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AP village - An island of prosperity
Uma Sudhir
NDTV, October 13 2006
(Enabavi village): A village in the farmer suicide heartland of Andhra Pradesh has no indebtedness, no suicide and no migration.
Farmers here have shown that without pesticides, chemical fertilisers and GM crops, there is prosperity and hope in agriculture.
It is the first village in the country to declare itself, chemical-free and GM-free.
There is pride in Enabavi villagers as they explain to visiting scientists why their village is an island of prosperity in Warangal district, notorious as the heartland of heavy pesticide use and farmer suicides.
Organic crops
In the last five years, they have stopped using pesticides and chemical fertilisers and are now growing fully organic crops.
What is more they have declared they won't grow genetically modified crops either.
"We have forgotten all about pesticides. We are tired and scared of what they did to us. They made us so indebted. In the last three years, life has changed. There have been no debts," said Venkatadri, farmer.
Krishna is the first youth to have passed class XII in the village. He says he is now confident farming is the most viable livelihood option for him.
"Now I have full confidence in agriculture. That has only happened after we stopped pesticides and chemical fertilisers," said Krishna.
Initial hiccups
Krishna's mother says now the villagers are all free from the stranglehold of moneylenders, there is no migration in search of work and not a single farmer suicide death in the village.
"The troubles of those days are over. We are all very happy now," said Narsamma, Krishna's mother.
Rice, cotton, pulses, coarse grains and vegetables are grown in the village using locally available manure like cow dung, cattle droppings, decoction of tobacco and neem.
Initially, the productivity fell marginally but has started picking up once again.