Annexure 4: A Biographical Note on Bhaskar Save

(Adapted extracts from Chapter 4 of ‘The Vision of Natural Farming’)

Smriti: Remembrance
(The life and times of Bhaskar Save; experiments and experiences spanning seven
decades and diverse agricultural systems.)

In the charming coastal village of Dehri, looking out on the Arabian Sea, was born
Bhaskar Hiraji Save. The date was 27th January, 1922; the family, one of the Wadwal
community of farm-tenders.
Looking back on his early years, Bhaskar Save reminisces, “The life was simple then.
There were none of the modern conveniences like electricity, but the people were a
contented lot. Farming was a natural, integral part of life, changing according to the
season. It was a fulfilling occupation. Not the alienated, anxiety-ridden struggle it has
become with modern methods. People often worked together on each others’ fields when
transplanting or harvesting paddy – chatting, joking, or singing in chorus.”
Young Save sometimes accompanied his father on bullock cart trips through forests to
neighboring areas. He encountered the Warli tribals, whose way of life and culture
fascinated him. He was particularly awed by their belief that God lives in green trees.
(These were never cut down till they dried and shed all trace of green from their body.)
The idea struck a chord somewhere.
With the approach of the monsoon began the busy season. Like most other local
farmers, Bhaskarbhai’s family grew mainly rice, pulses and some vegetables. The
planting of tree crops was not a part of their traditional agricultural activity, probably
because an abundance of tree produce could be readily obtained from the rich,
surrounding forests and the many, full-grown trees in the village neighbourhood. [The
chikoo (sapota) orchards in the area were mainly started by the Parsi/Irani settlers.]
After the harvest of rice, there were other tasks to attend. And abundant leisure as well
– to observe, ponder, and enjoy the gifts of Nature. In such an environment, grew
Bhaskar Save. His formal education was till Standard 7 of the old system (equivalent to
class 10 today), followed by two years of P.T.C. or Primary Training Certificate. This
qualified him to teach in a school, which he did for 10 years. From 6 to 10 in the
morning, he would attend to his family farm, then eat something, and walk through the
forest to the school where he taught in a neighbouring village. By the time he returned
home, it was dusk.
On 19-2-51, Bhaskarbhai wedded Maltiben, who has since been his companion,
sharing the work, and the joys and trials. The same year, the Save family
began digging their well. By 1952, it was ready. A water-wheel was built.
After harvesting their monsoon rice, they grew irrigated winter vegetables.
And for the first time in his life, Bhaskar Save used chemical fertilizer,
together with dung manure – for his vegetable plants.
In 1953, Bhaskar Save used chemicals for his rain-fed paddy as well. The harvest he
reaped attracted much attention. A director of the Gujarat Fertiliser Corporation visited
Save, congratulated him, and offered an agency for marketing chemical fertilizer! Save’s
job included guiding farmers in its use, and he was promised a commission of Rs 5 on
every bag of the chemicals he sold.
Soon, Save became a ‘model farmer’ for the new technology. Several agricultural
scientists from Pune, and elsewhere, drew on his experience for conducting their field
trials. By around 1954-55, he had already earned enough money to buy himself 2.5 acres
of land, suitable for growing paddy. This was the first of the plots purchased on which
stands the Kalpavruksha farm.
Though fortune seemed to be smiling on him, Bhaskar Save realised within a few years
that he needed to use more chemicals, and incur more expense – just to check the yields
from falling.
From his early youth, Save was impressed with Gandhi’s (or perhaps Tolstoy’s)
saying, “Knowledge only forms through engaged personal experience.” Before that, one
has – at best – untested information! It was this insight that spurred Save to try out
things, and to conduct all manners of ‘experiments with truth’. While in adopting
chemical agriculture, he had strayed from the Gandhian path, he still enjoyed the writings
of Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave, particularly those of Vinoba on farming. These were two
men Bhaskar Save admired for their integrity.
One day, inspired by Vinoba’s article on the farming practices of certain adivasis,
Bhaskar Save decided to revert to organic paddy, only changing the impounded water
several times in one plot (during pauses in the monsoon rains), without using any
chemicals. It worked! And since the tall, native variety of rice he planted, grew well
above all the unplanted (Nature seeded) vegetation in the field, there was no need of
weeding. Though his yield declined this first year, so did his costs. Save resolved that he
would gradually shift back to organic farming, at least for his rice crop. For the
vegetables he sold to the market, he was still reconciled to using chemicals.
A part of Bhaskar Save’s land was henceforth reserved entirely for organic
experimentation. Here, he followed crop rotation, planting un-irrigated pulse legumes
like beans, gram, moong, etc., after harvesting his organic paddy. The winter pulses grew
entirely on the sub-soil moisture still present from the recent monsoon; and they supplied
an abundance of atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. When the pulses too were harvested,
cattle were allowed to browse the crop residue in the field, providing it considerable
dung manure as well.
Traditional, organic cultivation by rotating crops, is by no means stingy in its yields.
Save remembers seeing in an adivasi region, a two kilometer long queue of bullock carts
(including those of wholesale merchants and their middlemen) – loaded with the surplus
organic harvest of the area!
In 1957, Bhaskar Save built a small home on his new (present) farm, which had grown
to 4.5 acres. He shifted there with his family. Raising an orchard was now his major
preoccupation, and he wanted to spend more time working and observing. Meanwhile,
his confidence in the organic path had greatly increased. Not only was the expense much
less; the soil and the plants were clearly healthier. By around 1959-60, Save completely
stopped using chemicals on all his land.
For growing trees on low-lying paddy fields, Save saw that he needed raised earth
(well-drained) ‘platforms’ to plant his saplings. He proceeded initially to widen the
raised bunds between his rice plots. The village panchayat granted him permission to
excavate (at his own cost/labour) a village pond on some uncultivated common land near
his farm. The soil that was dug out – as the pond was gradually enlarged and deepened
each year – served to build and widen the ‘platforms’ for the tree saplings.
Initially, the saplings of coconut or chikoo (long life-span species) were inter-cropped
only with vegetables (short life-span species). Later, Bhaskar Save integrated other crops
like bananas and papayas (medium life-span) among his chikoos and coconuts – to
optimize the use of the available sunlight until the long-life trees matured and cast thick
shade on the ground.
Between every two adjacent ‘platforms’ – on which grew the trees – ran the ‘trenches’.
These served as irrigation channels in dry months, and drainage outlets in the monsoon.
As his trees grew, Save progressively distanced the position of the trenches further from
the tree trunks – to encourage the roots of the trees to spread further for accessing their
moisture needs. This ‘platform and trench’ system for irrigated fruit trees was another
pioneering contribution of Bhaskar Save to orchard development, apart from his strategy
of integrating short, medium and long-life species to rapidly establish complete ground
cover, optimize yield, and sustain the farmer until the long-life fruit trees matured and
yielded abundantly. [See also ‘Water-efficient Trench Irrigation for Horticulture’ (on
Bhaskar Save), published in ‘Good Practices & Innovative Experiences in the South’,
Volume 2, 2001, co-published by UNDP, TWN & Zed Books.]
With every passing year, the farm yield and income increased, while labour inputs
further declined. The impressive productivity of the farm started attracting attention. One
of the first articles written on Bhaskar Save (in the Gujarati periodical, ‘Bhoomiputra’)
was by another experienced organic farmer, Shri Mahendra Bhatt, who coined and
popularized the term ‘Sajeev Kheti’ to describe Bhaskar Save’s way of farming that laid
maximum emphasis on regenerating the living soil. In 1989, the compendium,
‘Ecological Vision’ carried the article, ‘Nature Smiles in Bhaskar Save’s Orchard,’ by
Bharat Mansata.
Thereafter, through the nineties till date, at least a few dozen more articles were
written (in India and abroad) on Bhaskar Save and his way of natural farming – in
English, Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, and a few more languages. Several TV channels made
and broadcast short films on him. Awards too were conferred on Save. The number of
visitors multiplied. So did consultation requests and lecture invitations to gatherings of
farmers and seminars.
In May 2005, at the peak of summer, when temperatures soared above 40 degrees
Celsius, Bhaskar Save (then 83) accompanied, with unflagging enthusiasm, a weeklong
‘Gujarat Organic Farming Yatra’, which started in Kutchh, traveled down through
Saurashtra, and ended in south Gujarat. Several thousand farmers were drawn to the
various gatherings held during this Yatra.
Over the decades, many aspiring or practising organic farmers have been inspired by
Save, and have learnt much from him. In summary, he is the quintessential ‘farmers’
farmer’, also known as the living Gandhi of natural/organic farming in India.

(abridged)

- Bharat Mansata (bharatmansata@yahoo.com)