Farmers are easily lured by pesticides as it guarantees higher production on lesser land by protecting crops from pests and diseases. It gives higher productivity and income in a short time, but it also has a different side, indiscriminate and long exposure to chemical based pesticides leaves a long-term impact on soil productivity as it kills microbes and other organisms responsible for maintaining soil health and productivity. It is one of the major causes of biodiversity and ecological loss, water pollution and cause of cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Chemical farming is penetrated deep into our agriculture systems and set a common belief that good production can only be achieved through pesticides and chemical fertilizers. But today farmers of Jaud village in Meghalaya are proving it wrong by making profitable income from agriculture without using chemicals.

Jaud is located in Sohiong C&RD block of East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, with a majority agrarian population. It has 65 households with 445 residents, and they grow various crops and vegetables, including mustard, radish, beans, potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, and yam.

Caritas India with the support of SSC selected this village under the FARM Northeast programme in the year 2020 with an objective to revive traditional farming. The programme provided practical farming trainings and encouraged chemical-free farming in the kitchen garden to secure healthy food. During the consultation meeting, the community expressed its frustration with the difficulty of obtaining organic manure and organic bio fertiliser and asked SSC to provide one-day training on organic manure and bio pest repellent.

SSC conducted training at Jaud village for 50 farmers with the assistance of a resource person who is a lead farmer from Rapleng village in Mawkynrew block. Mr Hiring Marbaniang was the first farmer to promote bio-pest repellents by testing them in his kitchen garden, which yielded positive results. The announcement was made to farmers named Meristella, Trilian, Listamery, Hodia, Sitamery, Ainamery, and a few others in the neighbouring community. Initially, Mr Hiring Marbaniang sold the Bio pest repellent for Rs 100 per bottle and sold approximately 10 bottles for a total of RS 1,000 in one season of the plantation. He had earned Rs 3,000 so far, and he had also received an order from the neighbouring communities for his self-made bio-pest repellent.

“Bio-Pest Repellent is a model that assists farmers in safeguarding crops in traditional ways, mobilises and motivates farmers to practise their own method of making organic bio-pest repellent. It aids in decreasing health problems, which is one of the main issues in today’s generation because vegetables and crops are the main basic needs for living beings.” Says Phirinda Lyngdoh, Field Animator of FARM North East Programme.

Through his initiative, the model was replicated in a nearby village, Wahramkhar, where one of the farmers, Mrs Spilaris Lyngdoh, replicated it by combining garlic, chilli, ginger, langtana [local name], and cow urine. She also tested the bio pest repellent by spraying it around her cultivated potatoes in her garden that had been harmed by the pest and had presented an excellent result in the month of April 2022. Mrs Spilaris Lyngdoh made an impression after the experiment and began assisting her community members by providing training on organic bio-pest repellent. Now she started to spray in vegetables like radish, mustard, Coriander, and lettuce.

“The majority of the people in the village rely on farming for a living; the people in the village disregard the use of chemicals and fertiliser for farming,” says Mr. Hiring Marbaniang. He firmly believes that this organic bio-pest repellent can be easily made by any farmer using locally available materials, and it can also save money on the purchase of other pesticides. It could also be a great source of income for farmers.

According to Emrit Nongrum “Organic bio-pest repellent helps to kill the pests that destroy the crops. It is also very affordable, simple to make with ingredients easily available at home, and does not negatively impact our health in comparison to pesticides that people buy on the market that are extremely harmful to living being”.