While experts and critics country-wide are locked in debate over controversial transgenic technology to multiply yield, a quiet revolution is underway at Astha village, where farmers have achieved the impossible: a rich harvest while almost eliminating the use of pesticides.

The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) module for cotton cultivation introduced here in 1997 has paid rich dividends for Astha's farmers. But more importantly, it has also taken root in the tillers' otherwise stubborn psyche. The technique, which uses natural means to kill the omnipresent bollworms, aims to eliminate the use of pesticides which account for half the investment perseason.

Executed under the aegis of the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM) and the Agriculture University at Parbhani, the technique made pesticide consumption in the village plunge from a whopping 3,500 litres to just 10 litres in the current season. Simultaneously, the yeild rose from about 50 kg per acre to a miraculous 300 kg (three quintals).

``The resounding success after years of maddening experiments with expensive pesticides has instilled a new confidence in our farmers. In fact, it is the first time the villagers are imbibing a scientific temper, having worked closely with agri-scientists over the last 10 months,'' says Gokuldas Vanjare, a retired school teacher who has turned to farming.

But coaxing farmers to abandon pesticides in favour of neem seed kernel extract was not easy. First, the method was field-tested on a five-acre plot belonging to the village sarpanch, Dilip Keshwe, in 1997. While this yielded four quintals of cotton, farmers who had soaked their crop inpesticides managed a pathetic 50 kg, says Assistant Entomologist R C Lavekar of the Cotton Research Institute at Nanded who supervised the experiment under the guidance of NCIPM Director, Dr S N Puri.

When Dr Puri and Dr Lavekar met the villagers a second time in April 1998, surprisingly the latter pledged their cooperation. Soon, the Gram Panchayat passed a resolution stating that none of the 124 farmers in the village would use a drop of pesticide. And, with that, the entire village was prepped for the experiment.

But Ashta was not selected at random. Perched on the border of the three major cotton-growing regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada in Maharashtra and Telengana in Andhra Pradesh, the experiment aimed to set an example in regions which witnessed a spate of suicides last year due to crop failure. Moreover, with soil and climatic conditions here mimicking conditions in about 80 per cent of the cotton-growing areas in Maharashtra, the location was just perfect.

Prior to the experiment, Astha'sfarmers had been experimenting with practically every new cotton seed which sprouted in the market, reveals Anant Namdeo Keshve, who says he has never before reaped such a rich harvest.Kicking off the experiment with the NH-44 and NH 452 varieties of seeds, scientists began with field-cleaning in April 1997. This was followed by seed-treatment, ie, mixing the seeds with a chemical, imidachloripid. Later, Trichogramma, an insect which devours bollworms, were released into the field, twice after sowing. Each time, the plants were sprayed with neem seed kernel five days later.

Soon, the Gram Panchayat office turned into a museum and information centre of sorts, where Dr Lavekar held regular meetings with the farmers. As the farmers saw the dreaded helicoverpa armigera insect grow weaker, their confidence in the module also grew. Astha's farmers, one the butt of ridicule for daring to toy with change, were suddenly being singled out for advice by cotton-growers.

Gokuldas Vanjare began to propagate thetechnique even at condolence meetings while a school teacher would put every tid-bit of advice the agriculture experts gave, on his school notice board in the adjoining village.

Though a section of agri-experts say the IPM module has not undergone the real test as the heliothesis attack was at its lowest this year, Dr Lavekar does not agree. While conceding that the experiment needs about three years to perfect, he says that while the three quintals per acre yield in Astha was possible without a drop of pesticides, farmers in adjoining areas had sprayed their crops at least five times to get much lower yields.

Ironically, while entomologists from India and abroad have visited Astha to witness the transformation, not a single official of the Government of Maharashtra has inspected the project. But that is not surprising.