical content,” customer Shraddha Bagi said in the same interview. “When these farmers supply fresh and safe vegetables right at our doorsteps, we should definitely encourage them. It’s come to such a point where we eagerly wait for their produce.”
But across India, WhatsApp isn’t only used as a marketing tool — it has also created a kind of support network among farmers. A WhatsApp group called Baliraja, which has over a hundred farmers from various villages, has become a place to share agricultural advice, connect with experts, and learn new farming practices. For example, founder Anil Bandawane made videos of experts advising the group on fertilizers and pesticides, weather trends, and various farming technologies. Farmers also used the app to discuss the market value of zucchini, or the pros and cons of milking robots, the Better India reported.
Within the group, Amol Sainwar — the founder of HOPE, a nonprofit that works on rural development and children’s rights — is a go-to problem solver. When farmers lamented losses they faced due to a lack of available warehouse space, Sainwar worked to build one that can serve at least three villages.
“Farmers queries are getting answered quickly,” Sainwar told TakePart via email. “Today we are connected to about 2,000 farmers.”
The issues for Indian farmers have more dire consequences than may be immediately recognizable to an outsider. In the last 20 years, nearly 300,000 farmers have committed suicide by ingesting pesticides or hanging. Maharashtra state, where Baliraja is based, consistently tops the list for the greatest number of suicides each year. In the first six months of 2015, the Times of India reported 1,300 farmers there committed suicide, representing 66 percent of the state’s suicide toll of the previous year.
“Today, farming is like the gambling business,” Sainwar wrote. Farmers usually take out loans against the value of their land to buy seeds, pay salaries, and acquire irrigation equipment. In place of banks, local moneylenders boost interest rates each year, creating a debt-trap for the farmers who rely on crop success to repay their loans. According to India’s Chamber of Commerce, less than 20 percent of farmers are insured against crop losses. In a country where agriculture remains the largest employment sector, it contributed only 13.7 percent to the GDP in 2012-13, al-Jazeera reported.
“Chances of getting return on investment have become low,” Sainwar wrote. “Can you imagine the level of stress — and hence depression — of a person who doesn’t have any security for food, water, clothing or education?”
Baliraja has been working with widows to help them create new revenue streams for their families via goat farming, as well as sewing and cooking services, and they have used their WhatsApp group as a crowdfunding source, Sainwar said. “In last six months we empowered five widows, and we will keep on doing so,” he added.
In Punjab, another WhatsApp group started by Dr. Amrik Singh, an officer in the local agricultural office, allows a greater number of farmers to receive expert input on agricultural practices.
“We have a shortage of staff in our department. If we visit a few villages daily, we can only meet a few dozen farmers. But on WhatsApp we can interact with several farmers daily,” Singh told Indian Express. The group now has 90 farmers and 10 experts, and growers within the group have set up sub-groups with others in their immediate vicinity to share the information.
On the daily level of interaction, the WhatsApp groups are successful at providing a sounding board of assistance and in motivating farmers. “That’s why engineers [are] turning into farmers, artists [are] turning into farmers,” Sainwar said.
The Baliraja WhatsApp group is aiming higher too: It is members’ voices in order to get the attention of the highest levels of government, impressing upon the Prime Minister and the Maharashtra chief minister the importance of issues like crop insurance, land security, farmer education, and increased support.
This article originally published at TakePart here
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