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Rejuvenating connections: Revisiting farmer innovators after two-three decades |
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Recently, the Honey Bee Network has started reconnecting with the farmers who had shared their knowledge and innovative practices with HBN decades ago. Alka Rawal, Sumitra Patel and Mahesh Parmar under the guidance of Ramesh and Chetan from SRISTI have been talking to farmers and ascertaining recent experiments pursued by them for making agriculture more sustainable and also remunerative. It is apparent that the spirit of experimentation has not slowed down or subsided even the slightest bit during last so three decades. HBN started to systematically document farmers’ creative practices and innovations in 1987-88 and the first issue of newsletter was brought out in 1990. How HBN led to setting up of SRISTI, GIAN and National Innovation Foundation needs recall separately. The core value of making this knowledge accessible to wider community in local languages with due credit to farmer experimenter stays intact. Hope that the readers will join this effort to not only scout, disseminate, validate and value add, and fund scale up voluntarily. No effort is too small and we look forward to hear from you. |
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"If you come from farmer family, kindly translate the ideas you find relevant in this (and all the earlier issues) with your community anywhere in the world to reinforce experimental ethic at community level. Increasing cost of inputs has made it even more necessary to spread frugal innovations from grassroots widely. All the practices given here have been scouted by Alka Raval
Herbal growth promoter
Dilpesh Bhai Ravjibhai Patel
Madhav kampa, Distt Arawali-383330
Dilpesh Bhai soaks two kg fruits each of Mahua (Madhuca indica), Lasoda (Cordia myxa) after removing seeds, and Neem ( Azadirachta indica) in water for twenty days. It is stirred daily. The 40 l extract of so developed mixture is mixed in 100 l water and applied in an acre of field. It is applied three times at fortnightly interval. Not only soils fertility seems to get improved but the crop yield also increases.
He also claims that mixing two litres of butter milk with two litres of cows urine helps in controlling pest like heliothis. Changing crop geometry to increase productivity
Pankaj Bhai Devshi Bhai Patel
Madhavkampa, Distt Aravali
Pankaj Bhai has changed crop geometry in soybean to increase the productivity. Instead of using 18 inches distance between rows, he has increased this distance to 30 inches and increased plant to plant distance also. This is reported to increase productivity. In pigeon pea crop, also a similar effect on yield was found by increasing row to row distance to around 30 inches.
A generous Women knowledge expert in livestock healing:
Devuben Baluji Lukhasniya
Wagdadi, Distt; Banaskantha, Gujarat
Devuben is a small farmer who has, a cow and two bullocks. She is a reputed animal healer. If somebody needs a specific medicinal plant, she would search and fetch it for them. She provides selfless service to the community for animal care. Some of her insightful practices are given here with her consent:
(a) When young bullocks are used to plough land, they develop yoke gall due to pressure of the yoke. A paste of pongamia leaves is applied on bullock’s shoulders for four to five days. In Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, farmers use pongamia oil with ash of the bark of Chloroxylon swietenia DC., (see Ch, S. K., and
D. K. Banisetti. International Journal of
Pharmacognosy and Chemistry, Apr. 2021,
pp. 42-49, doi:10.46796/ijpc.vi.149).
(b) For treating bloat in animals, she makes 200 ml cold water extract of custard apple (Annona squamosa L.)leaves and drenches the animal at an interval of an hour a few times.
(c) During winter, the udder skin gets cracked and pains the animal while milking. Fresh milk is applied to udder to provide relief and heal the udder. In addition, she also applies, if needed, paste of timru leaves (Zanthoxylum armatum) for three days to relive the pain of the animal.
(d) When cattle becomes weak due to sickness or some other reason, feeding the affected cattle with 500g of foxtail millet flour daily for ten days reportedly helps.
(e) Intestinal worm is a common problem among cattle particularly in rainy season. Drenching the animal with 15 ml of mustard oil with 8-10 leaves of Kalamadhu (Phyllanthus reticulatus) boiled and cooled or crushed in mustard oil.
(f) For healing any cut or wound, juice of leaves of cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba) is applied to affected part for 3-4 days.
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 31(3-4) ,7-8, 2020 |
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