Cabbage Farming is Viable only for a Generation
Introduction:
The articles “Horti expose brings vegetable farmers closer: Year-long horticulture expose launched in State”( The Morung Express dated 30 May 2007), and “Tsupfume Vegetable Village : Success Story” ( impressions, the Morung Express, June 2 2007), and other such related articles published in other papers, motivate me to share some of my concern with the farmers of the Nagas and State policy makers (especially horticulture department) regarding cultivation of cabbage and other cash crops. It is heartening to learn that Nagaland Government is trying its best to improve and strengthen the village economy. At present, the Nagaland government has recognised around 30 villages as ‘vegetable villages’ across the state. Various exposures of farmers on the theme The Horticulture Expose is going on in the state. This Expose as it is mentioned is to make the year of farmers more farmer-friendly in creating awareness on the various technicality of cultivation of crops in the state. If I am not mistaken, Nagaland government is trying to promote cash cropping on a large scale. The intention of such programme is to encourage cash cropping, so that farmers will be able to get maximum amount of money within minimum amount of time. For this, farmers are provided with loans and subsidies from government. Indeed, this is a good intention on the part of Nagaland government because unless we empower farmers/villagers we cannot have stable economy. Yet good intentions are not enough. We need to see through what lies ahead of that good intention.
At the outset, I must confess that I am neither an agriculture scientist nor farmer by profession. I am just a simple concern citizen who wants to share the experiences of the time-tested cultivation of cabbage. I am writing this piece of article from Pfutsero which is 4 or 5 km away from the famous Nagaland ‘vegetable village’ Tsupfume. Tsupfume village came into limelight after producing huge quantity of cabbage and potato in recent years. Although I live in Pfutsero at present, I belong to Liyai village (Manipur) which is about 25 km away from Pfutsero town. Since there is no vehicle transportation between my village and Pfutsero, I used to go home on foot crossing Tsupfume, Zelome, Razeba and Zhavame (Zhamai) village. Way back in the 1990s, Tsupfume villagers did not cultivate cabbage on a large scale as it is done today. Zhavame has its footing by then. The surrounding villages of Zhavame such as Liyai and Tungjoy are famous for cultivating cabbage on a large scale among the Poumai Naga tribe. Among the Mao Naga tribe the villagers of Kaibi, Tobufu, Makhel, Shajouba and Tadubi cultivates cabbage on a large scale. It may be imperative for villages like Tsupfume to visit the above mentioned neighbouring villages and study the impact of intensive cabbage and potato farming on environment. Unlike plain areas, cultivation of cabbage in the hill areas on a large scale is a burden to the environment in the long run. Most of the above mentioned villages have only bald-headed forest and their river sources are slowly drying up every year.
Cabbage farming generates handsome income
Tsupfume ‘vegetable village’ is targeting to generate a huge amount of Rs. 42 lakh during 2007 through the cultivation of cabbage, potato and other horticulture crops. This may seem far-fetched. Not really. Sometime one big cabbage-ball weighs 4-5 kgs. Though the price of cabbage differs according to season and place of marketing, it is not hard for a family to earn 30,000-40,000 rupees annually. It is said that some Tungjoy villagers used to earn even 200,000 (two lakhs) rupees annually through cabbage cultivation. Many of my villagers’ earning ranges between Rs 20,000-70,000 in a year. That’s really a huge amount for the poor farmers and is impossible to earn that much in a year working in paddy fields. Someone has even calculated that if one person cultivate paddy rice and the other potato under the same amount of time and labour input, the former will get only Rs. 8000/- while the latter will get Rs. 21,000. That’s indeed a story of success!!! Therefore many concern citizens are discouraging paddy rice cultivation and encouraging farmers to take up cultivation of cabbage and potato and other cash crops on a large scale. However to cultivate cabbage, there are certain criteria that needs attention. We need to see that a commercial crop such as cabbage is perishable goods. We cannot preserve for long period. It requires good road transportation system. It is also highly susceptible to pests and insects attack. During adverse climate, it does not grow well. It demands good markaeting platform. If the state is promoting cabbage farming the above criteria need to be effectively addressed.
Forest products and Cash cropping:
This huge amount of money, anyway, does not fall from heaven. Nor did it happen like miracle. It came through the active interaction with nature by human beings. To cultivate cabbage, the first thing to do is to clear the farming place by cutting down forest/trees. When these fallen trees dried up, they are burned up. This is called slash-and-burnt method. If we cultivate in wasteland areas, we need to bring firewood from other place for burning. This is a must because without burning the soil, cabbage do not grow well. If firewood is not available or burning the soil, farmers resorted to using fertilisers. It is also to be noted that Cabbage can be cultivated in the same place only for two consecutive years. This forced the farmers to shift the place of cultivation after every two years which means another part of forest is cleared. Once a part of forest is cleared, it takes many years to replenish it.
Forest is the wealth of the tribals/villagers. We collect fruits, tubers, medicinal herbs and plants, eatable leaves and barks, varieties of vegetables, mushroom and flowers. It provides us firewood and materials for construction of house, etc. Trees make the air fresh, retain and provide water throughout the year. It protects top soil being washed away by rain water. It regulates weather system, prevents flood and drought. It provides shelter to millions of species, birds, and animals. Hence, if we calculate the cost of trees, various forest products, animals and birds, destruction of air and water sources, and labour inputs for cabbage cultivation it may well exceed the hard cash that we get through cabbage cultivation.
Forest is called “the lung of the planet”. The accelerating destruction of the rain-forests that form a precious cooling band around the Earth’s equator is now being recognized as one of the main causes of climate change. Carbon emissions from deforestation far outstrip damage caused by planes and automobiles and factories. According to the latest audited figured from 2003, two billion tons of CO2 enters the atmosphere every year from deforestation.
International demand has driven intensive agriculture, logging and ranching that have proved an inexorable force for deforestation; conservation has been no match for commerce. The leading rainforest scientists are now calling for the immediate inclusion of standing forests in internationally regulated carbon markets that could provide cash incentives to halt this disastrous process. Forests are home to 1.6 billion pf the world’s poorest people who rely on them for subsistence. Richer nations already recognise the value of uncultivated land. The EU offers 200 (£ 135) per hectare subsidies for “environmental services” to its farmers to leave their land unused. Can the government of Nagaland gives incentives to those villagers who protect their environment especially forest instead of giving them incentives for cash cropping?
Ecology and Cash cropping:
Today, due to large-scale deforestation for various reasons (timber logging, cash cropping, development projects, extension of roads, etc), we have erratic wind, frequent rainstorm, landslide and imbalance weather. Many animals and birds lost their habitats and lives as well. Water sources are drying up. Deforestation ranked second in producing green-house gases contributing to global warming.
It is very unfortunate that we look forest and other natural resources only in terms of money. We no longer look forest and its resources as a gift from God and that we are responsible to take care of it. Following what Gandhiji called ‘Tiger’s Economy’ we tried to extract everything from the earth without replenishing it. We fail to see forest in terms of providing fresh air, water, retaining top soil and providing all the other resources that we need for our survival. It is the economy of the tribal people or villagers. By destroying forest, we are destroying our own life and livelihood in the long run.
Many villages that have been cultivating cabbage for long period of time, now started using fertilizer as there is no more trees to cut down and burn. Fertilized products have a negative effect on health. To check pests and insects high amount of DDT (which is believed to be one of the chief causes of cancer) is also used. Using fertilizer, pesticides and insecticides to get good yield affects not only insects and birds but also human beings. The chemicals used in farms were drained down to rivers by rain water. This affects the lives of aqua creatures and people living in the downstream areas. Cash crops may fetch good price in market, but it has many invisible underlying ill-effects on environment and human beings.
Cash Crops and Food Security:
Today Naga people are moving at fast pace from their subsistence economy to cash economy. Influence by global ghost (market), we want to get maximum money at minimum time. Now we heard only about cash crops. One can get loans for cultivating cabbage and potato but not for paddy rice cultivation. Loans and subsidies are available for cultivation of ginger, chilly, passion fruits and now bio-diesel plants called Jatrophas. Rubber plantation which is ecologically disastrous is on the talk. But all that glitters is not gold. Cultivation of cash crops on a large scale is dangerous and may destroy the economically self-reliant and self-dependent society. Farmers must also realise that once you took loan and subsidies from government or NGOs, you lost the freedom to cultivate what you want. You will have money seasonally but your labour, crops and land belongs to others. For instance, with the setting up of passion fruit processing factory near Punanamei village (Mao) more than 800 villages under Manipur state are cultivating passion fruits after availing loan from it. One may assume that giving loan and subsidies is helping the poor but in reality this is how the corporate companies (MNCs & TNCs) are trying to control the whole world resources and people as well. Influence by cash crop or commercial crops, many villagers of Tungjoy and Liyai village have abandoned paddy rice-field cultivation. This disease may spread to cabbage farming villages like Tsupfume village one day. What happens is that there is no enough food grain produced in the village. They started to import large quantity of rice from outside. Seasonally, they have money but they lost their food security locally. Rice is their staple food. Once they do not produce enough for themselves, they are totally at the mercy of the Meiteis and Assamese from whom rice is imported in huge quantity. Rice importing from Assam and Imphal valley undoubtedly contains a huge amount of chemicals (fertiliser, pesticide, insecticide, weedicide, etc). Therefore, our food is contaminated with poison and we eat everyday without realising it.
I am not totally against cultivation of commercial crops. But I want to remind the villagers/farmers is that they should not give up totally their age old practice of agriculture. Villagers may go for cash cropping but only after producing their own basic needs first. In this way surplus can be sold in the market. Cultivation of cabbage, chilly, passion fruits, potato or any other commercial crops on a large scale at the expense of rice cultivation is not advisable. Since, rice is mostly cultivated in terrace fields, it is ecologically sound and viable in the long run. If we do not produce enough quantity of rice (the Naga staple food), our food security will be in the hand of outsiders.
Cultivation of commercial crops undermines the local produce which is cultivated in diversity because it is selectively done. In cash or commercial cropping, we select and cultivate only those vegetables and crops that have commercial value. From time immemorial, villagers cultivate varieties of vegetables, tubers, pulses, fruits, and other food grains. But once they are entrapped by cash crops, they no longer have enough time to keep all these varieties. Beware! We are going to lose varieties of our local food items in the near future.
Suggestions to improve Vegetable Villages or Village Economy
Pushing the so called ‘vegetable villages’ of Nagaland into cash cropping on a large scale may lead to what the Biblical writer of Genesis called ‘thorns and thistles’ villages. Good intentions are not enough. Proper research must be taken up and awareness created among the farmers before introducing any new method of cultivation. If the government is intending to uplift the condition of farmers in the State, the policy makers must be conscious about the fact that farmer-friendly means eco-friendly as well. I want to put forth some suggestions which I feel is viable for farmers to follow in the long run:
I. Bamboo plantation: Bamboo is called ‘Green Gold’. It grows quickly. It is almost suitable in all climatic condition and in all places. It has multi-purpose. It is used for burning, construction of house, make baskets, furniture, etc. It has eatable shoot. Its roots retains water and preserve top black soil and hence eco-friendly. It is used for making paper. It carries high commercial value. Proper instruction need to be given to the farmers about its usefulness, technique of planting and season of harvest for durability of its life span.
II. Alder trees plantation: Alder is a wonderful species of trees. It replenishes top black soil within short span of time. Among the Naga villages, Khonoma is blessed with maximum number of alder trees. The good news is that we don’t have to cut down these trees for cultivation. Pollarding is all that we need to do. If one wants to cultivate cabbage without destroying forest, the prerequisite may be the plantation of alder trees. It also has excellent quality for furniture.
III. Fruit trees Plantation: Fruits has high commercial value. Therefore the farmers can be encouraged to plant fruits trees such as pomegranate, lemon, orange, banana, pears, apple, jackfruits, etc. These fruits do not get spoil very fast. Wild apple need special mention here. No labour is required to take care of it. It fetch good price especially in Imphal valley. Instead of keeping labour intensive commercial crops such as cabbage and potato, it is better to keep fruit trees on a large scale. Fruit trees keep forest green. The State government may not only encourage the villagers to go for such plan but also set up fruit processing units/factories in the villages so that they get benefits from it.
IV. Other options: It is said that, ‘If you give a person a fish, you feed him for one day. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him for life.’ Interesting! But this saying does not solve the whole problem anyway. Even if a person is expert in fishing, if seas and rivers are poisoned, what will s/he do then? S/he is expert fisherwo/man but all fish have died! Proficiency in one field is not enough to survive. Therefore farmers should be taught in various skills not just confine to one particular area which usually happen in the case of cash cropping. They should be encouraged and trained to involve in handicrafts, animal husbandary, pisciculture, aquaculture, floriculture and other small scale industries which will enhance village economy.
Conclusion: What we need most today is to educate the villagers to value the locally available resources such as medicinal herbs, flowers like orchids, birds and animals, trees, water, etc., etc. Pumping money into the villages in the name of helping and development without proper planning, may lead to total wipe out of village resources/economy. It is imperative and impending need that the state government take up research work on the locally available resources and improve them rather than introducing new crops which may affect their livelihood in the long run.
We are living in an illusion world where everything including people is valued in terms of money. We want to have money in fevi-quick time. Look out! Hungry for profits, Multinational Companies (MNCs) and Transnational Companies (TNCs) and various banks are coming to us like a fox in sheep’s clothing. Working in collaboration with government, they are out to control all the resources through giving loans and subsidies. Beware! How sad it would be for us if we surrender all our local resources for the sake of money. What profit is there if we cover the whole Nagaland with money but lost our own food security? Money is not everything. We get everything through the interaction with nature. Let us take care of nature.
Let us go slow. Speed thrills but kills!!!
Z. K. Pahrii Pou, BTC, Pfutsero.
