Rice diplomachy

Yes, my title might sound provocative—at least to those in Nepal who are used to seeing Bihar only as a land of decadence, although that seems to be changing thanks to story of ‘unprecedented growth’ under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Our skin-colour-conscious racism mixed with xenophobic anti-Indianism created by dead king Mahendra’s pseudo-nationalism (and not to forget Nepal’s communist parties’ relentless India-the-expansionist rhetoric for six plus decades) makes it hard for most hill-dwelling or hill-born, pride-engulfed Nepalis to countenance the fact that Bihari farmers might have much to teach us. The fact that for decades most in Nepal are also used to ‘lowly’ Biharis as cheap agricultural laborers planting our rice crops, weeding them, harvesting them, carpentering our homes, serving us ‘chana chatpate’ and selling ‘aalu pyaj’ at our doorsteps, also compounds the challenge. But we must swallow our false pride and try to learn from some of the Biharis.

If somehow we are able to shake-off our ‘age-old’ Bihar-phobia, let’s read the Guardian’s John Vidal’s report on spectacular productivity in rice fields in Bihar’s Nalanda is a must-read (Feb 16, Guardian, “India’s Rice Revolution”) and Uttam Sengupta’s report on the same in Outlook India (“The Whole Truth On A Grain of Rice”, March 11, 2013). Also read Cornell University

professor of agricultural science Norman Uphoff’s short response to China’s father of the highest-yielding rice variety   (http://agrariancrisis.in/ 2013/03/03/the-whole-truth-on-a-grain-of-rice-an-international-row-over-a-world-record/, published

as a comment). They give enough reason to go to Nalanda and spend some time with farmers there. Well, I must admit I have not been there yet, and my essay is based on reports I have read.

These reports tell us that some farmers in Nalanda are trailblazing an agricultural revolution. To be precise, five farmers in Nalanda district of Bihar had surpassed the world record in rice-production by producing 22.4 tonnes per hectare. The Chinese record was a little over 19 tonnes and was based on use of chemical fertilisers. But the most important part of the story in Bihar was that this record-breaking productivity was not the result of conventional science that produced what we now call the “Green Revolution.” Farmers did this by using farmyard manure together with a technique of rice cultivation called System of Rice Intensification (SRI). This involves a number of simple, and a bit counter-intuitive, techniques first experimented by a French Jesuit priest in Madagaskar: planting of young rice seedlings; use of single rice seedlings in equal distance in moist field (instead of common practice of flooding the field and planting a bunch of them); and weeding to aerate the soil. SRI definitely adds to the demand of labour especially due to single-seedling plantation and regular weeding, but the productivity gained far outweighs cost of additional labour. Perhaps innovation in mechanical planting and weeding can go a long way in that regard, too. While these five farmers have produced records, most of the SRI adopters have gained impressive productivity gains.

Unlike the past green revolution based on excessive use of poisons and chemicals, SRI is entirely based on the management of natural conditions in such a way that allows for fuller genetic potentials of rice to be realised. This obviously bestows control over farming in the hand of farmers and not those of poison-producing companies or distant scientists. This also redefines the role of scientists. It was not scientists sitting in prestigious rice research institutes who developed this technique. It was a Jesuit priest who wanted to make a difference in the lives of small farmers in their own fields. Agricultural scientists can at best be good

partners in agricultural production and many of them have hard time accepting the impressive results. They need to swallow their pride and accept that good agriculture is not their prerogative. In fact, farmers across the world are showing that conventional agricultural science is a problem and not a solution and that sustainable solutions can emerge from farmers’ fields.

What we require, perhaps, is production of agricultural knowledge by farmers and mechanisms for exchange among them—farmers as teachers and farmers as learners. That’s how it used to be for a very long time anyway.

But, we can also combine this with building genuinely friendly relations among citizens of India and Nepal. Borderland between Nepal and India has remained subjects of intense politicking in Nepal. Perhaps we can propose to convert borderlands—the long stretch of 10-yard wide no-man’s (sic)-land—into farmer-managed experimental plots. Instead of uncultivated no-man’s land, imagine Nepali and Indian farmers (from bordering villages in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand) jointly creating vibrant demonstration plots. That could be new pilgrimage for Nepali and Indian farmers. That could also be a site of new kind of friendship between Indian and Nepali citizens.

Just imagine.

Posted on: 2013-03-10 08:32 

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