Chhattisgarh village shows way for sustainable, healthy living

RAIPUR: Aiming to create a self-reliant organic village, people of Khairkhut, a rural community with a population of 2,000 odd people, have formed a cooperative society and began utilizing local resources for supplying cooking gas to household and bio-fertilizers and bio pesticides for farming.
Located at about 34km from the state capital, they now proudly calls it as ‘Khairkhut model of rural development’ where unproductive livestock are taken care of, cow dung is purchased from locals for biogas and bio-fertilizer, milk procured from farmers and electricity generated through solar power--all to meet the local demand.
“We have realized that chemical fertilizer is a big issue as it’s not only harmful for soil and crop but also for environment. Now, this village have its own bio-gas plant through which every household has been provided cooking gas connection. Bio-fertilizer produced is used for farming. This enhances the quality of soil but will also save a huge fraction of money of farmers. The farmers will also get good prices even double for their produce being ‘organic’”, says Khairkhut sarpanch Shiv Hanumanta.
“It was just a humble beginning. Initially villagers were sceptical when the idea of having a bio-gas plant. Now things have taken a concrete shape. Almost all the households are being provided bio-gas—two times a day—through pipelines”, he explained.
Explaining about the model and its functioning, he said a vast area has been made as a ‘Gothan’ or a cow shed, bringing relief to farmers as they no longer have to guard their fields at night and their crops are safe. Besides, the society purchases cow dung at 50 paisa per kilo from the village and it is used in the bio-gas plant.
Besides getting cooking gas, the villagers—who are members of the cooperative society—can purchase bio-fertilizer and fertilizer slurry at a nominal rate for farming. Besides, a solar power plant has been set up which is producing 20 kW of power. Half of the electricity produced is being used for running the project and the remaining is put in the grid for supply in village.
Having tasted success in its initial work, Khairkhut village now plans to foray into other area for the benefit of its members. A milk society has already been formed while plans are afoot for setting up a small plant for animal fodder, production of green fodder and production of organic products. A lab for bio pesticide is also being developed.
“We are developing it as a unit model for making a village self-sufficient. Our goal is to promote 100 per cent organic farming in the village and make village self-sufficient in terms of electricity, cooking gas, production and employment”, says this village project’s mentor Rasik Parmar—former chairman of Chhattisgarh State Milk Cooperative Federation.
He told TOI that the project took off after receiving a fund of Rs 70 lakh under a scheme of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). He said that the entire model is being implemented through the medium of a co-operative of villagers and women self-help groups.
At present, the khairkhut’s Gauthan has is home to over 400 cows. The bio gas plant in the village produces 8,000 litres of liquid and one to 1.5 tonne of solid dung fertilizer per day as the plant now runs in 60 % capacity. A small lab has been set up to produce balanced organic manure by mixing bacteria in liquid and solid cow dung fertilizer as per the soil and crop requirements.
According to Khairkhut Milk producers Union president Bharat Kumar, the farmers will be using 30% of this bio-fertilizer in their fields which will gradually increase to 100 per cent in the coming years. Over 130 families are using stove fuelled by methane gas for cooking by paying a nominal price of Rs 210 per month.
The milk society is being modernized and milk collected from the farmers will be used for making milk products. The idea is to encourage farmers to produce organic grains and vegetables—which will be marketed with a brand name in the future.
About 15 acre vacant land has been identified in the village for production of green fodder for stray cattle. Work of production will be done by local women self-help group providing village women a source of employment.