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Videos that help farmers watch, learn & earn more

- An initiative of two NGOs, screen campaign across villages changes the face of agriculture

A.S.R.P MUKESH






A short film being shot in a hamlet in Khunti.
Telegraph picture

Ranchi, Sept. 14: They are no ordinary educational tools. Made by farmers for farmers, a number of short-duration video films are revolutionising the way agricultural activity is carried out in the hamlets of Jharkhand.



Farmers in the tribal pockets are adopting new skills and techniques they learn through the video clips which are made with the aim of propagating indigenous farming methods while improving crop yield and enhancing livelihood.



An initiative of two NGOs — Delhi-based Digital Green and Jharkhand’s Pradhan — the videos are bringing about a transformation in an environment where there is no electricity, let alone televisions.



Take the example of 34-year-old Phulmati Manjhi of Budi Toli village in Khunti district. Phulmati learnt a new technique to produce low cost vermi-compost, and is now reaping the rewards. “In a short time, the method converts waste material into vermi-compost. In six months, I have produced 17 quintals of it and sold it for Rs 3,910,” said Phulmati.



Phulmati’s success story started when she saw a video clip which was played in her village. “I realised it was not a foreign technique. Farmers living barely 60 kilometres away have been using it effectively for quite some time. It’s only that we didn’t know about it,” she said.



Video sessions are at the heart of Digital Green’s new campaign for small farmers.



According to 29-year-old Rikin Gandhi, who started Digital Green last year, the project is running on a pilot basis in 200 villages of Jharkhand, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. Little wonder then that Gandhi was named one of the top young innovators of the world by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently.



“We seek to disseminate agricultural information to small and marginal farmers through digital videos. It increases participatory learning in areas where illiteracy is high and where verbal or written communication is difficult. Videos are an easy tool to expose farmers to classic and best practices in their community,” said Gandhi, speaking over phone from Delhi.



Explaining how the initiative works, regional manager of Digital Green Avinash Upadhyay said: “Eight to 10 minute-long clips are screened for small groups of farmers daily. The videos focus on optimum agricultural techniques, social issues and government programmes.”



Interestingly, the videos are produced by villagers themselves. “The process involves the farmers, a cameraman and a facilitator, all from the village community. We train the facilitator in identifying topics for dissemination. The videos are produced using hand-held camcorders. The recordings are then shown by mediators in their respective villages, using hand-held projectors and generators. These mediators nurture an environment for discussion, asking questions, obtaining feedback, before incorporating them in the next set of videos to better address the community,” added Upadhyay.



Pilot studies have shown that the system increases adoption of new farming practices by seven times the rate at which classical agricultural extension works, and at 10 times the cost-effectiveness. “So far, we have produced 146 odd videos of 101 practices in Jharkhand involving around 2,200 farmers in 50 villages,” said Upadhyay.


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