Innovative technique showcased at national conference

Mr. Sakthivel

A farmer is comparable to a one man University.

“A single person combines in himself the work of a weatherman, an engineer, a marketing executive, a veterinarian, and above all a statesman endowed with the responsibility of feeding his people, says Mr G. R. Sakthivel an enterprising and innovative farmer from Sathyamangalam, Erode, Tamil Nadu.

A member of the scientific advisory committee of MYRADA-KVK and Erode district organic farmers’ federation, Mr. Sakthivel developed a simple yet effective mechanism to filter cattle waste and use the same in sugarcane cultivation.

Four compartments

The four compartment system includes the filtration technique, ensuring that an enriched solution gets collected at the end, mixed with water, and sent by drip irrigation system to the field.

The first section is meant for collection of cow dung and urine mixing. After thorough mixing, the solution is sent to the second compartment for first filtration.

The solid matter is used for biogas production and the upper part of the solution is then allowed to flow into a third compartment where jaggery is added for fermentation. The clear enriched filtrated medium is collected and used for irrigation.

By adopting this technology the farmer can save Rs.27,000 per acre as it reduces labour and fertilizer cost, according to Mr. Sakthivel. This technology aids water holding capacity in the soil and presence of earth worms is considerably increased in the fields.

A believer in organic cultivation, Mr. Sakthivel says that “one of the main reasons that encouraged me to develop this technique was the decreasing quality of soil due to the continuous usage of chemicals for growing crops.”

Cattle resources

“Fertilizers not only affect one’s health considerably, but also decrease the quantity of yield. I worked on this innovation to do away with the use of fertilizers, and use available cattle resources for the purpose of soil nourishment.” he says.

Decreased availability of labour also acted as a catalyst in the process of innovation for this farmer.

“The increase in sugarcane yield in the farmers fields are a standing proof for the success of this innovation. From 60 tonnes in the first harvest, the yield increased to 63 tonnes in the second harvest. The crop, now in its third harvest, is expected to yield higher,” says agricultural expert Mr Saravana Kumar. Priced at Rs.20,000 the filtering system can be used for other crops as well.

Successful model

Bannariamman sugar factory at Sathyamangalam area identified this technology as an alternative suitable farming practice and the Sugarcane breeding institute, Coimbatore identified this as a successful model for addressing labour and fertilizer reduction in sugarcane cultivation.

“So far we have not received any complaints about the filtration use but in some places blockages in the drip irrigating tubes have been noticed. But we rectified it by using EM (Effective Microorganism) solution once in three months. The EM solution is also mixed with the end solution to flow in the drip tubes to prevent blockage,” says Dr. K. Alagesan, Program Co-ordinator, Myrada Krishi Vigyan Kendra,

Lot of queries

Till date about 10 farmers in the region and a few from Tirunelveli district are trying this technique in their fields.

“Farmers from Dharmapuri, Madurai and Dindigul are now approaching me to learn the technique. I did not innovate for an award. My greatest achievement would be to inspire as many farmers as I can, to take to organic farming methods. Organic farming is the only way to increase declining yields today,” says the farmer.

This, according to him is the real award. Mr. Sakthivel presented this technology at the 6th National level KVK conference at Jabalpur where nearly 1,000 delegates participated. Contact Mr. G.R.Sakthivel at No. 149, Ganeshapuram, Gettavadi(P.o), Talavadi (Via), Sathyamangalam(T.K), Erode District-638461, Mobile: 94863 16041.

 

Break the barriers between researchers and ryots

Mr. Jayaram

For a farmer, the field is office and a good crop means a rewarding salary.

“If he manages to get a little extra then he considers it as a bonus. In a country, where agriculture is supposed to be thousands of years old, isn’t it an irony that a majority of its farmers are not happy financially,” says Mr. P. Jayaram, a progressive farmer in Bangalore growing grapes, tomato, vegetables and mulberry in 15 acres.

Who is to be blamed for the present crises?

Accountability is a must

“There is no use in passing the buck. Accountability is a must, Of what use are all the financial schemes and bank loans, all claiming to be in the farmers’ interest?

“Most of these are only on paper. Do you know the difficulty in getting a Rs.10,000 small-crop loan from a bank? Ask a farmer and he will tell you. And today we are able to buy a Rs. 5 lakh car in a few hours over the phone. Is this a healthy economy?” he asks.

“I am not disputing the fact that the facilities and comforts are today a necessity, but in the name of new luxuries, farmers and agriculture should not be bartered,” he contends.

Role of media

India being an agrarian country, it is the duty of journalists to identify and suggest solutions to burning problems of villages, instead of only reporting on deaths and suicides, Mr. Jayaram argues, calling on the media to be proactive in this.

A journalist’s report must be like a platform to record, show, inform the society about farming experiences in villages, and their traditional methods of conserving land, water etc. According to him, though farmers are true scholars in their area, in reality they are not treated so.

“Often the brick compound wall and wire fences erected around agriculture research centres keep them away from approaching these places.

“Being shy and reserved by nature, a farmer naturally gets flabbergasted by the security at the gate and the protocols involved in such centres,” he says.

“Till date I have never heard or seen any instance where a farmer treats his guests anything but cordially. But the same farmer seldom receives the same courtesy in agricultural offices or research centres he visits.”

Not be a barrier

“Such a treatment of the farmers is not acceptable. The high walls of the research centres should be limited to safeguard the privacy of research, and must not become a barrier between the minds of the researchers and the farmers,” explains Mr. Jayaram. In fact it is their knowledge and skills that should be sought after by those in agricultural varsities.

Scientific farming should evolve involving “true scholars” – the farmers, according to him.

The fact to be noted here is that though the famine or flood does not seem to affect a politician a beauraucrat or businessman – it is only the farmer who endures the loss and suffers.

Needs money

“Have you ever heard about a person from any other profession committing suicide due to crop failure,” he asks.

Seeds, fertilizers, insecticides etc. do not come free of cost. Even such a basic profession as farming needs money.

And the farmer needs financial assistance. Drawn by the several advertisements, that endorse these financial institutions, a farmer buys the seeds and sows it with hopes of high yields.

“When he fails to get a good yield the company that supplied the seeds does not take any reponsibility, and the agriculture experts keep tight lipped. This is the case prevailing in many villages,” asserts Mr. Jayaram.

Indirect support

By lowering the rate of interests time and again, the government too indirectly encourages them to take such financial assistance, making them lifelong debtors.

The hope of a getting a good yield remains just a dream for a poor farmer.

For more details readers can contact Mr. P. Jayaram, Byrdhenahalli, Devanahalli taluk, Bangalore rural, mobile: 09740963352 and 09591527526.

Simple traditional practices can help control rising prices

Prof. Anil Gupta, Vice Chairman, National innovation Foundation.

In the last few years the prices of almost all agricultural commodities shot up by more than sixty per cent.

Prof Anil Gupta, Co-ordinator, Sristi and Honey Bee Network, and Executive Vice Chair, National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad in his blog mentions one clue on why this problem is becoming intractable – we are too focussed entirely on output prices as a balancing exercise.

Need more attention

We do not pay enough attention to reduction of cost in most commodities. We need to aim at reducing unit cost of all goods and services in manufacturing as well as agriculture sector.

Farmers also will not plead for higher prices every year if the cost of their inputs can be controlled and reduced, according to him.

He adds that it is alright for the agricultural minister to say that to pay farmers well, society should bear the inflationary burden.

But that is not the right or understanding attitude towards the poor who suffer the most, nor towards farmers who do not care about prices as much as profits.

Convincing problem

He even wonders how to convince the wise people in the planning commission considering the inflation, and adding cost of ten per cent or so to every unit cost.

He gives the example of growing cotton. The crop consumes almost forty per cent of the country’s chemical pesticides followed by paddy at 20 per cent.

What are we doing?

“What are we doing to reduce the cultivation cost of cotton? Farmers like Mr. Lakhra Bhai of Surendra Nagar in Gujarat used the idea of growing lady’s finger around cotton crops to trap the cotton pests nearly 20 years ago,” he says.

If that did not work, they sprayed jaggery or sugar solution to attract black ants which controlled the pests.

Prof Gupta was requested by the Government to look into the problem of farmers’ suicides in India. “While recommending establishment of village knowledge management systems, I pointed out a great tragedy confronting the children of farmers who committed suicides.

“I asked them whether they knew about any low cost or non-monetary technologies for reducing pest in cotton, since that is what pushed their fathers to the extreme step with no hope of coming out of their debt. The answer was a loud and repeated NO,” he rues.

Ironically, farmers from another district of Maharashtra which he visited, shared a traditional practice (also found in many other parts of India) that lady’s finger as border crop acts as a good trap crop.

It belongs to the same family as cotton and flowers earlier than cotton.

Wrong practice

“Has any experiment been done to prove that the above simple traditional method is wrong in India or Africa or central or West Asia?” he asks.

But will these practices ever reach the masses?

“No. because then farmers will become self reliant and sustainable. Will the department of agriculture share this disregarding the pressure from the pesticide lobby, I doubt it, as for twenty years they did not do it,” he voices his point emphatically.

Free for all

“These kinds of solutions are available on sristi.org web site in open source for decades. When the cost of failure is low, and chances of success high, only inertia can explain the indifference to such bottom-up grassroots solutions for decades.

“These solutions will reduce cost, check inflationary pressure, and make the poor better off too as they will not suffer from exposure to chemicals. I hope technocracy will prove that we are wrong,” he concludes with a chuckle.