Periodic Proportionate Farming/Avartansheel kheti

Bundelkhand is a parched region comprising 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh that is regularly featured on the national news for prolonged droughts, crop loss and farmer suicides.Here, a new farming style, called the avartansheel kheti or periodic proportionate farming has been experimented by some farmers with positive gains.

• It rests on two key principles. Farmers should produce food for themselves and only the surplus should be sold in the market. Self-consumption ensures farmers will never use harmful pesticides, fertilisers and other chemicals. Secondly, farmers must process everything before selling to maximise profits.
• The idea is to ensure the prosperity of the farmer’s family, ecological balance and food security of the country
• Avartansheel Kheti an organic method of growing food is gaining wide popularity across the country.Avartansheel Kheti is based on the philosophy of A Nagraj, who was a proponent of harmonious co-existence.
• The ideal farm   in avartansheel Kheti case involves-Cattle drinking from the in farm water bodies, families relishing fruit from their own orchards as soil remain healthy and nourished despite intensive farming. Pickle is made out of turmeric, candy and powder out of amla (gooseberry), sattu or gram flower out of chickpeas. Milk can be converted to ghee before selling it.
• The farmer would have to utilise his farm by dividing it into three parts: one-third would be used for rearing fruits and crops, the other for growing timber and the remaining portion for animal husbandry.
• The innermost zone in avartansheel farminghas the farmer’s  house, small herbs, cereals and vegetables that are grown just for the family. Next, there is a place for livestock such as cows, goats and poultry. The outermost zone has timber and fruit trees such as mango and amla which work as natural windbreakers.
• The farmer, known in the area as “pragatisheel” or progressive, advises farmers to not directly trade their produce in the market but to sell the processed extracts. For instance, sell paneer but not milk, and so on. “That will link the farm to the kitchen. And also give the customers a better quality and nutritious product