| Nandish, Paddy Farmer, Karnataka |
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Nandish who hails from a traditional farm family in Karnataka, chose to take up farming as a full time occupation after his father’s sudden demise and did not attend university. His farm in Churchigundi village near Shikaripur in Shimoga district of Karnataka was his university, his place of learning from nature. Since 2000 Nandish has been experimenting with natural organic farming and he has evolved a system of paddy farming which is both enjoyable and profitable. His mother, wife and daughter support him in all his efforts and the family gets several visitors to their home and farm each month.
Nandish has been practicing no-till paddy farming using green manures to enrich his soil. He does not use any prepared manures like cow dung, compost, vermi compost or any microbial preparations on his fields not even bio pesticides/ herbicides, yet he reaps a rich harvest each year. He is growing rare traditional varieties of rice. He now harvests 20-25 quintals of rice from each acre depending upon the variety that has been sown. Nandish currently earns Rs. 35-50,000 per acre per year from his paddy fields and has 15 acres under paddy cultivation at present. He also has arecanut trees on his farm which bring him an additional income.
His irrigation requirement has reduced by two thirds and the cost of labour and seeds has also come down. His major labour costs are in the puddling of his fields and in the manual transplanting of rice. Although weeds and pests exist on his paddy farm, they are within manageable limits and do not cause any serious damage.
After are paddy has been harvested from the fields, Nandish without tilling the land scatters the seeds of legumes, millets, oil seeds ,spices, weeds, and monocots as green manures upon his fields. The seeds sprout and develop into strong healthy plants, effectively choking out the perennial hardy weeds. The green manures stand in the fields for a good six months, fixing nitrogen in the soil, growing up to 14 ft. high, and are then incorporated into the soil by puddling just before the onset of the monsoons when the time for transplanting rice approaches.
By using 5 kg. of paddy seeds per acre, Nandish was able to solve the problems of deeper, wider & more seedlings per hill being faced by paddy transplanters. Nandish learnt many things from parrots, ducks, cocks, crabs, snakes, mice, weeds, and pests. He initially thought they would harm his paddy crop, but later he realized that they were telling him something that he did not know, and they were in fact correcting his farming mistakes by their actions. This is a classic example of letting “Nature be your teacher”.
Nandish also spends time in writing articles, conferences and in training organic farmers in no-till paddy farming. He is also associated with “Save Our Rice” campaign being spearheaded by Thanal in Kerala. He sells his rice directly to Sahaja Samrudha Organic Producer Company based in Bangalore, that offers farmers a good price for their organic produce. |
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| Email: legumelogic@gmail.com |
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