It is difficult to practice organic farming in France as our farms are large, manpower is limited, and our farming is mechanised farming. Moreover, the consumption of vegetables in our country is low. That’s why, we enjoyed our training period in India ... in Pune. And we tasted guavas and papayas for the first time in our life and that too organically grown!”

This is the reaction of four undergraduate students from France who were in Pune for the last two weeks to study organic farming here, as a part of their academic curriculum.

The four second-year students from an agro-development engineering school in Cergy in France visited organic farms in village Salo Malo in Pargaon taluka in Pune district. “It was truly a learning experience for us,” said Gonzague Pelenc, , Emilie Repplinger, Coralie LeRoux and Maxime Malet after getting to actually work in the farm.

“Organic farming was entirely new for me, as we do not have it in our country. It was really exciting to interact with the farmers here, visit the farms, actually sow seeds and prepare manure from natural ingredients. I hope these farmers will continue their ‘fight’ for this more sustainable form of agriculture which has more respect for the environment,” said Gonzague.

The four students were helped by the city-based NGO Prayas to communicate with the Action for Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra (AFARM). One of the member organisations of AFARM, the Nav Nirman Nyas (NNN) helped to provide them with hands-on field experience.

The president of NNN Vasudha Sardar informed them about why organic farming is important and also about other associated businesses like dairy farming. More familiar with mechanized farming and piggery, the students were surprised to see the extent of manual work involved. “In France only five per cent of the population is involved in agriculture, while in India more manpower is involved in farming than mechanization,” observed Gonzague.

“It give me hope to see the farmers from Salo Malo are courageously involved in producing healthy food, even in a developing country,” said Repplinger. Le Roux appreciated the fact that organically produced healthy vegetables are being sold without intervention of big intermediate companies.

“Strict rules and regulations are an obstacle to organic farming in France. Also, organically grown agro-products are 70 per cent more expensive than chemically grown products. However, our government has set a target now to curtail use of pesticides by 50 per cent by the year 2018,” said Malet.

Eight other colleagues of these French students are studying farming patterns in Kolkata and Delhi.