In the past four decades of the Green Revolution, Punjab has not only lost her natural resources, biodiversity, water and soil; she has also lost her social, cultural and civilizational strengths. The Green Revolution has made the Punjabi farmer totally dependent on borrowed knowledge, knowledge which is not in alignment with Punjabi ecological heritage and worldview. Farmers were made slave to a mind-set which has taken away their self-esteem and confidence in inherited science and technology. KVM is of the firm view that the farmers, having a history and heritage of agriculture dating back more than 10,000 years, are the real experts and scientists of agriculture. Farmers who are doing experiments themselves, at their own risks and with their own resources, are the real champions of agriculture. They did not need any Agriculture University-- an educational system which has caused so much damage to traditional agricultural wisdom.

Below we introduce a few farmers whom we can call Guru-Kisan of organic farming; these Master Farmers have dared to walk against the current and take up the challenge to make Punjab pesticide-free. (These interviews were taken by French student Nadessen Apavou, from the University of Paris, who stayed with KVM as an intern in 2010.) 

In 2005, KVM started working in Jaitu and its adjoining villages. Chaina is among a few villages with which KVM initially began its work, and Amarjeet Sharma was among those few farmers who joined KVM's ecological farming movement in the very beginning. He participated in KVM's workshops with great zeal and spirit and boldly converted all of his land to organic in 2006. For a farmer to convert to organic, especially when he has a small land holding, is not an easy decision. This makes Amarjeet Sharma an icon and leader of the organic farming movement within his region, and also a leader for the state of Punjab and across all of northern India. Amarjeet Sharma is unique in his vision, great scientific insights, and dedication. He has gone even further, becoming the first known farmer in Punjab to develop a Seed Bank in his own house, having sacrificed earnings from the small shop he had operated in this space previously. For Amarjeet Sharma, organic farming is another means of leading the struggle for true & total independence for India...read more

On November 21, 2005, Vinod Jyani gave up chemical farming in one go and converted his entire 130 acres of land into an organic farm. This came after attending an introductory meeting organized by KVM at Fazilka and a subsequent 2-day workshop held at Jaitu which was facilitated by the organic farming expert Manohar Parchure, of Nagpur. Vinod was so inspired and motivated by the workshop that on the day he returned to his farm, he ordered his assistant to send back all pesticides and chemical fertilizers to the dealer's shop in the city. He dared to start organic farming in his entire land holding. Today he is one of the most successful organic & natural farmers of the region...read more

As a graduate in Engineering from REC, Jalandhar and recipient of a Masters in Management from the USA, Gaurav Sahai was previously employed in Silicon Valley, USA. Guarav chose to abandon his very well-paying employment in the USA to return to India to become an organic farmer. He became a true farmer in all aspects, starting his days on the farm at 5 AM, before sunrise, and working his fields til sunset. Choosing this simple life with few comforts and modern luxuries, he became an example of austerity and an embodiment of the work ethic. Guarav is practicing his organic and natural farming on his six acre stretch of land in Landran village of Mohali district. His small venture, "Sattva Farms", supplies organic vegetables and other foods to the tri-city region of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. He has a fixed clientele for his produce, and the demand exceeds supply in his case. He admits that in the beginning, he faced teething problems, though after three years of caring for his soil, his input is now less than his output, thus making him a healthy profit...read more

Jarnail Singh, a BSc in Agriculture and MSc in Geology, is a practitioner of natural farming from village Majhi located at Nabha-Bhawanigarh Road. Jarnail has taken several innovative steps in his practices, such as successfully mulching all crop residue of paddy and rice in his fields. A highly successful organic farmer with a deep knowledge and understanding of the soil, farm ecosystem, and appropriate agriculture technologies... read more

Aashish Ahuja belongs to Abohar town at the southern-most tip of Punjab and has a very large farm in Khubban village, located on Abohar-Dabawali Road. For Aashish, his M.Tech in Chemical Engineering, IIT-Delhi degree was a passport to a high-salary job. Instead, however, he chose to bring "organic science" to his ancestral 200-acre farm in a Bathinda village and thus prevent the massive overuse of pesticides now causing cancer there. Now an activist of ecological agriculture, Aashish conducts numerous experiments to develop innovative methods in his farming. In his words, "(The) indiscriminate use of chemicals render the soil unfit to grow organic food for a long time. Also, there is a capitalist approach to farming and changing mindsets takes its time. I have a long way to go and intend to push harder" he says, while adding that several of his IIT colleagues have also now taken to farming... read more