why jp singh is every indian farmer's best friend

8/13/2019 Why JP Singh is Every Indian Farmer's Best Friend

1/12

Why JP Singh is every Indian farmer's best friend

How did an unassuming Varanasi farmer and school dropout come to be sought after by

farmers, praised by experts and awarded by the government for his famous seeds?

I'm in Varanasi, looking for the house of JP Singh.

Spirituality soaks everyone and everything in Varanasi, also called Benares and Kashi - the holiest of seven

holy cities in Hinduism. Key to the founding of both Buddhism and Sikhism, home to Tulsidas and Kabir and

one of the oldest living cities in the world.

Stepping out of Varanasi railway station early in the morning though, there's none of that mature tradition on

display. It's just another small town bursting at its seams. Roads with minds of their own that wander away

from intersections. Autos, jeeps and buses jutting out haphazardly, all waiting for the day's first passengers.

At Rajatalab, an inconspicuous market crossing about an hour away, the rush is gone. Every one seems to

know the house of JP Singh, the beejwala. But no one's in a hurry to get there. Thirty minutes of waiting and

five minutes of arguing later, we're on our way. The roads are narrow and cobblestoned, winding around

years of haphazard constructions.

A railway crossing happens. Then suddenly, there are green fields on both sides. Groups of girls flit past, grey

salwar kameezes neatly pressed, white dupattas daintily c lipped, all cycling in tandem to school. Their

mothers are already at work, leading buffaloes out to pasture, drying out dung patties they'll burn in stoves

later. The city is suddenly a distant memory. Fifteen minutes later I'm outside his house.

This is a man who's been awarded by two successive Presidents- in 2002 by President APJ Abdul Kalam and

in 2009 by President Pratibha Patil. In May this year, Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar picked him for

the Plant Genome Saviour award. In September, he hosted scientists and farmersfrom South India, the US,

Brazil, Haiti and Indonesia.

His claim to fame? He develops indigenous, high-yielding and disease resistant varieties of plants. So far,

he's perfected more than 460 types of paddy, 120 of wheat, 40 kinds of arhar dal and three of mustard. He's

also grown a special type of wood apple or bel, one that y ields 8-10 fruits in a single bunch, multiplying

harvests for poor farmers.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-19/allahabad/42217156_1_gm-seeds-modified-seeds-pankaj-bhushanhttp://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/indias-genome-saviourshttp://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-17/allahabad/38614877_1_gm-seeds-old-seeds-poor-farmers


2/12

JP Singh, the farmer whose innovations have won him fans and several awards. Photo credit: Jaimon Joseph

million farmers in about seven Indian states swear by the seeds he provides. He sells them for Rs 30-40 per


3/12

kilo, compared to the Rs 200-300 that agents charge for genetically modified (GM) crops. Still, his crops

outperform the GM ones on yield. And from their grain, farmers plant for the next harvest - something they

can't do with a GM crop.

Yet, when Jai Prakash Singhwalks out to greet you, there's no arrogance. Just the humility of years spent in

struggle. The smile is warm and welcoming. But the eyes appraise you, check your worth - the instinct of a

hard driving man, for whom getting results is important.

On the other side of the road, there's a big seed storehouse. On this side is a sprawling bungalow and on the

porch, a number of cars. But they all belong to his brother - Chandra Shekhar Singh Raghuvanshi, a big shot

seed tradesman and lawyer - says JP as he leads me out back, to a simple, single-storeyed concrete house

that's been under construction for three long years. It is here, in an unpainted room that still has a floor lined

with cowdung paste, that he tells me his story over a hot cup of delicious tea.

***

"We are five brothers and sisters. I'm number three. I was the one who was weak in school. I never passed my

tenth standard exam in 1983," says JP.

"Our father, Shitala Prasad Singh, was a primary school teacher. He was a strong, outspoken man, well known

in the villages around here. He even stood for elections once. But he never became an MLA. He was too blunt

for anything like that."

In the 1970s, around the time of the Green Revolution, a busload of agricultural scientists came down to JP's

village from the university in Pant Nagar. They asked if anyone wanted high yielding seeds and training on

how to grow them. JP's father roped in his friends from the village and together, they reaped some of the

biggest harvests ever reported in these parts. Later, Shitala Prasad became an agent for the National Seeds

Corporation, with small shops in a few towns in UP.

"Since I was the school dropout, I used to hang out at his shop a lot, in the first few years after 1983. One day,

a customer came in when Father wasn't around. He'd had successive bad crops, was under financial pressure.

He wanted seeds that would guarantee a good harvest. I gave him a government variety called UP 2003,

which was pretty hot around that time."

A few months later, the man came back to Shitala Prasad's shop. He was beaming from ear to ear. He sought

JP out and when he had his attention, he said he'd had the best harvest in his village. His money problems

were gone and his relatives didn't think he was a loser anymore.

"That one incident changed everything for me. I was stunned to find that a simple seed could so dramatically

change a man's fortunes. And after being treated as a no-good school dropout, I was elated to receive praise

for a job well done. That's when I decided I'd experiment with seeds."


4/12

JP got married in 1984, a year after flunking his Class 10 exams. He eventually fathered two daughters and

two sons. But without a degree, he could never land a job or earn enough to sustain his family comfortably.

Shitala Prasad's seed business soon ran into losses. A number of his shops closed down. And JP had to leave

home for a while, making a living as best as he could, even if it meant working as a farm hand or labourer. But

he never forgot his dream. When he came back to Tandiya v illage around 1990, he picked up where he'd left

off.

He would cy cle 25 km up and down everyday, to and from the Banaras Hindu University. T here was a senior

scientist there, a Dr Mahatir Singh, who was working on hybrid wheat varieties. JP went just to watch him at

work.


5/12

In his farm outside Varanasi JP Singh continues to work on new strains of crops. Photo credit: Jaimon Joseph

"He'd open the grain pod of a desivariety with pincers, remove the stuff inside, clean the pod with a chemical


6/12

JP Dollar, JP Samrat, JP Viraat and the other wheat s trains JP has developed. Photo credit: Jaimon Joseph

and then fill it with germinating grain from another, higher y ielding wheat plant. In a few weeks, the original

plant would put forth much larger, heavier ears of wheat than it normally would. We'd get a hybrid plant with

a higher yield.

"I didn't have his expertise, or access to the chemicals he used. So I just messed around with the plants in my

own field. I'd open their pods, and remove two of the three tiny flowers inside. I'd replace those with

miniscule flowers from a higher yielding variety. Somewhere along my fumbling around, I managed to whip

up a robust strain that performed better than its siblings. That was my first discovery - I called that strain

Mahesh."

All the wheat varieties JP has today - Dollar, Samrat, Viraat, the whole JP series - are offshoots of that first

strain Mahesh, developed around 1991.

"From then on, I'd simply identify plants that grew larger, or faster, or gave higher yields than the rest and

segregate their seeds. Those seeds I'd plant in a separate plot in the next season - and then again segregate the

best performing plants. Over time, they've given me the hundreds of varieties I sell today - all champion

performers. All products of careful selection."

***


7/12

Unknown perhaps to JP, different scientists have different takes on his claims to fame. Dr KP Singh is a

retired professor from the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University in Hisar, Haryana. He's

been associated with JP Singh for close to 15 years. He's also well known in academic circles as a reputed

plant geneticist. He reveals an angle to JP's story that not many might know about.

"In the '70s and '80s, there was a bunch of geneticists in India, myself and Dr Sanjay Rajaram [wheat

specialist and Padma Shri awardee] included, that was researching high yielding varieties of wheat. We

collaborated with institutions in Ukraine and Mexico, collected plant material, did gene modifications and

got some outstanding test results in India. Curiously, not many in the Indian bureaucracy paid much

attention in those days. We had a load of high potential seeds on our hands and a government supremely dis-

interested in supporting them. So we donated those seeds to farmers."

Dr Singh believes that the spectacular yields that JP and other rustic plant breeders in UP are witnessing now

might be a late byproduct of solid scientific work done decades ago in Indian labs.

Dr Bhim Singh Dahiyawas Director of Research at the same university till a few years ago. T oday, he is Chief

Coordinator of Research at Kaveri Seed Company in Hyderabad, a private f irm with a Rs 900 crore annual

turnover. He agrees in part with Dr Singh.

"Way back then, India had poor technology, low access to resources and poor seeds. The Agriculture

Ministry was focusing on all rounder seeds - that would give consistently high yields in all sorts of climates

and conditions, if given generous doses of fertilizer and pesticide. That aim unconsciously biased the way we

collected our data and the way we ev aluated our seeds."

"No two farms have exactly the same type of soil. Different parts of Uttar Pradesh can have dramatically

different water tables, salinity and fertility. Crops developed by scientists like Dr KP Singh were tailor made

for specific soil and climate conditions - they'd deliver average y ields in certain places but outstanding yields

where other crops might not survive. That's why they were ignored by the government and why Dr Singh

ultimately decided to give them away."

"Today, the tables are turned. We've reached a tipping point in the amount of fertilizers and pesticides we

can use. In the amount of land and irrigation we can provide with conventional methods. As a country, we do

have access to money and latest technology. What we need now are seeds bred to survive and thrive in

differing conditions. Particular seeds for particular soil types. T he sort of work that was ignored years ago."

But Dr Dahiya is clear that JP has every right to the credit he gets today. "T he first plant breeders in the

world were illiterate farmers. Not scientists. Before the green revolution, the seeds our farmers picked and

grew for centuries were selected purely on their suitability and performance in differing conditions. T hat's

exactly the sort of work JP is doing now. It takes years of observation and selection to propagate a particular

trait in a plant. JP does it so well, his seeds are better than some developed in our research institutions."


8/12

Just how much better is pointed out by Dr Jagveer Rawat, a scientist formerly with the Krishi Vigyan Kendra

in Panipat and now with the Lala Lajpat Rai University of Animal and Veterinary Sciences in Hisar. He met JP

in 2002.

"In 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, JP's plants were put under observation on the Krishi Vigyan Kendra farm.

Both Dr KP Singh and Dr Bhim Singh Dahiya were part of the study. One particular strain of wheat, called the

X-JP 52, was found to be exceptionally rich in iron content. It was also almost immune to damage from

water-logging. After almost two years of work, about 16 cultivars- or plant strains which showed promise

under test conditions, were taken away by the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University for

further studies."

Dr Rawat himself was so impressed with JP's seeds, he got his own NGO, the Manav Kalyan Sewa Samiti, to

work with him. He's now lobbying with the Planning Commission to get low cost farmer innovation centers

established in every district in India. The idea is to get such centers to work with enterprising local farmers

like JP Singh - to cross pollinate ideas that could drive India's next green revolution.

***

By 1997, JP Singh's seeds were the rage in many parts of Uttar Pradesh (UP). But he'd give them all sorts of

names, whatever caught his fancy at the time. In 1997 Dr Ram Kirpal Singh, the Krishi Zilla Adhikari,

happened to visit his farm. Tagging along was an AIR radio crew.


9/12

The seed varieties that farmers flock JP Singh's home for. Photo credit: Jaimon Joseph

"Live on air, Dr Singh told me he'd never seen ears of wheat so big, even on farms abroad. Still on air, he

suggested I give my own name to the varieties I develop - JP, for Jai Prakash."

The idea caught on. Before long, farmers were clamoring for JP seeds.

When business began to look like it would take root, JP did what people expected him to do. He would

suddenly takeoff. Between 2000 and 2002, he'd take furtive breaks from work - sometimes 2 days,

sometimes a whole week. He'd tell his wife he was away v isiting friends.

What he was actually doing was state hopping. Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra - hevisited them all. He'd travel without reservation in general compartments, sleep on the pavements, eat at the

homes of acquaintances. They'd also introduce him to farmers in remote villages in those states.

With signs and gestures, he'd tell those farmers he was looking for unusual seeds - wheat or rice with high iron

content, plants that were drought resistant, that took very little time to grow, or ones that delivered bumper

harvests. He'd wrap those seeds in small bundles and like squirrels that carry back nuts to their nests, JP

Singh would carry his precious seeds back home to UP.


10/12


11/12

As we talk, JP's phone keeps ringing. Someone calls from Satara in Maharashtra requesting a few quintals of

seeds. Another chap calls from Itarsi in UP. Has the seed truck crossed the check posts, he asks. How much

longer before it gets here?

To each caller, JP talks in that same polite, mellifluous dialect peculiar to this part of Uttar Pradesh.

"Every thing's on schedule", he assures. "Just hang on, the seeds will be there before you know it."

As he hangs up JP says, "T his phone is my shop now. People keep calling from all over India. And I keep

sending out my seeds. Isn't technology great?"

Even as he talks, y oung farmers from the neighborhood sort through sacks of seeds in his living room.

"Babuji, I'm sowing my crop rather late this year. Give me something that'll thrive despite that change,"

shouts one.

JP smiles.***

Out in his fields in Tandiya village, JP proudly points out the plant varieties he peddles today. In the

distance, an especially potent strain of wheat. Up towards the left, a strain of black rice. It's the sort that's

popular in the North East and in countries like South Korea. But JP says he found this one in his own fields,

just selecting and hoarding unusual seeds. "Just look at the colour. I even got the grain tested. The scientists

say it's rich in iron," he says delightedly.

And yet, in all this success, there is a tinge of sadness.

"The crops this year didn't do as well as they should have. First, we didn't have a tractor. I sold mine when the

family property was being redistributed among us brothers. A new one costs Rs 4-5 lakh and I don't have that

sort of cash. So this year, we tilled our fields using bullocks. Old style.'

"Then, we didn't have enough water at the right time. My submersible pump gave up the ghost this year. And

we didn't have the money to get it repaired. Without water, the crops this year are slightly stunted. Their

yield will probably go down too."

I ask him why he won't sell his seeds at higher prices. After all, they're champion varieties, ones that

practically guarantee bumper harvests. Their GM competitors cost upto 10 times as much - and yet, people

buy them.

JP Singh smiles when he hears my question. "I'm not in this game for the money ", he says. "If it was just

money I wanted, I'd have made it a long time ago.'


12/12

"I'm happy when farmers benefit from my seeds. I've never calculated if they'll cheat me, if they'll pass off

seeds from my crops as their own. Some do, y ou know - but word gets around. Word of mouth is everything

in this business. Nobody forces people to call my seeds by the names I've given them. But they do. Maybe it's

because they trust me.'

"Money is important. But there's enough to go around. It's we humans who have to help other humans. That's

humanity. That's what will save us all. T hat's probably why I keep my seeds cheap."

He tells me about his encounter almost 20 years ago with a sage, believed by everyone to be around 130

years old. "His name was Ram Dass, and he was so old, he moved on all four limbs - but he did move fast. He

clambered up the rock he used as a seat. And before I could speak a word, this man who I had never met

before, who could have known nothing about me or my visit, said calmly - I know why you've come. Y ou'll

help bring back Ram Rajya."

Ram Dass told JP he'd preserved documents 120 years old - texts written on parchment, minutes of meetings

long since forgotten. They were meetings of ancient sages in Kashi, laying a road-map for the return of RamRajya. Three or four days after JP met the sage, Ram Dass died. It was almost like he'd been waiting for JP to

arrive. Before he died, he entrusted to JP the documents he'd been guarding.

"From ancient times, he said, there has been an unbroken line of storytellers. To them was given the task of

telling the world a true story. Of how the sages cursed the royal traditions of kings and caused them to

crumble. They were disgusted by the vile lives those emperors led. But their curse disrupted a system of law

that had held the world together since the beginning of time. It was the beginning of massive upheavals

around the globe. T his age will pass away one day. And with it, will go the problems of our present world. But

that will happen only if men know of the bliss that once existed on Earth. When they work for it and yearn for

it with all their hearts. This is the time when leaders of all nations and faiths must unite. To hasten the return

of Ram Rajya.'

"Sant Ram Das told me he was a storyteller. A custodian of ancient truths. A herald of the time to come. I

didn't realize it then. But when he handed those withered parchments to me, he was passing on the tradition.

I'm the storyteller now. I'm the one who has to bear witness to the world."

A few minutes before I was to leave his house, JP Singh suddenly asked, "Bhaisaheb, what does one do to get

a Nobel Prize?" I tried explaining to him the importance and perhaps the impossibility of snagging a Nobel.

The educational intricacies, the need for peer reviewed work.

Midway through my soliloquy, I realized how hollow I must have sounded. I was preaching theory to a man

who enjoys the trust of thousands.

He heard me out patiently. Didn't interrupt, didn't demur. But there was that calm look in his eyes. City boys

can talk all they want. But this farmer has his heart set on a Nobel. No one can tell him he can't have it.

why jp singh is every indian farmer's best friend

Documents