“The chemicals we use are poison” – a story on the Farmer Field School’s approach, its success and implications

Since 2004, WWF-Pakistan has been working on agriculture in the district of Bahawalpur along with its local partner, the Kissan Welfare Association (KWA). Farmer facilitators who are members of KWA have been establishing Farmer Field Schools (FFS), which have been very successful in spreading awareness amongst small farmers in the cotton growing belt of Southern Punjab. Once a week, farmers meet for around 3 hours to study a selected field. Around 25 farmers participate, with usually two facilitators. The farmers are split into groups of 5 and they are asked to prepare a presentation on their findings with charts and drawings of what they’ve learnt (many farmers are illiterate, hence the need for images).

 “They ask questions, they have dialogue and they share their knowledge with the rest of the group” explains Arif Makhdum, the project manager from WWF-Pakistan who is in charge of the initiative in Bahawalpur and has been working closely with KWA. The KWA was registered in June 2004 and their headquarters are located in Bahawalpur City. “The farmer facilitators, who are needed to conduct FFS in the area, are selected from the farmers who’ve already gone through the process. These are the real decision makers in their communities”.

Around 50 FFS, some through the earlier National Integrated Pest Management Programme and others through WWF-Pakistan have been held in Bahawalpur District. Many farmers say that they have now changed their way of farming. “Before, we didn’t know which fertlizer to use or how much pesticide. We used to waste our water and our money”, says Mohd. Nasir Sarwar the President of the KWA, and a master trainer. “Of course, there was once a time, during our grandparent’s days when there was no such thing as pesticides and we used cattle dung as fertilizer. Then in the 1980s the government officials started encouraging the use of these chemicals. We saw the benefits and we have started using them”.

The use of chemical inputs, however, was not done in the right manner. “We didn’t use them properly – there was a lot of ignorance about this new way of farming and soon instead of using the recommended 4 bag of fertilizer per acre, farmers began to use as many as 9”, adds Mohd. Yakub Ghauri who is the General Secretary of the KWA. These weakened crops became susceptible to the weather and during heavy rains or thunder storms, the farmers found their crops became damaged. “With the excessive use of fertilizer, ultimately the cotton growth became retarded. We saw our outputs coming down in the late 1990s.”

The FFS taught the farmers how to use fertilizer properly by first getting their soil tested in a laboratory – a relatively inexpensive procedure costing only Rs 2. The test tells the farmers what their soil is lacking and they can add fertilizer accordingly. The FFS also taught the farmers how and when to spray their crops with pesticide. “We used to spray as many as 12 times each season! Now, we are down to 3 or 4 sprays. We can now identify the different pests and know when to spray” adds Ghauri.

Nasir Sarwar says that he has brought his pesticide sprays down to 2 or 3 per acre. “I even experimented with one field by not spraying at all and there was no effect on its production”, he says. In the KWA office he has put on display a cotton branch, which shows the healthy cotton he grew without spraying. “I believe that those who use more pesticide sprays have less production”. He has the same observation about water – he believes that too much irrigation damages the cotton crop. “One should only give the crops water when it is needed – I have lessened my use of water in the fields by 50%”. This is important because Bahawalpur District is facing a water shortage in the canals and even the underground water levels are getting lower. The FFS teaches farmers two methods of irrigating their fields – the ridge with alternate furrow closed and the bed and furrow method. Both these methods have been proven to be more effective than traditional flood irrigation.

The FFS, say the farmers, have taught them the scientific way of farming and the benefits have been immense. Now farmers from as far away as 3km come all the way to these meetings of farmers to attend the schools. “We tell the farmers, don’t adopt what you’ve learnt at first. Not in the first year – first experiment and after going through the process yourself, then make your own decisions”, says Mohd. Sabir, the Press Secretary of the KWA. “You know, I used to deal in pesticides myself a few years ago. But then my conscience made me leave this business. This is not medicine for the crops – it is poison! These poisons have gone into our soil, air and water. People need to be made aware of this”.