In a region hit hard by climate change, where salinity of agricultural land has become a major concern, indigenous rice varieties could bring some respite – provided farmers have the right support. https://thewire.in/agriculture/how-women-farmers-in-the-sundarban-are-reviving-indigenous-rice-varieties
After Cyclone Aila in May 2009, which devastated the entire region, agriculture had stopped for four to five years in some places. “In Nischintapur, five years after Cyclone Amphan, someone’s land is still saline,” says Dhara.
But what stops growing in saline soil is the modern, scientifically developed hybrid variety of paddy that require chemical fertilisers. What survives is the indigenous or traditional paddy of Sundarban, a fact that was becoming increasingly clear after Cyclone Aila.
Yet farmers went on buying fertilisers for hybrid paddy cultivation. “At the same time they complained bitterly about rising debts,” says Dhara.
In 2017, Dhara enrolled herself at Ramkrishna Ashram Krishi Vigyan Kendra, an agriculture institute in Nimpith, about 35 km from Nischintapur, for a one-year course on organic farming. Today she is the chairperson of her company, Krishinirbhar Agri Farmers Producer Co Ltd., with its office a few minutes’ walk from the fertiliser store. The company promotes organic farming and is linked to about 2,000 farmers in Nischintapur and adjoining areas. “Of the 2,000, about 80% are women,” says Dhara. “Because almost all women are farmers in Sundarban.”
The training proved life-changing for the women farmers. They are mostly small, marginal farmers. Some are landless. For the first time, at the training, they were defined by their work. It helped them find a voice at home. Many of them were able to convert their households to organic farming, at least to a degree.
Dhara’s company helps farmers with training and selling their produce. “Of the 2,000 farmers associated with the company, about 580 are shareholders and the rest have linkages with us,” says Dhara, who received the President’s Award in 2025. The ‘linkage-chashis’, who are not shareholders, are helped with organic inputs for agriculture, training and marketing of their produce by the company.
15/05/2025