Explore ‘Us’ and Our Levers
Second wave is dipping down. Third wave is waiting in the corner to start rising. With some ‘flatness’ for a while.
NF needs to appreciate the history and ways of how ‘new conventional agriculture’ established its roots, and grew. Various lessons await us there for NF Movment(s) picking up momentum and speed. These included investments into knowledge-learning-research-innovations, technologies, education and curricula, regulation and standards, life and non-life, human-animal-plant and soil health, departments and organizations in government and outside, dedicated press-media-literature, civil society’s intense involvement, co-opted NGO farm centres, felicitations and recognitions, processing and value-chain activities, state and national policies, farm-related off-farm enterprises, collectives and their federal collectives, stable producer-consumer local linkages, local markets – closed market systems, Minimum support prices, Public Distribution, ration, Mid-day Meals etc., adopting-adapting tools and technologies etc. Substantial state and national budgets should be there. In proportion to the possible NF economy.
NF farmers could be majority potentially and quickly. More than 50% India, for example. Most of the country would like to have chemical-free food and fibre. We would like to handover a better tomorrow and better planet to our ‘owners, the next generation’. Therefore, it is a national-global interest. The economy could easily cross Rs. 30-40 lakh Crore (40,000B) per year conservatively. A mere 2-3% of this, Rs.1 lakh Crore (1,000B)/year could be the investment from ‘state’. Less than Rs.10,000 a farm family/year.
Between investing to protect and repairing natural systems versus removing incentives for anti-nature work and subsidies for conventional farming, we may have to choose the latter. Two together can be the best. Can we also seek nature profiteers to pay full value of the benefits they took?
More examples help NF going scale. Vannuramma took her model to neighbour tribal community, and got praise from Prime Minister. Prajeet and Manga’s ‘do nothing’ farming is one, with minimum cost and maximum nutrition premise. Their 3-acre farm gives Rs.40,000 a month. In 5 years, they trained 500 farmers, pro bono. 27-acre Organic Acre of Mrinal and Lakshay, with linking the processed and value-added product to the consumer make Rs.3.5 crore a year. Dilbir Foundation and Earth Store works with 20,000+ farmers in farming, adding value and linking to consumers. Sivaganesh’s intercropped coconut farm makes Rs.13 lakh a year.
We need Million examples. Customized examples. Variety of them for various situations. At various levels. For various parts. In the next 5 years, 6 years. We need these thousands of flowers to bloom. We need to let them. Let us rush.
We need to do more in less time. With joy. We need to supplement and complement one another. We need to be a team, with each team member pursuing an agenda. Some need to spread, spread fast. Some scale up. Some scale deep. Some scale out. Some do off-line, some online. Some do models. Some do value-chains, value-chain elements. Some work on quality and some on quantity. Some integrate. Some replicate. Some connect, some inspire, some teach, and some train. Some write, some talk, some sing, some joke. Some communicate, some advocate. Some work to chage thinking, systems, institutions. Some create them, build them. Whatever we do, let us not stretch beyond our ‘limits’. Let us not lose ourselves.
We need the universe to conspire. It is ready, if we are ready with the levers. Do we know the levers? Amrits, Collectives, Enterprises, Impacts, Systems, Knowledge-Learning Architecture, Champions, Professionals, Fellows, Entrepreneurs, Young Practitioners, Wise nature workers, Leadership Cohorts, Women and men, Community Groups, Sapta Sutra, Ready Inputs, Tracking, Traceability, Producer-consumer linkages, Value-addition, Value-chains, Platforms, Channels, Literature, Instruments, Curricula, Academics, Friends, Critics, Policies, Budgets, Leaders, Officers, Scientists, Microbes, Soils, Package of Practices, Saturation, Incomes, Costs, Food-Nutrition-Health-Immunity, Sustainability, Green House Gases, Cooling, Water savings, Energy savings, Direct Benefit Transfers, Minimum support prices, Movements, Missions, Civil Society et al, any of these, some of these, all of these, hybrids of these?
Let us explore, the levers. May be conceptual foresight arguments. May be trial and error. Let us explore. Let us explore and know ‘who am I’, what am I, where am I headed, how am I headed? Let us not fear. We have nothing to lose. We only climb up/down steps of going forward, flowing.
We talk of getting success and we never talk about coping with failure(s). Can we do this? When the fatigue hits, physical, emotional, relational, mental, and intellectual fatigue hits, how do we ‘resurrect’ ourselves? How do we build ourselves to realize and continue in happiness? How do we realize that happiness is an independent dimension, not linked to ‘success’ of material prosperity, power and professional specialized excellence, but to ‘spirit’, intensity, life, integrated generalism and usefulness at large? How do we live full life? Realizing deeper inner calls?
How do we move from achieving, reaching, acquiring, having to being, living, coexisting? Who will take us there? Is not the journeying, flowing our end? Experiencing, evolving, unlearning, learning and realizing the deeper subtler inner calls? Is not it?
Yes, it is. If we reflect, meditate, practice, think, talk and do, listen and articulate, we flow, we coexist with life, N, and flow. For 7L.
Join us in the world of yoga of exploring who am I and influencing for useful coexistence – aatmagyanayoga for 7L.
G Muralidhar