Amar Singh Patel (red shirt) and his family on their plot of irrigated land. L to R: son-in-law, Santaram; daughter, Bahura Bai; wife, Sona Bai; grandson, Limesh (age 4); Amar Singh Patel; grandaughter, Jaymati (age 11)...Amar Singh Patel, age 60 owns owns 5 acres of land, 1.5 of which is irrigated. He lives in Rathkhandi village, Bilaspur District, Chhattisgarh State with his wife Sona Bai, their daughter and son-in-law and four grandchildren...On this irrigated land, Amar Singh's family cultivate rice using the SRI technique together with a small vegetable plot. The remaining 3.5 acres are leased out to share-croppers. Amar Singh was introduced to SRI by Oxfam partners Jan Swasthya Sahyog (JSS) and began growing rice using this technique in 2007...Amar Singh's land did not always produce enough food for his family to eat. When Amar Singh was a young man, he and his family had to eat wild flowers to survive. They also had to sell their cattle, buy clothing on credit and migrate in search of work...The JSS introduced SRI to Amar Singh and others in his village. SRI is an organic system of intensively growing rice that can double crop yields double. ..Using SRI, Amar Singh and his family produce enough rice for all of their annual needs from only 1.5 acres of land. They now never go hungry...By using SRI Amar Singh never has to spend money on expensive chemicals which degrade the soil. SRI also uses less seed. With fewer inputs Amar Singh has made savings and invested these in his farm. Last year he purchased a new bullock cart. And Amar Singh's grandchildren no longer have to work the land when they should be at school as he did when he was a child. ..The JSS have recruited Amar Singh as an advocate for SRI and teach other farmers the benefits of this system of agriculture. ..Photo: Tom Pietrasik.Chhattisgarh, India.November 2012