January 2, 2026, was a special day for Mukesh Kumar Gurjar. On this day, he, along with about 800 members of his village panchayat, pledged to abstain from using chemical fertilisers and pesticides like urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) in the future. Currently, his two-acre wheat crop is standing, and for the first time, he has not used chemical fertilisers. He admitted that this year’s wheat crop was poor due to his lack of fertiliser use. Yet he does not regret his decision. Gurjar is confident that production will return to normal in the next two years.
Gurjar lives in Nangalheri, a village of about 1,000 people, in the Kotputli-Behror district of eastern Rajasthan. The entire village’s economy depends on agriculture and animal husbandry. The Gurjar-dominated settlement has approximately 110 hectares of cultivated land and 5,000-6,000 buffaloes. Mukesh estimates that every household in the village has at least five and up to 50 buffaloes. The dung from these animals can easily replace chemical fertilisers.
Mukesh’s reasoning for abandoning chemical fertilisers is that urea, DAP, and pesticides are polluting the soil. Furthermore, these chemical-laden crops are increasing the burden of diseases. Given these facts, Gurjar, along with most of the village residents, has turned to organic farming.
He believes this will definitely reduce the cost of farming. Gurjar estimates that his 8 bigha (two-hectare) farm used to use 16 bags of urea, eight bags of DAP, and eight bags of zinc. Adding up all these expenses would result in a savings of approximately Rs 11,500. According to Mukesh, a local non-proft, Cofed, has fully guaranteed a market for his organic produce and has continuously trained farmers, explaining the importance of organic farming. This has led to farmers turning to organic farming.
Nangalheri, falls within the Bamanwas Kankar Gram Panchayat. In Bamanwas, residents took a pledge to practice organic farming at a program organised by a non-profit. The non-profit claims that all farmers in Bamanwas Kankar also pledged to abstain from using chemical fertilisers and pesticides in their fields.
However, a ground investigation revealed this claim to be completely untrue. Ashok Kumar, a farmer living in the village, said he was unaware of any pledge ceremony or claims of the village becoming organic. He said all farmers in the village were using urea and DAP in their fields. Down to Earth (DTE) also observed farmers in the village with chemical fertilisers. Ashok Kumar admitted that chemical fertilisers harm the fields, but that if they are not used, there will be no yield.
Similarly, Latu Ram Gurjar, a resident of Bhadana ki Bal village, which is part of the Gram Panchayat, says that his fellow villagers also took an oath to shun chemical fertilisers, but some people still use them. Suresh Gurjar, however, says that he has used Jeevamrit instead of chemical fertilisers on his 2.5 bigha field.
Ganesh Chaudhary, the sarpanch (village head) of Bamanwas Kankar, told DTE that adopting anything new takes time to catch on. Although his village hasn’t yet become organic, within a year, farmers will understand the importance of organic farming and stop using chemicals. He says the entire village panchayat has 2,000 families and 30,000 hectares of agricultural land. Adopting organic farming will benefit the farmers, as their produce will sell at higher prices.
According to Karani Singh, a member of Cofed, “For the past year, we’ve been going door-to-door to farmers, explaining the importance of organic farming and the high prices organic products fetch, including milk. The farmers have understood this and have pledged to practice chemical-free farming." “We are registering such farmers in the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS),” Singh added.