The birth of an alliance
Maharashtra is one of the major groundnut-growing states of India. The state accounts for a production of over 576 000 tonnes from 51 000 hectares, with an average productivity of 1.15 tonnes per hectare. During the last few years, groundnut growers in this part of the country have been increasingly concerned about the high cost of cultivation by conventional methods, and the dwindling yields.
NAADEM links agricultural research institutes and farmers through its commitment to the dissemination of holistic crop-production technologies which ensure sustainable productivity in farmers' holdings. The organization conducts adaptive research on improved seed and crop-production technologies, market and crop surveys, and produces feasibility reports and research projects on agro-based industries; in short, it undertakes comprehensive planning to bring about overall village development. This academy has more than 150 life members, and serves more than 2000 small-scale and medium-scale farmers in the state. About 1300 farmers in Chandur Bazaar Tehsil in Amravati district, 800 farmers in Nagpur district, and about 300 in Wardha district are actively participating in the NAADEM-farmer alliance. The academy introduced farmers to a simple and low-cost land and water management
technology, and to the high-yielding varieties. One improved groundnut variety, ICGS 76,
helped the farmers in the region in obtaining good yields and profits. Mr Deshmukh and a
hundred other farmers in Amravati got more groundnut value for their money, thanks to the
broadbed-and-furrows technology. ICGS 76 is a high-yielding virginia bunch variety which
is tolerant to the bud necrosis disease. It matures in 130 days in the rainy season, and
can recover well from mid-season drought. |
It was then that Dr Prabhakar W Amin stepped in. Dr Amin, an agricultural
scientist, and a former vice-chancellor of Punjabrao Krishi Vidyapeeth (an agricultural
university in the region) set up NAADEM in 1993 with farmers' help. 
