THE FARMERS
farmers are the real changemakers!
GENERAL SITUATION
Cotton farmers in India are controlled by unreliable markets and lack of negotiating power.
Smallholder farmers, especially tribal women cotton growers are exploited by middlemen, pesticide dealer and trade forces.
These farmers are subjected to market and crop vulnerabilities while required to make high investments with high market risk.
Often trapped in a vicious spiral of agriculture debts: it has come to our attention that some loans have interest rates as high as 60% with an average of 30-35%.
THE RADDIS "HOLISTIC" APPROACH
Small and marginal farmers work closely together with the founding organisation of Raddis®: the Indian NGO Grameena Vikas Kendram Society for Rural Development (GVK Society).
Together they establish a unique combination of modern agro-ecology insights and ancient Indian farmer wisdom: where expensive and toxic inputs are eliminated, farmer income is increased and the environment can be restored.
Through the Raddis®System the farmers are directly linked with the brand, empowering in sharing responsibilities and investments needed to transform degraded farmland into regenerative landscapes.
Mrs. Manchala Gangamma
Farmer from Pachipenta mandal.
Manchala Gangamma is a rainfed farmer from the region of Pachipenta mandal. She is a very hardworking woman who hasn’t had any formal education in her life. She enrolled herself into the Raddis®System in the crop year 2019-20.
Gangamma cultivated organic cotton in 1.5 Acre of land in 2019-20 and has shattered all the preconceived notions her friends had in the cultivation of organic cotton.
2. With a harvest of 922 KG of raw cotton per acre, Gangamma competed not only with conventional cotton farmers in her village that are rainfed but also with farmers with access to irrigation. She thinks that going organic has increased the moisture retention capacity of her farm and the resilience in general.
3. Gangamma has received a market price of INR 42 per kilo of cotton while her friends in the village only received INR 39 – 40 per kilo of cotton receiving a premium price of 5%.
4. On an average, when calculated, Manchala Gangamma’s income has increased by 40% compared to her conventional counterparts in the village which turned her into a model farmer for RESET in the village of Pindrangivalsa.
5. Her impact story has led to the conversion of the entire village of Pindrangivalsa into organic and not a single cotton farmer in the village is growing conventional cotton using BT seeds.
6.Gangamma wishes to use her additional income to be saved in her SHG to be used during emergencies. She says she hasn’t experienced this kind of growth previously and is looking forward to the next season.
She cultivated organic cotton in 2019-20 in 1.5 Acres of land and has harvested 922 KG of cotton per acre competing with irrigated farmers in harvest. While only investing a mere 5000 rupees per acre and hiring additional labour only during harvest, this model farmer has earned INR 58212 from the one and half acre of land. It is to be noted that her friends in the same village growing BT cotton in conventional method have invested almost 15000 rupees per acre.
Gummadi Simhachalam
Cotton farmer from Dorajammu Village, Vizianagaram.
Gummadi Simhachalam is a cotton farmer from the tribal village of Dorajammu in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. He is 34, married and has a daughter. He produces cotton, paddy and some millets during summer.
His mother lives with him in his home. Simhachalam has been a farmer from the young age of 17. He has quit his studies after finishing 5th grade.