DEVENDRABHAI PATEL – A STORY OF RISE THROUGH FRAM

INNOVATION

A Case study on Returns from Agriculture and Social Transformation

in Bhersam Village

IAS Probationer, 2017-19

Bhersam being a fertile village, I was always expecting a few farmers to be doing well. But
simultaneously I was also being presumptuous that no farmer would be progressive and even
the affluent ones’ would’ve been indulging in the traditional form of farming, with the
income coming in being commensurate with the larger area of land holding. Based on that
opinion, I began my search based on the largest hand holding, but somewhere down the line
during my visit to the largest shareholder, I came across serendipitously, Mr. Devendrabhai
Patel, whose farm was adjacent to the one that I was visiting. It was an average land holding
but what struck me was the use of the mixture of Organic as well as technological methods to
farming. His was the only pure organic farm in the village (or probably even the Taluka) and
was a harbinger in bringing these methods into the village.

Figure 1: In front of Devendrabhais’ house in the village. It was built by his grandfather and
despite earning handsomely new, he doesn’t want to shift to a new house because of the
emotions attached with this house

Though Devendrabhai has only 40 acres of land (20 acres of his

own and the rest he farms on his brothers’behalf), he uses three in particular organic
techniques to increase the yield, improve the condition of the soil, reduce the input cost
substantially in the form of saving of fertilizers and pesticides:
1. Vermi Composting: Devendrabhai took up Vermi Composting with the help of
ATMA (Agriculture Technology Management Agency). ATMA project is an
initiative by the Department of Agriculture to propagate new and improved
technologies into the field of agriculture. Devendrabhai has used the plastic bags
provided by ATMA to store the organic waste, release earthworms after a span of 30
days and the compost is ready within 60 days, he has used it as a manure replacing
chemical fertilizers completely. He has also collected and used the liquid that oozes
out of this bag as a pesticide, thus ensuring reduced use of pesticide as well.
 Figure 1: As shown the green bags were provided by the ATMA project group.
Organic waste (mainly cow dung) was used to fill up those bags, then earthworms
released. Constant sprinkle of water is a pre-requisite so as to retain moisture

2. Waste Decomposer: This is a technique promoted by the National Centre of Organic

Farming, Ghaziabad. It’s a GoI undertaking, whose objective is to promote organic
farming in the country. It has a product called a Waste Decomposer, which comes in a
small bottle, where in a farmer is supposed to add this mixture into 20lts of water with
2kgs of jaggery. It has to be stirred constantly, then the final mixture is to be added
into 200 lts of water, which again is to be churned consistently for a span of 25 days.
The liquid that is prepared post this can be used both as a fertilizer as well as a
pesticide through either a sprinkler or through drip irrigation.
3. Micro Nutrient Technique: This liquid is an innovation of Devendrabhai. Here he
used natural ingredients to prepare the mentioned liquid. The technique is to prepare a
powder comprising of Black grams, green grams, sesame seeds, soya and sunflower
seeds. Then add 500 kgs of iron and a copper utensil into the decompose water along
with the powder. Keep shaking the liquid for 4-5 days and post that keep it packed for
25 days. The liquid produced can also be used as a fertilizer as well as a pesticide.
Figure 2: The picture shows the waste decomposer mixture prepared by The National
Centre of Organic Farming, Ghaziabad

Figure 3: The tank is where the churning of the mixture is done. There as small load
submersible motors inserted in the tank which run 24*7 for the stipulated process
period
 Apart from land, the family has also been actively pursuing the dairy related activities.
Devendrabhai maintains a horde of 6-7 cows. On an average, one Bharuchi cow gives around
7-10 liters of milk per day. With reach of the village to dairy industry through milk tankers, the
family has benefitted by selling surplus. Recently, a milk chilling unit of Saykha Dairy has also
been opened in a village named Rahiyad near Bharuch and it has further helped families like
these. Now, the milch cattle is turning out to be a profitable venture with easy market access.
The family of Devendrabhai has been well connected politically with the local MLA.
This has also in turn helped him in reaping rich dividends in the form of getting the right
pricing. As the local MLA also happens to be the chairman of the local APMC market, the
nexus has benefitted Devendrabhai. To give an example, Devendrbhai is able to sell his
produce to the APMC at the MSP beyond the prescribed quota assigned for a particular land
block number. This leads to the premature exhaustion of the overall APMC wise quota with
genuine beneficiaries left out in the cold who then have to sell their produce to a private trader
at a much lower price at a loss to cover up for their input cost. Even 2 cases of suicide have
taken place in the village in last one year due to this issue.
Despite all the factors mentioned above, Devendrabhai has always been a leading figure
when it comes to fighting for the genuine rights of the village. He has tremendous love for his
village and is ready to go to the worlds end to protect its interest. He also occasionally dabbles
into money lending to the needy villagers at slightly higher rates of interest. Many families
look forward to him for financial help in absence of formal banking channels near village.
There is no branch of any bank within 20 km of the village. Further, with habitual non-payment
of loans, bank people also hesitate bank loans to villagers especially those without any
collateral. In such a situation, Devendrabhai comes to rescue. Many villagers have testified that
he doesn’t charge usurious rates and at times also gives short term financial help to close ones
without any interest also.
By no means is the life of Devendrabhai affluent by city standards. But the family is
well to do, has respect in their village and the most important thing is that they’re content.
Despite the conservatism that exists in a village, Devendrabhai is fairly progressive. His wife
too takes a keen interest in the farm as well as finance related activities. He also is planning to
send his kids to college, which goes on to show his concern as well as appreciation for quality
education. All in all, his life truly is a mixture of the penetration of modernity but still retaining
the eternal and idyllic elements of the traditional country life.