Suyash Charitable Trust, Pune

Crores of Tribals in India have been living in dire poverty, even after a long period of sixty years of independent India. ‘Suyash Charitable Trust, Pune” founded by Mr. Y.G. Ghaisas and Ms. Smita Y. Ghaisas, a promising industrialist couple, have brought the light of happiness in the lives of 71,000 Tribal families. Working relentlessly since 1980 they have brought about a silent revolution in 1850 villages in 5 states, viz. Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Mr. and Ms. Ghaisas have been associated with the schools for tribal children, through the ‘Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram’. During this association, they studied the lives of these children after they pass out. They found that school education alone, could not get them jobs and the children did not want to go back to the traditional family occupation of agriculture. This generated frustration amongst these teenagers. The Ghaisas family realized that the only way to bring them out from this situation was to help them attain prosperity through agriculture by developing their own agricultural land in their villages. So they decided to teach these students and their parents improved agricultural techniques and demonstrate to them a substantial increase in their income. ‘Suyash’ developed a model of agriculture to suit the conditions of these Tribals. By adopting this model the tribal families came out of poverty within 1 or 2 years! Thus ‘Suyash’ proved that with 1 acre of fertile land and 1 acre of waste land any tribal family can earn about Rs.40,000 in a year.

Further, in the year 2008, ‘Suyash’ introduced a revolutionary approach. In this, the tribals adopted ‘only organic farming’ and decided that they will not take any financial help from anyone. They achieved self-reliance and improved self esteem by not taking any financial help from anyone. Their financials improved. The news started spreading. More farmers and many more villagers came forward to practice this technique and in just 5 years, 71,000 families from 1850 villages managed to get rid of poverty.

One such farmer, Mr. Devendra Gaikwad from Umbarpada, dist. Nasik, produced strawberry worth Rs.6 lakhs from 3 acres of land. He was interviewed by ‘Doordarshan’, the national TV channel. Similarly, Mr.Devram Gangurde from Nagzari, dist. Thane, earned an income of Rs.130000 from Watermelon plantation in 2 acres of land.

‘Suyash’ has a seven step formula which has made this dream come true.

1.   Using improvised or pre-processed seed which increases yield.

2.   Using organic manure which comes at low cost and protects soil.

3.   Using organic pesticides.

4.   Water Conservation and Management, especially for ‘Rabi’ crops.

5.   Use of waste land for fruit plantation.

6.   Cultivation of Napier grass for Animal feed and

7.   Agro technique schooling for young students, so that they will be interested in their own farms to bring prosperity to the family.

SHGs are formed for tribal farmers specially for purchasing seeds. Last year Rs.10 crores was mobilized by 70000 farmers for this purpose. Cows are main support for organic farming. Through the financial help from SHG they have provision for manure, perticides, water for 3-4 families are being arranged. As a result, Rs.150 crores worth food items was produced by 70,000 farmers. This is a great cultural revolution in agriculture, a dream come true.

‘Suyash’ had a team of only 20. Hence they have developed a volunteer in every village and trained him/her in the technique. Today they have 1839 volunteers. Suyash’s success was recognized by the Madhya Pradesh Govt. by awarding them the prestigious ‘Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Sanman 2013’. Their target is to reach 1,00,000 people of 2600 villages.