Doubling Farmers’ Income through Integrated Farming System Approach in Purba Barddhaman District of West Bengal

Abstract

Integration of different enterprises / crop by utilizing farmer’s available resources is one of the best multidisciplinary approaches to boosting farmers’ income from production and economic point of view. In this context, awareness and dissemination of this farming approach are taken as a priority of work with multidisciplinary interventions. One model has been developed on Integrated Farming System Approach in the farmers’ fields on Crop + poultry + fish or Crop + duck + fish in aquatic based production through conducting awareness camp, trainings, trials and demonstrations. This has been developed in the field of one of the farmers namely Shoyeb Hossain, a marginal farmer-cum-rural youth of Jagulipara village in Purba Barddhaman disrict of West Bengal. Although being a rural youth, he has got a pragmatic view towards latest agricultural technologies and he is keen to learn and as such he was chosen for developing the integrated farming system model in his backyard. He owned one pond of 1 bigha with adjoining 1.5 bigha land including bund area. The  pond was mainly used for household purposes like washing with irregular or even no pisciculture while the land area was used for growing seasonal vegetables for meeting  household needs and as a result he was hardly having any meaningful income from the resources. He was extensively trained towards developing the integrated farming system in his backyard which he accomplished with success. To start with he was supplied with tissue cultured banana plantlets, vegetable seedlings, poultry chicks, ducklings and IMC fingerlings. A good banana orchard intercropped with vegetables like chili, tomato, brinjal, turmeric etc. was developed. The model with Crop+ fish + poultry farming has proven more remunerative (Benefit-Cost ratio 2.40) and his earning around Rs. 1,50,000 per annum  from that farm, thus inspiring other farmers to adopt this kind of intervention. Advantageous aspects such as production potentiality, insurance coverage by other crops / enterprise, flow of return motivated farming community as well as district officials. Study on changes in food security indicated that over 4 years there has been augmentation in food security of the respondents. This is due to increase in income owing to adoption of improved technologies and crop diversification. It was revealed that the annual income of the members increased from Rs.15000/-to Rs. 135000in the 4 eastern clusters but that of Galsi cluster ranged between Rs. 10500/- to Rs 82000/-. The income augmentation was positively correlated with the land holding (0.95) size of the respondents. This model has been identified by district MGNREGA and had been taken up in MGNREGA convergence programme which is being replicated in selected 200 ponds recently excavated under the programme in the district. Many workshops have been conducted on the methodologies for these interventions to all the beneficiaries, Self Help Group (SHGs) and officers of line departments involving in the convergence programme of MGNREGA of the district.