Let’s Millet!
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| Team Triple A photo at a Krishi Bhagya scheme farm in Magadi taluk |
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| Farmers watching an informative video on Krishi Bhagya |
Team Triple A checking in from Bangalore! We’ve completed our first week in India studying the impact of government-subsidized irrigation schemes for rural farmers, and it has been fantastic and a great learning experience for all of us so far. Group trips and academic lectures have broadened our awareness of Indian culture and modern agricultural and water issues. The centerpiece of our trip—interacting with rural farmers to assess the impact of their irrigation schemes—began this week as well, and it feels like just our presence on those farms has made a positive impact. Along with the fantastic support from local government agencies and academics, we hope to continue the great work into next week.
Within 24 hours of arriving in India we successfully
navigated Indian customs and settled into our beautiful dorms at Bangalore’s Institute
of Social and Economic Change (ISEC), an autonomous academic institution that
hosts Ph.D. candidates studying social, economic, and demographic issues in
India. In addition to hosting us throughout our stay, ISEC is sponsoring our
evaluation and will, in fact, continue it after we depart.
The first rule we learned in India was “never evaluate
government-subsidized rural irrigation projects on an empty stomach,” so we
took this advice to heart and proceeded to enjoy enough delicious Indian food
to put Rasika out of business. This includes food both from the staff of ISEC
as well as a grand welcoming dinner hosted by Dr. Mary Breeding and her family
at their magnificent home in Bangalore. There, we had the opportunity to meet
Krishna Byre Gowda, the Minister of Agriculture for the state of Karnataka and
our client for the practicum—and an AU SIS grad! He went into detail about the current
drought in Karnataka and the ways in which his department is combatting it. One
of the many tactics he mentioned was promoting millet, a grain that requires
very little water to grow but is full of nutrients. Just when you thought 2017 was the year of
the rooster, here in Karnataka it’s the “The Year of the Millet,” complete with
government-sponsored initiatives, media highlights of local millet farmers and
restaurants, and even catchy Twitter hashtags. Did we forget to mention that
the welcoming dinner was millet themed? Millet burgers are a must try!
Additionally, we met several other local actors, including journalists,
academics, and local water expert Mr. S. Vishwanath—known here as @zenrainman
(seriously, look him up)—who later in the week would give us an in-depth talk
about his experience with water around Bangalore and the current efforts in
place to revive and reuse India’s scarce water resources.
In the classroom, Mary provided us with the informational
tools needed to be successful in the field such as cultural and historical
background and the social structure of life in India. She also invited Dr. M.G.
Chandrakanth, the director of ISEC and expert on Indian agriculture, to speak
to us about groundwater irrigation methods and the challenges that it brings. After all the lectures, we revived ourselves
with some 5-rupee chai tea and dove into excruciating detail to finalize the
actual survey we would conduct with farmers later in the week
After two days of classroom work, by Wednesday we were ready
to get into the fields and start the centerpiece of our practicum. We first met
with officials at the Joint Department of Agriculture in Ramnagara, about an
hour outside of Bangalore, where we were able to meet the government workers
accompanying us to the farms and ask questions regarding the scheme. Before we
split into our teams, journalists from local newspapers were on hand to
interview us about our trip and the topic of our studies.
Once we made it out of Ramnagara, farmers were excited to
answer our survey questions, ask us questions, and in general interact with
what seemed to be, for many of the farmers, the first foreigners they had ever
met. We met their families, saw their
homes, and took A LOT of pictures. Side
note: India loves selfies. Case in
point:
Rather than seeing us as government inspectors, the farmers
treated us as their guests, providing us with delicious treats like fresh
jackfruit and biscuits (and other less delicious treats you don’t need to worry
about). We met with farmers who had installed the Krishi Baghya
scheme—consisting of a large polyurethane-lined pond to catch rainwater, a
small diesel pump and a piping/sprinkler setup—and others who had not, and
we’ll use their varying data to attempt to learn why some farmers might not
take the government up on their subsidy offer.
Each farm visit usually came with the requisite fresh snack;
us silly Americans thought that would count for lunch, but lo and behold on
both days we found ourselves at the world-famous Shark Food Court near the
village. Located conveniently on the Bangalore-Mangalore Highway, it only
requires about a quarter-mile of driving the wrong way on a 3-lane highway to
get there (yes, people do that here). The food was great, the company even
better, and the service was impeccable—as an appetizer, the waiter, unprompted,
brought us a loaf of white bread, 3 pounds of butter, and a jar of jelly. No, nobody else was eating that in the
restaurant. Is this their perception of an “American” appetizer?
On a final note, we have found that Krishi Bhagya has
provided an opportunity for farmers with all types of backgrounds to diversify
and expand in growing crops. In just two days we met farmers with advanced
degrees, fluent in English, and using their farm as retirement income, then
drove down the road to their neighbors who had no formal education, spoke only
Kannada (major props to our translators), and made about $500 a year on top of
subsistence farming. Witnessing the impact the water scheme has upon the
farmers first hand was remarkable and inspiring. For those who had installed
the scheme, they were proud of their investment, and each one of them wasted no
time in firing up the diesel pump and showing us their heavy-duty sprinklers in
action. It is no wonder why we made it to the newspaper so quickly! We are now
ready to take on our second week and are prepared to survey more farmers! Let’s
Millet!
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