Shiv Kumar Sharma
Muradabaad, Uttar Pradesh: Officials of the Sugarcane development department in Bheetkhera, Muradabad district, were astonished when they visited the farm of Shiv Kumar Sharma. The plants in his farm touched an exorbitant height of 18 to 20 ft. Rajesh Saksena, Sugarcane Development officer, and the accompanying officials announced a prize of Rs. 20,000 to the farmer.
A teacher by profession, Shiv Kumar worked in a private school. He took up training in organic farming in 2013, and started using the techniques in his field. He became the first farmer of the district to practise organic farming. Instead of expensive fertilizers and pest control methods, he used Jeevamrit (a mixture of cow dung, cow urine, jiggery, gram flour and soil), which gave better results compared to urea and other fertilizers. The use of organic products helps improve the quality of soil and prevents the damage caused by chemicals.
Shiv Kumar explained how his investment cost went down to 50 percent and production almost doubled. He said there was a false impression among the farmers that if one shifted to natural or organic farming, production may go down for the initial 3-4 years and the yield gets better only after that. “That’s not true. I just followed the procedures taught in the organic farming training by the Art of Living teacher and expert Bal Krishna, who enlightened us on organic farming methods.”
