Hot Chilli is quenching the economic thirst of Tribal Farmers!

Mr. Vasant Bharsat is a resident of village Wadoli in taluka Jawhar, Palghar. He belongs to a tribal community and resides in the village with his family, including two children (One Boy and One Girl) and a wife. Before 2020 his family’s economic condition was deplorable. Due to a lack of productivity and a lack of employment opportunities in the village, Vasant struggled to feed his family well. This forced him to migrate to nearby cities in search of farm labourer.

However, the JSW Foundation’s Chili Cultivation Programme got him back to his village. JSW Foundation is a CSR-based foundation of JSW Group working for the last 35 years to create a positive impact in various locations. He got the required training and undertook the Chili Cultivation. He planted 6000 chili plants on approx. 0.8 acre of his farm. He understood the technical specifications well and cultivated chilies by preparing the beds by covering Mulching papers on them and watering them through drip irrigation. When his crop gets matured and chili came to harvest, he made a bumper profit of Rs.3,00,000 nearly. This motivated him to develop and maintain his farm and source a living from his village. He has stopped migrating or searching for work in different cities and lives with his children and wife.

For the last 4 years, Vasant has only focused on Chili Cultivation and earning 3 to 5 Lakhs Rupees per season. During the kharif season, he cultivates paddy, nagli, warai, and pulses for self-consumption which helps him to save money throughout the year, by having his grown rice, dals, and millets. With all of these agricultural activities, he is earning 8 lakh rupees per annum. And this year, again he cultivated chili 1 Acre with 8000 plants and harvested nearly about 3000 kgs of chili and still counting. Through which assumed to earn Rs. 6 – 8 Lakh from chili cultivation. He has also cultivated watermelon on 400 square feet as a cash crop. During the whole journey of Vasant, the JSW Foundation has played a major role, by building capacity through training, providing plant saplings, supporting with fertilizer or pesticides, and continuous field consultation to farmers. JSW Foundation also helps him to link with the market to sell chili at a feasible rate.  Vasant also built his home adjacent to the farm for his family and his children are also going to school. He is also employing individuals from his village to harvest and segregate the chillies.

But this story is not limited to only Vasant, 50 farmers, and the families impacted through this program and changed their lives. All the farmers who were engaged in this program, are sustaining this program of Chili Production with their capacities and earning a minimum of 3 – 5 Lakh rupees after selling. Now farmers follow all the required tasks like buying plants for cultivation, planning the plants and beds covered with mulching paper, providing water through drip irrigation, planting the plants at 2 feet distance, sparing fertilizers or pesticides as required, harvesting chilis, segregation of chillis, Linkaging with the market and selling the chillis. Farmers also learned to save money utilize money for their living and invest in farm activities for growth as well as improving farm activities. Throughout the journey, farmers have gone through various challenges including the unavailability of requisite investment, low market rates, transport facilities, unconditional weather or climatic effects, diseases on plants, etc. Because of the collaborative effect of farmers and the JSW Foundation, all these challenges were mitigated or managed effectively and after 3 years of support given by the JSW Foundation, now farmers are cultivating chili on their own.

In Taluka Jawhar, around 85% of the tribal population is engaged in agriculture, out of which 70-80% are farmers and the remaining 20-30% are agriculture labourers. In this area, 85% of the people have been doing traditional farming and which depends on natural resources & is characterized by poor soil, timely unavailable of inputs, lack of awareness, and poor management. Some research points out that cultivable land holding per family is 1 to 3 acres. These farmers only cultivate Kharif Crop for themselves, not to sell. So, the need to seek different financial activities leads to migration There are no industries or major commercial centres in the region. As rainfall here lasts only for a few months, during the non-agriculture season, some of the farmers end up migrating to cities for labour work to feed their families back home. Where they earn Rs.250 to Rs.450 per day.

Mr. Santosh Mahajan (Program Lead, JSW Foundation) said, “JSW Foundation’s initiative of Chili framing gives farmers the hope of economic security, better living, and sustainable livelihood. As per the beneficiaries (Farmers), this Chili Production has enhanced productivity in farm-based activities, given opportunities for higher income to farmers, and improved the quality of life of the families of farmers. This initiative has also reduced the seasonal migration through chili cultivation in the Rabi season, by engaging the farmers to cultivate cash crops in the rabi season. JSW Foundation called this initiative the “Doubling Income of Farmers”, where farmers can raise their income through Kharif as well as Rabi season crops or Cash Crops. Also, the chili produced during the intervention was exported to international markets as well as local markets.”

The farmers who were struggling to take crops in Rabi Season, who were migrating to different cities as labourers for work, were looking for ways of improving their economic conditions and now the ‘Hot Chilli’ is quenching the economic thirst of Tribal Farmers!