The Hindu : Bidar brothers reap rich harvest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 16, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bidar

Bidar brothers reap rich harvest

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR, FEB. 15. A farmer in Bidar claims to have achieved spectacular results by adopting organic farming techniques. Shankar Rao Patil Atival grows sugarcane, toor, Bengal gram, and soya, throughout the year on 25 acres of land. He claims to have never used insecticides, pesticides, or even inorganic fertilizers in the last two years. He uses compost and vermin-compost prepared in his field using natural methods.

"We breed the worms in open pits in one part of the field. We have not spent on building a shelter or a green house for them. Still, our vermin-compost is comparable to the best in the market," says Mr. Atival's brother, Mallikarjun. The two have been using a discarded grinding machine to manufacture cake from Pongaemia and Neem seeds, which serve as insecticide, pesticide, and manure. Oil from Pongaemia seeds is used to run the machine.

Mr. Atival does not remove weeds in his field. "Scientists of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra told us that some crops grow better while competing with weeds for survival," he says.

He saves at least Rs. 7,000 on labour by not removing weeds. The two brothers have put an end to burning the dried sugarcane grass. Leaves are allowed to rot in the field.

The result: crops need less water and the chance of their developing infection is less.

About 90 per cent of farmers burn leaves and suffer losses. They have to supply more water, provide increased quantity of fertiliser and spend on labour for doing jobs such as dumping leaves at one place and burning them, says Mr. Mallikarjun. Cow dung is used as compost.

The two brothers use native breeds of crop that are best suited to organic cultivation. "It is a misconception that native breeds are not high yielding as compared to hybrids. We have proved it wrong," Mr. Mallikarjun says.

Bio-control measures are used to deal with pests and worms in this field. When all farmers bought a pesticide that cost Rs. 250 a kg. to control the borer insect in the toor and Bengal gram crops, the Atival brothers sprayed jaggery dissolved in water and forgot about it. This drew ants to the fields and they devoured the insects. The brothers have also begun conserving rainwater with inputs from scientists.

"We spent about Rs. 200 a year to make small bunds to divert rainwater to our well. This has not only made our well contain water even at the height of drought, but also increased the groundwater level considerably," says Mr. Atival. He has maintained a diary with detailed accounts of his cost and earning before and after that. He feels that his profits have gone up as his cultivation cost has come down. "Earlier, we used to spend about Rs. 20,000 to cultivate three crops per hectare. Now, since we spend only on seeds, our costs have come down to Rs. 5,000, and our yield has almost doubled," says Mr. Atival.

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Bidar brothers reap rich harvest