Tamil Nadu - Nagercoil   

Organic manure concept catching up

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGERCOIL, JUNE 18 . The concept of applying organic manure is gaining momentum among the farming community in the district. Gone are the days when the farmers applied fertilisers to increase the production without knowing side-effects.

Organic farming had been an integral component of crop cultivation in the past. Application of organic manures is now limited owing to the non-availability of organic manures (cow-dung) in sufficient quantities, higher cost, flimsiness in application and transportation expenses. Hence the Agriculture department has decided to create an awareness, among farmers, of applying coir pith compost, vermin compost and green manure. The concept has evoked a good response and more and more farmers came forward to apply organic manure instead of fertilisers in different parts of the district, the Collector, Rajesh Lakhoni, said.

Speaking to The Hindu , he said continuous mining of nutrients by the crops for several years without proper addition of nutrient had resulted in deteriorating soil health, which led to declined yield and emergence of new pest and diseases. In addition, biological system of nutrition and biotic agents including micro flora and fauna had been adversely affected. The management efforts, therefore, should be aimed at maintenance of soil structure and fertility, giving an emphasis to biological process and nutrients transformations operating in this system to achieve sustainable productivity.

There was an increasing demand and premium price for organically produced agro products and a considerable potential for exploitation of organic farming technology in crop cultivation. There was also a feasibility of organic cultivation of coconut palms and other crops by recycling the residues available in plantations not only from coconut and inter-crops but also from the nitrogen fixing legumes, which can be grown in the basins and interspaces of plantations as well as rice fallows. Government support along with the effective transfer of technology could go a long way to make organic cultivation a feasible proposition among the farmers, especially coir pith compost, vermin compost, green manure etc., the Joint Director of Agriculture, Jeya Kumar, said.

Apart from yielding coconuts, the trees produced a large quantity of usufructs including dried leaves, spathes and bunch waste and coconut husks. The availability of lignocelluloses biomass from a well-managed coconut plantation was estimated to be seven tones per hectare. If these waste materials were recycled, the farmers could meet the nutrients demand of the crop to a greater extent. Organic manures also had a profound influence on moisture retention, root growth and nutrients conservation.

The coir pith had higher carbon and nitrogen in the ratio of 112:1 and the application of fresh coir pith directly to fields would affect the growth of the crop. The coir pith could be converted into good compost with reduced C: N ratio of 24:1 with the help of mushroom fungus pleurotus sajor-caju. The said mushroom was produced at the mushroom production centre at Nagercoil (Assistant Director of Agriculture Office complex), the Joint Director said.

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