Environment Day Special: How a Bastar woman farmer turned one crop into three

RAIPUR: In a forest village tucked deep inside Bastar, where farming once ended with the monsoon and cracked earth signalled months of uncertainty, a quiet green revolution is now flowing through solar-powered pipes.On the eve of World Environment Day, the story of tribal woman farmer Mahrin Madapi from Lulegondi village in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district is emerging as a striking grassroots example of how renewable energy, water conservation and climate-resilient farming can change lives in some of India’s most vulnerable rural landscapes.Until a few years ago, Mahrin’s fields survived on rain alone.Like hundreds of farmers across Bastar’s tribal belt, she cultivated only a single Kharif crop every year. Once the monsoon clouds disappeared, so did farming activity. The land dried up, income stopped and uncertainty returned.Today, however, her fields stay green long after the rains are gone.Paddy is now followed by vegetables, oilseeds and multiple Rabi crops, while a solar-powered lift irrigation system quietly carries water into farmland that once remained barren for months.The transformation began after a rural level NGO TRI (transforming rural India) introduced a community managed solar lift irrigation (CMSLI) initiative in the village to tackle chronic water scarcity and reduce dependence on erratic rainfall — a growing concern in climate-sensitive tribal regions.Under the initiative, solar-powered irrigation infrastructure was installed while farmers, especially women, were trained in sustainable agriculture, horticulture and organic farming practices.For Mahrin, the shift changed not just cultivation patterns, but the rhythm of life itself.“Earlier, I could grow only one crop and was constantly worried about water,” she said. “After the solar irrigation system came and I received training, I started cultivating multiple crops. Farming has become reliable and I can now plan for the future.”The impact has been dramatic.Her annual income, once limited to around Rs 60,000-70,000, has reportedly risen to nearly Rs 2.5-3 lakh after shifting from subsistence farming to diversified cultivation.But beyond income, officials said the model represents something larger — a local response to some of the biggest global environmental challenges.The solar irrigation system has reduced dependence on diesel pumps and erratic electricity while allowing farmers to use water more efficiently. Organic and diversified farming practices have also reduced pressure on soil health and encouraged year-round cultivation.In Lulegondi, Mahrin has now become more than a beneficiary of a rural programme.She has emerged as an example of how women farmers in remote tribal regions are increasingly standing at the frontline of environmental sustainability — protecting water, improving food security and proving that climate resilience can begin from the smallest village fields.For years, farming in her village stopped when the rains stopped.Now, powered by sunlight instead of diesel and sustained by water conservation instead of uncertainty, the fields remain alive — even in summer.