How an alcohol-addicted village became a model for organic farming
Kailashnagar, once an alcohol-addicted village, has now become a model for organic farming
Uttar Pradesh: From being a village with a high unemployment rate, whose natives were heavily dependent on alcohol, to becoming a model for SRI (System of Rice Intensification) and organic farming, the transformation of Kailashnagar, a tiny forest village in the Bahraich district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, has been phenomenal. Kailashnagar is today completely free of alcohol and is setting new records in SRI — a low-water farming methodology aimed at increasing the yield of rice, and organic farming.
The villagers of Kailashnagar have come a long way. For decades, the occupants of this tiny forest village were known for being alcoholics. Out of the 350 villagers, 57 men, 40 women and 40 children had some degree of alcohol dependence. Very few people had jobs, and most of them made ends meet by cutting trees and selling timber.
About a decade ago, members of the Development Association for Human Advancement (DEHAT), an NGO that works with vulnerable communities, saw a huge crowd at a liquor shop in the Bichhiya market close to Kailashnagar. They filed an RTI to find out how much alcohol is consumed in the area and were shocked to find that every year people from the five surrounding villages spend close to Rs 22 lakhs. This figure did not take into account the illicit liquor being made and sold here.
Jitendra Chaturvedi, Chief Executive at DEHAT, informed the villagers of the amount spent on alcohol. The villagers were appalled by the figures and vowed to never touch alcohol again. The first one to give up alcohol was Geeta Prasad, who was infamous for his love of liquor. Inspired by him, many of the other villagers followed suit. Liquor producers in the village voluntarily disbanded their facilities and to ensure that no one takes to liquor again.
Now that liquor consumption had stopped, the villages began to look for better means of livelihood. But the options were limited since Kailashnagar was in forest land. Soon, they wondered why they could not use their own land for farming. Members of DEHAT came in and helped the locals understand the basics of agriculture. DEHAT also organised training for the farmers from different institutes in new methods. They also learnt to improve yield without the use of chemicals. Over the next few years, they grew a variety of crops and the once poverty-stricken village began to prosper.
