Shankar Langte a medium farmer with a land holding of 4 acres in Gundenatti village of Khanpur Taluk in Belgaum district was a distressed man. His was an irrigated land which comes under transit belt. Shankar used to grow two varieties of rice, sugarcane and soya bean. He used to occasionally visit his land and a HF breed cow which used to yield 8-20 litres of milk per day. Shankar was depressed as his income was low and he was in debt.
With the intervention of GREEN Foundation in his village, Shankar started to attend meetings and trainings conducted by GREEN. His interest in heirloom varieties grew and he also realized the importance of
1.Seed conservation
2.Cost of production
3.Usage of locally available inputs
4.Sustainable agricultural practices
5.Marketing of the produce without the intervention of middle man
The result of the hard work is Shankar today is a debt free man with a diverse knowledge of organic farming practices. He grows diverse varieties of vegetables and few traditional varieties of rice and is also practicing mixed cropping (growing the ragi with rice).
His annual income has increased and also his marketing network.
Farmers Practice in Network
Traditional knowledge is based on scientific reasons and belief. The farmers have a belief that the twigs collected from either side of the hill “Kappatha Gudda” during climbing would help in improvement of health or yield and the twigs collected while walking downstairs would help in reducing the diseases of farm animals. They should not utter even a single word during their move. Farmers of the surrounding area collect twigs grown on either side of the hill in a bag while they are climbing and similarly collect the same during their downward move in another bag. The cows fed with twigs collected during climbing have increased the production of milk and simultaneously it reduces the disease of cow by feeding the twigs collected while walking downstairs. This was experimentally proved by farmer Budihal. Similarly another practice is the collection of well water from this hill without uttering a single word during their upward and downward movement. Spraying of well water to the field crops like sorghum has eradicated pest attack in sorghum.
Nurturing the Proven Germplasm - A Classic Khillar Bull breeder of Chadachan in Bijapur Dt.
Drought animals are the back bone of traditional agriculture in India. Even in this mechanization era, 70% of the rural agricultural draught power is met by bullocks. Bullocks of well descript breeds, though declining drastically due to cross breeding and mechanization, are still revered by farming community every where. Khillar breed is the one of the finest draught breeds of Maharastra and Karnataka. There are a few committed breeders maintaining the pure germ plasm for conserving and propagation of these bullocks.
Dundappa Nirale is a renowned Khillar bull breeder in this village where in the local cows from the surrounding villages as far as 90 kms are brought for service. He is maintaining the mother cow herd and the selected bulls for the past two generations. The present bull has typical Khillar breed characters and is adjudged the best one in many animal fares. He is about 50 months old is valued at Rs 1.7 lakhs. He is in the service for the past 2 years. The bull’s sire (father) was also an award winner in many Jathras and has serviced the cows for the past 13 years! He has an estimated 1000 off springs for which the records are available with the breeder. The specialty of this old hero is that the percentage of males born is about 90%.
According to him, the typical characteristics of any Khillar bull should have a white coat and black eye brows and eye lashes, hooves, nose, tip of the horns and tail end hairs. Suli or the whirls must be auspicious, one on fore head and the other on thoracic line. It should not be on the tail and on either side of the neck. The hooves should be even and firmly placed on the ground. Legs should be straight and high. The dewlap should not hang lose. The neck should appear almost like horse neck.
The demand for service is too high and it is a real task to maintain the vigor and vitality. He feeds the bull with nutritious diet and local herbal supplements. Apart from the Jowar hay and maize green fodders, the daily menu contains 3-4 eggs, 2-3 liters of fresh buffalo milk, 2 kgs of groundnut cake, ½ kg of safflower oil cake, 1kg wheat flour and ½ kg Jowar flour. Each has a specific role in maintaining the health of the bull, says the pride owner. The powder prepared fro Bharamadandi roots are also mixed with the feed@ 2 tsp every day as nerve tonic.
There is still the demand for the old sire who hardly mounts thrice a week and fetches premium Rs. 501 per servicing. So far he has generated more than Rs 10 lakhs as revenue to the owner during the past 13 years of his life. The owner recalls with gratitude that he could sustain his family even during the worst draught periods and because of the grace of the bull- the symbol of lord Basavanna, his open wells never dried up. He has provided three out let’s to ensure free drinking water to the residents of Chadachan from this well as part of his societal obligations. The farmers are charged Rs. 301 per cow from the new bull with one free service if it fails to conceive. Usually the cows will settle in 2 servicing.
Mr. Nirale has maintained a herd of 12 elite khillar cows and sells 2 – 3 bull calves born out of them every year after attaining 2 years age @ Rs 50,000 per bull. Interestingly, he got all males during the first 10 years. It’s only during the last 4 years that he got 4 female calves in the herd. Rearing the bull calves for draught purpose is a skilled job, he adds. The calves are reared on rough stony and undulated surface to harden the hooves. They are trained to drag the cart with a horse as pair to pick up the leg movement. Mr. Nirale also has a herd of Pandharapuri buffaloes and a flock of 20 sheep as part of his integrated and organic agriculture practices. These support the milk requirements of the family and the growing bulls apart from sustaining the schooling and labor expenses of his set up. He has a passion for the traditional crop varieties as they are tasty and healthy, according to him. Farmers like Mr. Nirale are the real assets to carry forward the agrarian heritage to the future generations.
A Holistic Approach in Soil Nutrient Management
Gadag district is heralding in a new era with the increasing number of farmers inclining towards the concepts of low input agricultural practices. Hulakoti is a village nearby Gadag town with predominantly rain fed landholdings. Green gram, Chilly, ground nut, sorghum and wheat are the major crops grown. The related industries like the spinning mill and a compound cattle feed units are running efficiently on co-operative lines.
Mr. Ramesh Venkanagouda Patil, is an young agriculturist with higher secondary schooling background. He has 60 acres of dry lands in a radius of 5 kms. He grows green gram, black gram, onion, chilly and groundnuts during kharif season. Jowar, wheat and cotton constitutes his crop profile for the rabi. He is banking upon the low cost technologies to get higher yields from his lands. One of these is application of Amrut Pani, a modified form of panchagavya and propagated by Mr Pradeep Thapus, a renowned organic farmer in the region.
The process to prepare arut pani is simple one and can be practiced by any farmer using resources available with him. 20 Kg cow dung, 250 grams of desi ghee and 500 grams, honey are mixed with 200 liters of water, preferably the rain water. First, the dung is kneaded with the ghee with the hands. Mix 500 grams of honey with 200 liters of water in a barrel. Take a bucket of honey water and mix the dung ghee mixture to make it a thick liquid and then add to the barrel containing the honey water. Allow the mix to ferment for 48 hours. Filter the solution and use the filtrate as spray- 1:5 in water or with the irrigation. Remaining viscous liquid is spread and applied to the soil. It is applied initially @200lters per acre when the soil is wet and during sowing. Repeat it after 20-30 days to standing crop. The quantum of application can be reduced drastically after 3 years when 200 liters can suffice for 18 acres - as it is required only for spraying.
The application of Amrut pani mainly helps to enrich the soil and it also acts as a growth promoter. The impact studies are well documented on enriched soil in terms of microbial content, production of even sized grains, and after all, a toxin free organic produce!
The acceptance of this technology was very slow initially. A group of 8 farmers practiced this and it took 4 years to obtain visible change in the crop profiles.
