◊ By Jency Samuel

Visit ORGANIC SHOP by Pure & Eco India

On November 9, 2021, the Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind, presented the Padma Shri awards to pioneering organic farmers from across the country. The award ceremony took place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official resident of the President of India.

The Padma Shri is India’s fourth highest civilian award, given in recognition of distinguished service in any field. The award carries a citation and a medallion.

Pure & Eco India presents the 5 organic farmers who were awarded the Padma Shri.

THE SEED MOTHER — Rahibai Soma Popere

Born into a farming family in Maharashtra, Rahibai Soma Popere was forced to forgo education due to financial difficulties, and was married off as a teen to a farmer.

Her family practised rain-fed agriculture and worked as labourers during the non-monsoon months. While trying to increase farm income, Popere observed that native varieties fared better with less water.

Convinced that native varieties were climate-resilient, more nutritious, and well-suited for organic farming, Popere conserved many landraces of vegetables, paddy, pigeon pea and oil seeds.

Popere’s conservation initiative has made many farmers self-reliant as native seeds can be produced within the farm, making them economical, unlike hybrid seeds.

Also known as ‘Beej Mata’ or ‘Seed Mother’, Popere has established a rich community seed bank, propagating and gifting landrace seeds to countless farmers.

THE PRODUCER OF ‘BLACK GOLD’ — Nanadro B. Marak

For Nanadro B. Marak of Meghalaya, growing ‘Black Gold’ has been richly rewarding. When he started growing the ‘Karimunda’ variety of black pepper 35 years ago in the West Garo Hills of Meghalaya, he was resolute about organic cultivation.

To tackle crop diseases and pest attacks, he came up organic solutions. His unique method of cultivation includes growing pepper next to an areca nut plantation, which has led to increased yields.

Disseminating his wealth of farming knowhow, Marak has trained nearly 10,000 farmers in sustainable pepper cultivation.

HIGH-YIELD INNOVATOR — Chandra Shekhar Singh

Agriculturalist Chandra Shekhar Singh, from Uttar Pradesh received the Padma Shri for developing high yield grain crops.

He has developed new high-yielding aromatic strains of paddy and wheat through organic methods. His varieties taste better than those available in the market. The short-duration paddy varieties he developed have higher fibre, protein and iron content.

Right from the turn of the millennium, Singh has been developing new varieties of crops. The pigeon pea variety he developed produces an extremely high number of pods, in a short duration. Several farmers have benefited by using Singh’s high-yielding crop seeds.

POMEGRANATE MAN — Prem Chand Sharma

Prem Chand Sharma from Uttarakhand is fondly known as ‘Anarwale Sharmaji’. The Hindi word ‘anarwale’ translates into ‘one with pomegranates’. This moniker stuck because Sharma has pioneered horticulture, especially pomegranate cultivation, in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand.

Finding cultivation of paddy, millets and maize financially unsustainable, he experimented with pomegranates—which are usually grown in the plains and not in hilly regions—and succeeded.

Sharma has also pioneered the cultivation of horticultural crops such as apples, pears, capsicum, etc, in the hills. His methods have encouraged other farmers in the area to switch to horticulture crops successfully.

Besides practising organic cultivation, he follows and advocates drip irrigation and mulching methods suited for hilly terrains.

Creatively inclined, Sharma also writes poems and folk songs, encouraging farmers to practise environment-friendly organic farming.

THE CENTENARIAN FARMER — M. Pappammal

Having lost her parents at a very young age, M. Pappammal was brought up by her paternal grandmother in Thekkampatti village in Tamil Nadu.

After her grandmother’s demise, Pappammal earned her livelihood by running a grocery shop, as well as, an eatery. From her savings, she was able to purchase 10 acres of land, on which she began organic farming.

From growing rain-fed millets to horticulture crops through micro-irrigation, to operating farm machinery as a nonagenarian, Pappammal has dedicated her life to organic farming.

Arguably India’s oldest active farmer at the age of 105 years, Pappammal, still tends to her farm today, cultivating millets, pulses and vegetables.

She motivates others, especially women farmers, to form collectives, so as to command better prices for their organic produce.