The Yellow Revolution Men
Around this time of the year, bright yellow flowers carpet the fields in scores of villages in Bihar's Vaishali district. They are not mustard crops waiting to burst into full bloom but cauliflower seeds that have ushered in a revolution of sorts — locals term it ‘Yellow Revolution’ — in the region.
These seeds — which fetch high prices as they are completely organic — are sold across Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra under an exclusive brand called Vaishali under various names like satya beej, green seeds and jawahar seeds.
While over three dozen villages under Hajipur, Mahnar and Lalganj blocks in Vaishali cultivate cauliflower seeds along with other crops, the entire Chakbara village near Hajipur is devoted to cauliflower seed cultivation.
The cumulative earning of around 50 farmers from the sale of seeds last year was about Rs 50 lakh.
Sanjiv Kumar, 30, who likes to be called “a professional cauliflower seed grower”, told The Indian Express: “We are the ‘Yellow Revolution’ men of Vaishali. High-quality seeds, sold for up to Rs 4,000 per kg, are reaching across the country. It is time the central and state governments start giving us subsidies than only token appreciations."
Sanjiv informs that Bindeshwar Prasad Singh of the neighbouring Hariharpur village in Hajipur has pioneered the cultivation of cauliflower seeds in the region. “Thanks to Bindeshwar Prasad Singh that youngsters here have found a means to earn money. Cauliflower seed farming is a big hit.”
Sanjiv, who has earned a silver medal for agricultural excellence from the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Benares, said that since he did not own enough land, he had started contract farming.
Farmers sow cauliflower plants in July and sell the vegetables —grown in two-thirds of their land —by November-December, leaving one-third of the crop for growing cauliflower seeds. The seed is harvested during February and March. A katha (1361 sq ft) yields 7-8 kg of seeds. Chakbara grows the seeds in over 100 acres of land
Dwarik, another young farmer, said that villagers, some three to four years ago, wanted to switch over to potato and tomato after they lost their cauliflower crops to diseases. “Then, we decided to train ourselves at the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research of the State Farmers’ Commission. There we learnt how to stem the rot from plants,” he said. The farmers use a micro-nutrient called boran to weed out black rot.
A group of young farmers has also formed Annadata Farmers’ Club to take up their problems with the government and agriculture experts.
Adjoining villages such as Lodipur, Minapur, Rambhadra, Sindhbari, Hariharpur and Nawada Khurd, too, have taken to seed farming more seriously than earlier.
A few km away from Chakbara, live Bindeshwar Prasad Singh and his son, Amod, who work in close coordination with Krishi Vikas Kendra (KVK) to promote cauliflower seed cultivation.
Singh believes in organic farming and has taught farmers to grow two crops — potato and maize —simultaneously with cauliflower seeds in silty loam soil. The three crops also contribute to each other’s nutrition.
Singh (70) owns just 2.5 acres of land that fetches him around 1.5 quintals to 2 quintals of cauliflower seeds. He recently purchased two more acres of land. He, too, has got a silver medal in 2007 from the Indian Vegetable Research Institute at Varanasi for adopting and sharing multi-crop method. Farmers, who have followed his multi-crop method, are reaping rich dividends.
Amod, a first class science graduate, says. “I am very happy helping my father in the fields and want to take the ‘Yellow Revolution' along the length and breadth of Vaishali, Samastipur and Darbhanga.”
“My father had a petty earning of Rs 700 per month. He had to sell most of our paternal land to support a family of seven,” he added.
After doing his matriculation in 1956, Singh took to farming. When the Green Revolution swept Punjab around 1965, he came to know of high-quality seeds of wheat.
NE
