“Did you enquire anyone about me before you came here? If you had enquired they would have asked, hey! What do you see in his garden?” When Veerappa of Vittalapura in Chikmagalur district, Karnataka said so we were at a loss how to reply. Veerappa greeted us with these words when we visited him with a batch of fifteen farmers. This trip was organized by Corporations Bank’s Self Employment Training Institute for the farmers of local villages.
Expert on earthworms
“I have not ploughed my garden for 10-20 years. Earthworms themselves do the ploughing. Come and see for yourself,” he said as he led us to the vermicomposting unit behind his house. Constructing the unit had cost him Rs.2 lakhs for which he made bank loan. The Khadi and Village Industries Development had given a grant of Rs. 50,000 for the unit.
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| Veerappa showing sample of vermicopmpost to visitors |
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There were 4 pits each of size 35 feet long, 4 feet broad and 2 feet deep. He had used Kadapa slabs to construct the pits. Two inch thick concrete layer at the base the pit prevents leaching of water and earthworms descending into the soil. Outside the first and the fourth tank, GI pipes of 3 inch dimension are erected in two rows supporting the iron rods, over which a roof of zinc sheets is laid for protection from rain and sun.
Two kilos of earthworms (Eudrillus variety) are let into each pit. Now every pit has 70-80 Kg of earthworms. He said that one kg of earthworms prepares 1 to 1 ½ kg of compost everyday. He has sold more than 10 tons vermicompost of year. “Some people mix soil with the compost and sell. We don’t do so. That is why there is good demand for our vermicompost,” he said.
Preparing vermicompost
The tank should be filled with leaves up to 3/4 feet height and over that dung should be spread. Over this layer, another two similar layers should be laid. Then each tank should be drenched with 10 pots of water once in 4 days for 20 days. This is not required during rainy season.
Because of application of dung the leaves decompose and compost is formed. On the 20th day it should be turned upside down (to bring down the temperature). After that two kilograms of worms should be let into it. Amidst the rich manure the earthworms work, day and night to produce vermicompost in 2-3 months. In the farm earthworms eat up organic matter to 15 feet depth and prepare manure, Veerappa informed.
He explained the easy way to remove the manure from the tank: Remove the top 6 inch manure from the top and heap them outside. This way removes step by step a layer of two inch thickness. Finally leave a layer of 2 inch of manure at the bottom. This would later be heaped at a corner inside the tank. After this, fill up tank again with leaves, dung and garbage.
Zero cultivation
From there we were taken to the 15 acre garden about half a kilometer away. Coconuts and areca were the main crops in that farm. Nutmeg, Dalchini, betel leaf, turmeric, pepper, vanilla and papaya were planted as intercrops. There was continuous drought for the last 3 years in Tarikere taluk (Chikmagalur District). Amidst adversities, Veerappa’s farm has managed to survive at good condition.
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| Veerappa with fellow farmers at his farm |
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According to Veerappa zero cultivation and application of Jeevamrutha has helped to maintain the farm satisfactorily. Soil moisture could be found down to two feet deep at his garden. He explains, “I did not convert the entire garden to zero cultivation in one year. I changed only 10 gunta (25 cents) at a time. It took 20 years to bring the whole garden to zero cultivation.”
Water scarcity
Veerappa faces acute water shortage like other farmers in Tarikere taluk. There is an old well in his farm. As the yield of water started decreasing he dug another well. Water from this well was also not enough for the expanded garden. Hence there was urgency for digging a bore well. “I got dug 18 bore wells. But water was not struck in any of them. At last I got a bore-well dug near this rock. There I struck water at 60 feet depth. We can’t understand the secrets of the earth,” he shared his experience.
He has installed drip irrigation to his areca and papaya plants and sprinkler to the old coconut garden. When we examined, there was moisture in the base of the plants eventhough there was no rain for the last 2 years. He removes the soil 3 feet away from the base of the coconut trees at 6 inch depth, spreads the earthworm manure and then covers it with the soil.
After two years of drought, last year there has been little rain till October. “I have made all preparations for rain harvesting, eventhough rainfall was very less.” He showed a bore-well to us. He has dug a pit (5 ft length, 5 ft width and 15 ft depth) around the casing pipe. He has made holes in the casing pipe in one feet length of the pipe (just 2 ft above the bottom of the pit). He has covered those small holes with a piece of plastic mosquito net and tied it with a wire. Then, he has filled stones around the casing pipe.
He has done water recharging in a similar method for the bore-well near his house and as a result of which water level has increased in that bore-well. “All farmers should harvest rain water. It is very easy to harvest rain water. The articles written by 'Shree' Padre have inspired me towards this,” he said.
Don’t hesitate to take risk
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| Veerappa interacting with other farmers |
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Veerappa has procured costly papaya seeds from Pune, grown seedling and planted them. There are 3000 seedlings. The cost of the seeds is Rs.1, 800 per 10 grams. “We should not hesitate to take risk of cultivation just because seeds are costly. We must procure the seeds and grow the crop,” he said with enthusiasm. His calculation goes like this: If one grows papaya plants and irrigates them properly, income will be Rs. 1, 75,000 from one acre. One plant yields 300 Kg fruits. The rate in the market varies from one and a half rupee to Rs.3 per Kg. If 5 tons papaya is available middlemen themselves come to the farm and purchase it. If 5 to6 farmers grow papaya together in one acre, it is easy to sell.
Veerappa has seen many ups and downs in his three decades of farming. What he stated when we left his farm is the essence of his experience. “In farming I follow a rule” he said, “Tie a thread to the hillock and drag it. If the thread is cut, it does not matter. If it pulls the hillock, I gain.”
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Method to prepare Jeevamrutha
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10 Kg dung of local breed cow
- 10 litres urine of local breed cow
- 2 Kg of low quality jaggery
- 2 Kg flour of any pulse
- ¼ kg of live soil (i.e., soil not contaminated by pesticides or chemical fertilizer)
Mix these and keep in a plastic drum and add 200 litre water. Keep the solution as it is and spray after 7 days. One litre of this solution is enough for 1 acre.
For garden crops, apply equally. That means, if there are 200 plants, spray 1 litre per plant. You should not keep it after 7 days because it deteriorates on 8th day.
It should be sprayed once a month or 12 times a year.
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Bio pesticide solution
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10 litres of urine of local breed cow
- 5 kg Neem leaves
- ½ kg Tobacco or 2 kg Parthenium leaves.
- ½ kg vishampare leaves (or similar other leaves)
Mix and keep in a plastic drum for 10 days. Then the pesticide is ready. You must not mix water. You must filter it, add 5 litre water to 1 litre of the solution and prepare the Bio pesticide for spraying.
If it is sprayed on pest affected plants, they recuperate within 24 hours.
Veerappa has been using both these “organic solutions” for the past 3 years in his garden and has achieved good results.
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Contact address:
K.Veerappa alias Gangappa
Vittalapura –Neralekere
Tarikere Taluk
Chikmagalur District
Karnataka, India
Tel: 91-821-242402
Photos by the author
Addoor Krishna Rao is a development critic and CAAM team member.
He can be contacted at: addoorkrao@yahoo.com
