A lady farmer who inspires, innovates and intrigues her neighbours
How often do we hear about lady farmers whose husband acknowledge them to be a better farmer and whose mother-in- law proudly share what they have learned from them. It is even more rare when inter-regional knowledge and technology transfer through institutions of marriage gets acknowledged in neighbouring villages. Let me share the story of Lassi ben of Sisodhra village in Sabarkantha District.
She has set the standards for sharp observation, continuous monitoring and constant experimentation for solving problems in the farm. Originally hailing from Churu, Rajasthan, she learnt a lot of herbal healing practices and insights about non-chemical agriculture from her father who was an extremely hard working person. Today, farmers in Ramgarh and Paloni near her village acknowledge that the chilly crop grown by her is not only healthier, more productive but also disease free and the credit for that goes to her use of goat’s milk sprinkled with the help neem twigs at an early stage to control leaf curl. She does not know that use of milk for viral disease control control in plants has intrigued scientists for almost 100 years. And the first paper on the subject was published in 1935. She also did not know that a review article on the use of milk for viral disease control in crops was published in Honey Bee around two decades ago. The interesting aspect of her practices is that some other farmers have added other plants to her formulation depending upon their local need. She has not helped in diffusing innovation but also the spirit of experimentation and innovation. She grows cotton, corn, maize, groundnut, chilly, paddy, brinjal and pulses. She is an eclectic person. When need arises in some crop, she does use chemicals too. However, she prefers to manage without chemicals. Her husband, Somabhai acknowledges a great deal of what he has learnt from Lassiben and defers to her while taking major decisions in agriculture. She also uses the decoction of majeth [rubia cordifolia L.] for pest control. She did not know that Chinese scholars had documented the use of this plant for pest control in ancient text as early as 25 – 220 AD. It is quite possible that she drew upon an autonomous and simultaneously evolved knowledge tradition in India completely independent of similar evolution of knowledge system in China. By mixing butter milk and bitter cucumber in a copper vessel, she develops herbal pesticide for brinjal and chilly crops. Similarly she has large repertoire for animal and human practices. She enjoys spending time with plants and when she is free, she sings bhajans. She wants to grow papaya and roses in future to further improve the productivity of her farm. Lassiben Somabhai Parmar, an illiterate lady is educated probably much more than those scientists and the extension workers who often advocate only chemical pesticide based solutions disregarding the health of environment, soil, animals, plants, humans, etc.
I hope that Department of Agriculture would rethink their excessive focus on chemicals and recognise the contribution of women farmers like Lassiben. Gujarat Government had set up a prize in honour of Gangaben about whom I will write later but who had compiled 2080 practices for self-employment way back in 1890s( her book has been re-published by sristi. Lassiben is the true inheritor of the tradition of experimentation and innovation triggered by Gangaben more than 100 years ago from Manasa village. Hope to hear about more of such creative women from the readers.
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Anil K Gupta
