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Honey bee publish details |
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Gujarati Hums |
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Nurturing Diversity, Reducing Cost |
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20201 Cactus milk controls cotton aphids
A voracious reader and an enthusiastic experimenter, Kalyanbhai has always been interested in inexpensive farming. He uses 100 g milky latex of cactus thor (Euphorbia sp.) mixed with 15 litres water and sprays it twice a month to control aphids in cotton.
Kalyanbhai Jeevrajbhai Jasani, Dist. Bhavnagar
Scout:Mahendra Vaghela
Insecticidal property of Euphorbia antiquorum reported in De Silva et. al.(2008); J.Natn.Sci.Foundation Sri Lanka;36 (1): 15-23. Also see Honey Bee, 4(2&3):21, 1993.
20202 Control of cough and spider bite in cattle
Mohanbhai, rich in herbal knowledge, has a deep compassion for animals. For treating cough and cold in cow, he grinds 50 g each of alum, ajmo (Carum copticum L.), lemon leaves and bark of santheda. The mixture is then boiled and sieved. The decoction is given for five days in the morning and evening. In case of spider bite in animals, symptoms like shivering, fever or paralysis may show up. He applies tamarind juice to the inflammed area with a cotton ball to give relief to the animal.
Mohanbhai Pataliabhai Rathwa, Dist. Baroda
Scout: Minakshi Rathwa
Alum is useful in the treatment of whooping cough as reported by (Turnbull et. al. (1944); The Journal of Pediatrics; 24(1):46-52). Antitussive effects of Carum copticum are reported by Boskabady et. al. (2005); J Ethnopharmocol; 97(1): 79-82.
20203 Control of Diarrhoea
Ramsingh boils 250 g dried bark powder each of ‘Kher’ (Acacia catechu L.f.), khakra (Butea monosperma (Lam.) (Taub.) and charoli (Buchanania lanzan Sprengel.) in a litre of water for two hours and then sieves it. He gives the filtrate orally three times a day till the animal is cured.
Ramsingh Sitabhai Baria, Dist. Panchmahal
Scout: Praveen Vankar
The extract of Acacia catechu is reported as anti-diarrhoeal (Ray D et. al. (2006); Indian Journal of Pharmacology;38(6):408-413)
Profiles in brief: back to roots and fertilizing the garden of life
20204 Devdootbhai Prabodhbhai Patel, B.Sc Computer Science, 35 years
Devdoot, a student of Computer Science, became a farmer some six years back. He says, “I had a passion for agriculture even when I was young. I don’t exactly recall how my love for agriculture really started.” He became a full fledged farmer in 2007. It was tough in the beginning. Nobody taught him how to farm. He ran from pillar to post to find people who could help him in organic farming. Now he possesses a vast knowledge in this area from his experience.
He has never used synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides on his about one ha farm out of total 16 ha. Like many others, Devdoot too once practiced chemical farming. It was only later, when he realized the after effects of chemical farming that he partially changed to organic farming. He used only farm yard manure. Everyone in the village made fun of him and warned him that the output will be low and he will be financially ruined. In spite of all this, he went ahead. When the season got over, he realized that the output has reduced drastically. But, he neither used a single grain of fertilizer nor a single drop of chemical. He calculated the cost benefit and then realized that the actual loss was very less, in fact, ignorable. Last year, his production per ha was the maximum in the entire village.
His farm yields a good wheat crop, which he sells from his own shop, in the village. The surplus is sold to an organic shop in Baroda and to other organic farmers who have their own outlets. There is no certification. He markets it in his own name and earns good income out of it.
He is also making and using vermicompost. He proudly claims that his' is the best organic wheat in the whole world. The villagers also agree that his wheat is priced three times more than their chemical input based wheat. He combines three liters honey, twenty five kg cow dung, three kg jaggery in 200 liters water. After the wheat crop is one and a half months old this is sprayed every twenty days for three months.
In the next two years, he is planning to do organic farming in the entire 16 ha of his land. He also wants to experiment by intercropping wheat and Cajanus cajun (L.) He hopes that if he is able to inspire or create even one more organic entrepreneur, he will feel happy.
Devdootbhai Prabodhbhai Patel, Koshindra, Baroda
Scout: Chetan Patel
20205 The Backyard Herbalist
Gangaben Badabhai Manat, PTC, 54 years
Why go to the drug store for medicine when you can have many medicinal remedies for a wide variety of ailments growing right in your own back yard? asks Gangaben.
Gangaben was appointed principal of the Primary School in her village Padermahudi some years ago. Apart from being a Principal, Gangaben is also known for her vast knowledge of herbs. In order to popularize the usefulness of commonly available and frequently used herbal plants and to conserve the associated traditional knowledge for future generations, she took a wonderful initiative to establish a medicinal herb garden in her own school. It is spread over an area of one acre with 589 trees in total including 289 species of medicinal trees like ‘kalpavriksh’, ‘nagro’, ‘ardusi’, ‘tulsi’, ‘neem’, ‘amla’, ‘chironji’; 77 species of flowering trees like lemon, ‘shatavari’, ‘champa’, ‘bakul’;194 species of decorative shrubs like ‘chameli’, ‘mogra’, ‘chandan’ and 102 other species of trees. Description of each plant and its uses have also been displayed through name plates (indexed by both botanical and common names).
Hundred and fifty students in her school maintain a register of the usefulness of each of the plant in the garden. They also take care of these plants and water them every day before their classes start. She gives class on environmental studies every week to educate school children in identifying different types of herbs and their uses.
She recalls that throughout her childhood she lived a disciplined life inside an ‘ashram’. The Ashram was surrounded by herbal plants all around. This led her to explore more and more about these plants. She also appreciates the support received from her husband from time to time.
She does not directly treat people but educates them about different uses of plants. She also keeps on updating her knowledge register on medicinal herbs and experiments with them for different purposes. Her future plans are to establish such gardens in other village schools also and to open a medicinal herb shop in her village.
Gangaben Badabhai Manat, Padermahudi, Dist. Sabarkantha
Scout: Parul
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| Volume No. |
Honey bee 21(2), 9 to 10, 2010 |
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