| More
Information |
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| Name |
Arakhiben Mithabhai Vankar |
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| Address |
Bamna Village, Bhiloda Taluka |
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| District |
Sabarkantha District |
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| State |
Gujarat |
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| Title |
Keeping Stored Grain Pests Away |
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| Details |
Farmers use various non-chemical, indigenous techniques to preserve the grains using dry chilly, salt crystals, leaves of ‘neem’ (Azadirachta indica (A.) Juss.), wheat chaff etc. But there are some women who store grains with their own methods.
Arkhiben Mithabhai Vankar of Bamna village (of the drought ridden taluka Bhiloda in Sabarkanthadistrict) uses dry leaves of ‘khakhra’ (Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub.) to preserve grains.
In a moist free pit, after putting a layer of 3-4 mats (layers) of dry Butea leaves, grain is filled up to one and half feet and then another layer of Butea leaves is placed. Finally the Butea leaves are placed on top of the pit before closing it. No insect is reported to affect the grains stored this way. “We have been using this traditional method for many years”, adds Arkhiben.
(Butea monosperma is known for insect repelent properties. http://www.aseanbiodiversity.org/medicinal_plants/page2.htm. http://botanical.com/site/column_poudhia/publish/journal.cgi?folder=journal&next=1592) |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 17(3):13, 2006 |
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| Sout |
Scout: Mahesh Parmar |
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| Call Number |
17303 |
