Global Research: 24-10-2025,
In some developed countries that boast of high productivity agriculture and producing surplus food for exports, this has been achieved at three very heavy costs. Firstly, small farmers have been increasingly driven out of production while big business interests are taking over. Secondly, the kind of farming based on protecting soil and environment is increasingly being neglected now. Thirdly, due to overuse of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides, there are increasing concerns regarding health hazards of food produced under this system to such an extent that even much poorer countries facing food shortages have been reluctant to accept such food.
While there is increasing recognition that such trends have been harmful for these rich countries, at the same time such serious mistakes can prove simply disastrous in a country like India where farming remains a much more important source of livelihoods and achieving self-reliance in producing safe and healthy food is of much higher importance. In India and several other countries it is of the greatest importance to create farming systems which can ensure sustainable livelihoods of small farmers, provide healthy and safe food while also protecting soil, water sources and environment.
Among several efforts made in this direction, one initiated by SRIJAN social organization has been giving particularly promising results in many villages. Having visited about 25 of these villages, I have tried below to bring out 20 important aspects of these efforts that taken together can be said constitute a model for the progress of small farmers in India and can be also beneficial for the farming communities of several other countries placed in somewhat similar conditions.