natural-farming

  • Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural farming, “Do-Nothing Farming” . aka sahaja-kRShi.

Objectives

Dr Venkat’s opinion

  • Follower of permaculture by Mollison etc..
  • Increase “pore space” between soil particles; whence roots suck nutrients and water. Hence, organic matter is introduced.
  • Soil organisms convert organic base into ingestible nutrients. Soil organisms weigh over 20x weight of life over the soil.
  • Must provide them air and water. Not chemicals.

Techniques

Negative

no = minimal as per some like Kawaguchi, Bhaskar Save.

  • no tilling
    • ploughing is unnecessary, as the soil is aerated by the roots of plants and the movement of soil organisms.
  • no weeding
    • sowing at opportune times, so that one’s crops grow and establish themselves before weeds have the chance to proliferate
  • no fertilizers
  • no pesticides
  • no pruning

Positive

  • Clay seed balls.
  • Mulching to prevent water evaporation.
    • “Live mulching” is promoted with cover crops of a mix of monocotyledons (like millets) and leguminous dichotyledons (like beans)
    • straw mulching

Natural fertlization

  • vIresh near aikAntika uses sheep shit.
  • bIjAmRta for seed-treatment as per Palekar’s Zero Budget (ZBNF) farming.
    • vid En, vid Hi
    • Germination rate 90%, unlike chemically treated seed - 70%. Lower soil-born disease.
    • water (20L/100kg seed) + cow urine (250ml/L) + cow dung (250g/L) + stoneless soil + lime (2.5g / L for balancing urine acidity). Mix with wooden stick, leave for 24 hrs, use within 48 hrs.
    • Wash off fungicide layer from pre-treated seeds, soak seeds, dry in shade, sow them.
      • Not for thin-skinned seeds like soybean
    • Nursery plants - immerse root and transplant.
  • Similarly, “jIvAmRta” for fertilization.
    • vid - Pa-hi vid-en
    • water (200L/Acre), 3kg normal rockless soil, 2kg jaggery dissolved in water, 2kg (pulse) flour, 10 kg cowdung, 4L cow urine in water.
      • In small batches for good mixing: take cow urine solution, add cow dung, mix thoroughly, add soil, mix, add jaggery solution, mix, add flour, mix thoroughly. Fill barrel. Stir with long stick (both directions). Keep under shade for 14 days, stir twice a day.
    • Application
      • Dilute and apply. Water the soil before application - dry soil will kill microbes.
      • Can be used for 7 days.
      • Twice a month
    • Delivery modes:
      • mix with irrigation water
      • pour in between plants.
      • can be sprayed on leaves too
  • 1 cow per 30 acres per Palekar’s ZBNF.

Crop choice

Perennial crops can be harvested multiple times. No need to resow. They have very deep roots.
Eg. Hedge lucerne can be harvested for 5 years.

Nitrogen fixation

Alternating with legumes helps with nitrogen fixation.

Advantages

  • Much less labor.

Examples (India)

  • Raghava of Aikanthika farm (20 acres) near dAvaNagere. Lives off coconut income and farm produce.
  • Neighbor shankara-gauDa + wife sunItA and son from next tAluku to aikAntika (eg. YT1, YT2 ) work 2hrs a day.
  • madhu - grows paddy without pesticides.
  • vIresha near rAghava’s farm
  • Subhash Palekar and followers.
  • Dr Venkat (1923-2011) India’s Permaculture pioneer. He utilized the Permaculture teachings of Bill Mollison and traditional Indian practices to create Permaculture concepts tailored to the Indian subcontinent.