In an award function held in New Delhi on Dec 29th, Pratibha Syntex Limited has won Jaivik India Award, for its farming initiative Vasudha Organic, in the category of Direct Farmer Linkage. The award was given by ICCOA (International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture), dedicated for a ‘knowledge and learning centre’ for all facets of organic agriculture, while working as an interface organization for the organic movement. Vasudha Organic aligns with Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs), which are adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. SDGs provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.While once farmers were totally dependent on market for farming inputs, Pratibha, through Vasudha Organic, attempted to turn the table. With its enormous efforts, today farmers are trained to produce organic farm inputs by themselves. The effort has impacted on farmers’ lives significantly, as this has reduced cost of cultivation by 40%, and dependence on market has also reduced substantially.Keeping farmers at the centre of the development, Mr. Shreyaskar Chaudhary, Managing Director of Pratibha Syntex Limited, said “Vasudha Team is working with farmers to develop innovative multi-cropping system for both seasons, which have potential to substantially increase the per acre income.
This not only has a positive economic impact but also enhances biodiversity and efficient utilization of water and other resources. We aim at increasing farmers’ income four times by 2020. In a bid to attain the target, we have implemented strategic and technical interventions in farming practices, which have turned out to be a boon for the farming community.”Mr Chaudhary said, “When Pratibha Syntex commenced Vasudha initiative, the main problem was farmers’ total dependency on chemical inputs. To convert them to organic, there was a grave need of creating awareness and training. So, we established training modules and organised workshops for farmers at various places. Gradually we used technology and incorporated social media in our training modules. We have been making videos on various agriculture techniques and putting them on our YouTube channel and sharing the same on WhatsApp, besides sending audio messages to farmers through mobile.”Vasudha Organic has developed local input production centres in 5 Villages. These input production centres are producing various inputs like manure, biopesticides and tonics using locally available resources. These agri-inputs are provided to farmers at lowest possible cost. For revitalization of the global partnership for sustainable development, Vasudha collaborates with brands for different initiatives like Fair trade, Peace India, Textile Exchange, SAC, CottonConnect, C&A Foundation, BCI, India Organic etc.In a recent addition to the initiative, Pratibha has started creating a market linkage for the non-cotton organic produce of farmers. This would mean a holistic and one point solution for the farmers for their produce, besides getting the right price.