| The farmer has developed a herbal extract for controlling hairy caterpillar |
Less maintenance: Mr. Sakthi Ganapathi, in his ecological farm at Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu.
Agricultural development and research in the country has mainly been focussing on maximising yields, especially during the past 5-6 decades.
Though the yields increased substantially, farmers and the environment had to pay a heavy price for this development. With low prices being offered for farm produces and the rising costs of chemical inputs having made agriculture unprofitable, farmers sought new ways to increase their farm incomes in order to survive.
Environment friendly
Slowly but steadily during the last 10-15 years, several farmers have chosen to adopt practices such as ecological and natural farming methods, which are more profitable and environmentally friendly contributing to long-term sustainability.
According to Dr. G. Nammalwar, organic scientist, there is no single recipe to follow to develop an ecological farm.
A conversion to ecological farming requires the farmer to know something about ecological (natural) principles and to be innovative in his ideas and skills.
“All the inputs required are there in the farm itself and the farmer need notgo in for anything from outside. In short, ecological farming is organic in practice and ecological in theory,” he said.
For example, Sakthi farm covers just about2.5 acres, located in the out skirts of a village adjacent toVeerapatti –Kerranur road in Pudukkottai district, Tamil Nadu. The farm owned by Mr. Sakthi Ganapathi, is home to several tree varieties. Most of the trees are found growing along the bunds of the paddy fields.
Normally farmers cut the trees as they are a hindrance to paddy growth because the shadow cast by the trees hinders the photosynthetic activity of the crops growing near them.
But Mr. Ganapathi does not cut the trees. Instead, he prunes them once a year.Pruningmust also involve much manual labour?
More benefits
“It does, but the ecological benefits are more for my farm than the loss in my paddy crop yield. Several birds have made the trees their home and feed on the insects and pests, which attack my crops.
Especially during the night there are some owls which feed on the rats entering my paddy fields. These birds act as effective pest controllers,” explained Mr. Ganapathi.
A fish pond has been dug in his field which is covered by water plants. Irrigation water from a well enters the fish pond and then flows into the paddy fields.
No expenditure
Fishes such as Viral (Tamil) are grown in an open well where they lay their eggs and hatch the fries (young fishes). “I do not spend anything for feeding the fishes. The fishes seek their own food such as frogs in the well.
The fingerlings are kept in the pond where they hide under water during the day, and swim into the paddy fields during night, feeding on plant eating insects.
In addition the water becomes enriched as manure with their droppings. Full grown fishes are sold,” he said. In addition he also grows ducks which are allowed to roam in the rice fields during the day. The birds, by their constant paddling inside the field, suppress weed growth.
“A combination of two or three functions reduces the cost and labour. I do not choose a separate location for planting my coconut seedlings. I bury the nuts along the irrigation channel and sell the seedlings to the visitors to the farm,” he said.
Adjacent to his farm is a big lake which rarely gets filled. “But when it gets filled three fields of my farm get inundated.
Additional benefit
The lake water brings silt into my paddy fields and the matured fishes in the lake find the paddy field is a better place for laying their eggs and breeding young ones. Some of the fishes swim back into the lake when the water drains,” he said.
During summer, when his well water depletes he switches over to crop rotation, by including millet or pulses or green manure crops. Mr. Ganapathy has also found a herbal control for hairy caterpillar menace in groundnut.
Herbal extract
“I spray a fresh extract of four herbs, aloe vera (Sothu kathazai in Tamil), Calotrophis (Yeruku in Tamil), Vitex (Nochi in Tamil) and a hedge plant with white tiny flower and strong smell in the leaves (Peegalathe in Tamil) on the caterpillar (during the early stages) and found that this extract is quite successful in controlling the pest,” he explained.
For a visit to the farm and more information readers can contact Mr. K. Murali, Indian Organic Agriculturist Movement (IOAM), email: sadhguru@gmail.com
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