Priti David

Author

Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

Editor

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<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Santoshi Kori is enjoying the novel feeling of ownership. “It is we women who decided to set up the farmer cooperative. Now the men in our village admit it’s a good idea,” she adds laughing.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">A Dalit farmer in Guchara hamlet of Bhairaha panchayat, she paid up Rs. 1,000 as membership fee for the Runj Mahila Farmers Producers Organisation (MFPO) – one of 300 Adivasi, Dalit and OBC (Other Backward Class) women in&nbsp;Panna district&nbsp;to do so&nbsp;in January 2024. Santoshi is one of five board members of the Runj MFPO and is called upon to speak at gatherings and spread the word.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">“Earlier, the bicholiya [trader] would come and take our arhar dal [pigeon-pea]&nbsp;at a lower price as it was not milled. And then he never came on time, and we never got our money on time,” she tells PARI. The 45-year-old mother of three grows arhar dal on her family’s two acres of rain-fed land, and has also taken another acre on tenancy. Only <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 61, 8);text-decoration:none;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1780263">11 per cent</a> women in the country own land, and Madhya Pradesh is no exception.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The Runj MFPO – named after the river Runj, a tributary of the Baghain which drains into the Yamuna – is a collective of women farmers across 28 villages across Ajaigarh and Panna block. Started in 2024,&nbsp; it already had a turnover of Rs. 40 lakh and is aiming to double this in the coming year.

<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">“Almost all the families in my village have at least 2-4 acres. We thought we are growing jaivik [organic] crops, all of us, so let’s focus on the arhar dal and contribute towards a machine to mill it,” says Santoshi explaining the reason for setting up the cooperative.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The arhar dal of Ajaigarh region has a wide following. “The Dharampur belt of land that runs along the Runj river, the dal grown here is famous for its taste and aroma,” says Garjan Singh of Pradan. Locals say the river – a run-off from the Vindhyachal hills – is fertile ground for farming. Pradan is a non-governmental organisation working with farmers here and played a key role in setting up the women-only organisation.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Farmers like Santoshi were determined to get a fair price. “Now we can give it to our Run MFPO and get our money on time,” she says. Arhar dal sells at Rs. 10,000 a quintal, and in May 2024, the price had slipped to Rs. 9,400. But Runj members felt they still got a better deal with farm gate purchases made through their collective.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Rakesh Rajput is the CEO of Runj (the only employee) and he says that they use heirloom seeds; hybrid varieties don’t make an appearance here. He takes care of 12 collection centres which have weighing machines, bags and a&nbsp;parkhi&nbsp;to check each bag’s contents.

<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Runj is aiming for a five-fold increase in membership over the coming year and wants to diversify the range of products from the current arhar dal to chickpea, livestock marketing (goats of the Bundelkhandi breed) and organic fertilisers and seeds, says Sugandha Sharma who works with Pradan. “We want door-to-door connectivity for our farmers,” she adds. &nbsp;<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">In the patch of land behind her home Santoshi grows gourds and other vegetables which she shows us; the family’s two buffaloes have gone grazing with her husband and they will be back soon.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:&quot;Fira Sans&quot;, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:29px;margin:0px 0px 20px;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">“I have never eaten any other daal. The dal from my field cooks as quickly as rice, and it’s sweet to the taste,” she says proudly.

The Runj river and Ajaigarh’s dal farmers

రూంజ్ నది, అజయ్‌గఢ్‌లో అపరాలు పండించే రైతులు

ਰੂੰਜ ਨਦੀ ਅਤੇ ਅਜੈਗੜ ਦੇ ਕਿਸਾਨ 

രൂഞ്ജ് നദിയും അജയ്ഗറിലെ പരിപ്പ് കർഷകരും

ರೂಂಜ್‌ ನದಿ ಮತ್ತು ಆಜಯಗಢದ ತೊಗರಿ ಬೆಳೆಗಾರರು

ருஞ்ச் ஆறும் அஜைகரின் பருப்பு விவசாயிகளும்

रुंज मं महकत राहेर  

‘हमार खेत के रहर दाल, त भातो से जल्दी सींझ जाला’

ৰুঞ্জ নদী আৰু অজয়গড়ৰ দালি খেতিয়কৰ কথা

રુંજ નદી ને અજયગઢના ખેડૂતો

رونجھ ندی اور اجے گڑھ کی دال

ରୁଞ୍ଜ ନଦୀ ଓ ଅଜୟଗଡ଼ର ଡାଲି ଚାଷୀ 

রুঞ্জ নদী ও অজয়গড়ের ডালচাষিরা

रुंझ नदी और अजयगढ़ की दाल

Panna District, Madhya Pradesh, India

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The Runj river and Ajaigarh’s dal farmers

In Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district, a women farmers’ cooperative with Dalit, Adivasi and OBC women is taking charge of their earnings from the land, and their numbers are growing

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