Before Rain harvesting |
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After Rain harvesting |
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Ten years ago, this was barren land that grew only grass. Forget trees; there was not a single shrub or bush. Today it has hundreds of plants and fruit bearing trees including jack, mango and coconut. “All this was possible because I could catch rain here,” says Ganesh Mallya, a high school teacher cum Sunday farmer, who has been responsible for this green transformation.
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he had had three infiltration pits dug — each of the size 4 feet X 4 feet X 10 feet. They were filled the coarse sand and jally (granite stone bits). There was immediate benefit. This land slopes towards the road. The surface run-off that used to wash away lot of top soil and even some sown seeds was stopped. Next year, the water level in the well rose to two feet.
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Catching water at every opportunity |
Mallya has since not wasted a single opportunity to catch water. Run-off from the neighbouring school made his compound wall collapse one monsoon. Instead of fighting with the school authorities, Mallya raised the wall again, this time leaving a small hole in between. Mallya directs this water into his site through a catch pit. He considers this water that his neighbour treats as waste as a bonus for his own land.
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For the initial couple of years, to protect his mango plants, he had kept earthen pots near each of them. (In areas where there is severe shortage of water or on hills where water can’t be easily transported, earthen pots filled with water are kept near the bottom of the plants. These ooze out water in small amounts and are usually manually refilled once empty.) Mallya too would manually refill these pots every week.
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Later, he had many trenches dug across the slope of his land. With the digging of trenches, the well water has risen to 10 feet. In addition to this, whatever water flows from the school compound is also put into the earth on the topmost side of Mallya's farm. Now with the help of a one HP motor, he irrigates all his plants in summer once a week. This requires 150 minutes of pumping. At the end of pumping, the water level goes down by 2.5 feet. But it regains original level in three to four days.
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There is one more reason for this improvement — the numerous plants and trees Mallya has planted all over the plot. Teak on the borders, sapota, malayan apple, wax apple, bread fruit, jack, coconuts, moringa, banana, bamboo, rattan, bimbli, jamoon and several varieties of mango. With good irrigation, the trees have grown to the height of his two-storied house.
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This vegetation also helps to check the rainfall. Mallya never burns the fallen dry leaves. The organic matter that builds up on the soil increases its water - holding capacity as well as percolating ability. The roots of the trees also enhance percolation. With all these changes, except for the walkway and the small front yard, all the rain that falls on the site never goes out. Mallya has been able to create a zero run off situation with his simple water catching techniques. |
Low costs |
In seven years, Ganesh Mallya’s almost dry well has attained ten feet water. Neighbour Diwakar Karanth’s farm is still below the slope. Earlier, his well used to dry up by March. Now it has water enough to run the motor till summer end. |
Initially Mallya had spent Rs.35,000 for the well. Later re-deepening, inserting cement rings, etc. cost him another Rs.25,000. But it was only after he dug the recharge pits that the well was made live and bountiful. As he has used the leftover sand and stone bits to refill these pits, the total cost of all his rain harvesting has amounted to only about Rs.3,000. mallyaganesh3112@yahoo.co.in India Together-Sep 08
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Best Woman Farmer |
Before Rain harvesting |
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The University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, recently conferred the Best Farm Woman award (district level) on A.L. Somala Devi a farmer from Mandya district in Karnataka. When one walks around her farm one is able to observe a number of bunds in the fields.
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The bunds serve two purposes. One, they act as effective check dams and prevent water from running off; two, they prevent the surface soil from getting washed away by the running water. In addition, she has also dug some small ponds in her farm to store rainwater. She raises coconut, arecanut, sugarcane, paddy, mulberry, ragi and napier grass. Cows and sheep are also reared in her farm.
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| “I am a strong believer in traditional farming. I do not use chemicals, which spoil the land. The soil is like a mother’s womb and must be nourished and taken care of,” she says. Mulching dry leaves in the fields is a regular practice which she says, “prevents moisture evaporation and controls weed growth.” Mrs. A.L Somala Devi, mobile:9845746046. TH 190310 |
Natural farming: guarantees good yield |
| The concept of natural farming, “revolves around the theory that ‘nature knows best’ and hence it is better to leave everything in her care,” he says. In his 6.5 acres, Mr. M.Kailash Murthy, like several farmers, used fertilizers and pesticides and got a good yield. |
| “However, to my dismay, the yield started reducing steadily every year. Desperate to find a solution for this declining yield, I decided to experiment on the zero farming technique in my field. “Except seeds, I did not use any other external input and a remarkable transformation started taking place gradually," says Mr. Murthy. |
| The natural balance of the soil got restored, which transformed his fields into a mini-forest. Thousands of plant varieties, including many medicinal plants, started growing. |
Soil productivity |
| “It is better to maintain soil productivity by adopting organic farming for at least three years before switching over to natural farming,” he explains. |
| In future, more than food crises, global warming threatens to create serious harm to the planet. |
| With this method of farming one can reduce global warming which in turn increases food production and protection of bio-diversity, according to him. |
| But how far is this technique reliable to feed the world population? |
| “In the last five to six decades, we have inflicted irreparable damage to the lands as a result of which agricultural output is declining. |
| “This method rejuvenates the land, which directly increases the food output. Instead of worrying about what to do to the land, we have to think about what not to do,” he concludes. |
On an experimental basis he harvested about 3 tonnes of paddy by this method from one acre against 1.18 tonnes harvested by his neighbours using fertilizers and modern techniques. email: kailashnatufarm@gmail.com TH 110609 |
| Compiled by: K.Ramasubba Reddy/021109 |
