A couple had started Rajasthan Turmeric Revolution to stop child labor and suicides inside drought-prone areas. Devilal and Ramila Vyas have been concentrating on their project for nearly a decade now. The Rajasthan Turmeric Revolution was started to help all the farmers living inside Rajasthan’s Dungarpur. The project was created to provide a profitable market by efficiently growing organic turmeric.
How The Rajasthan Turmeric Revolution Saved Thousands Of Farmers From Poverty
In 2004, the efforts of Devilal and Ramila Vyas made 102 villages free of child labor in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur. That has been a significant and landmark victory for the couple. In the 2000s many children from Dungarpur migrated to Gujarat to work in fields of cotton cultivation. There was a high demand for children at that time because the plant required soft and nimble fingers for pollinating. Along with bodies of local government and UNICEF, the couple rescued around 4,200 trafficked kids from their neighboring state.
However, after the migrating families returned to their state, they came to know that cotton cannot grow in extremely arid regions. Thereafter, many families fell into debt and their mental state deteriorated. After that, they became victims of low land fertility, crop loss, farmer suicides, and excessive debts. It was at that moment that Devilal and Ramila Vyas came to the rescue of several farmers. They asked them to consider an alternative in the form of growing organic turmeric. That is how the Rajasthan Turmeric Revolution was slowly set into wheels.
Read: Rajasthan Reforestation: Villagers Transform Barren Land Into Lush Forests
To attract more farmers, the couple offered them a buyback policy. Because of a lack of a proper and profitable market for turmeric, the couple soon procured a turmeric processing unit. This made the road clear for the Rajasthan Turmeric Revolution. The Processing unit converted the crops into powder. It was also responsible for selling the produce to shopkeepers and dealers.
The 1st year of the Rajasthan Turmeric Revolution saw a loss and was particularly hard upon the couple. But after cross-breeding their crops with a strain from Tamil Nadu, there were no stopping farmers from experiencing this turmeric alternative. Now the annual production of their project stands at nearly 50 tonnes. This initiative shows us that it is indeed possible to eliminate harmful and chemical fertilizers and provide a steady source of income for the farmers!
All image credits: The Better India
