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Honey bee publish details |
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Perception of Young Scientists:Why Doesn't Learning from People Continue? Part I |
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While one can debate whether the young scientists recruited by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) should undergo a training in research management before taking up research responsibilities, the utility of exposing these scientists to rural conditions cannot be disputed. The National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) has been sending batches of scientist probationers to various villages to study the process of diffusion of modern technologies, the socio-economic conditions of the farmers, the agro-economic aspects of technological change etc. In addition, the probationers have also been looking at local folk knowledge and traditional technologies. In some cases, they have also documented contemporary local innovations.
However, in none of the cases have the names of the local innovators been docu-mented. This is unfortunate and we hope that this error will be rectified in future.
We have compiled these practices with the help of Dr A Gopalam, Head of Education Systems and Technology Unit, NAARM, Hyderabad. A separate study is in progress to develop a jointly-edited database of these practices for future reference of the scientist-probationers as well as farmers from different regions. We appreciate the extraordinary cooperation of Dr Gopalam and NAARM in sharing this data with SRISTI and IIMA. We have not as yet been able to confirm these practices but we intend to start that process soon.
We will be serializing these practices in the forthcoming issues of Honey Bee to elicit readers’ responses and also to ensure that local language versions of Honey Bee can abstract those of interest to them. In case a reader intends to pursue these practices for on-farm or on-station research, we can provide support.
It is difficult for us to explain why the young scientists who documented these practices never considered developing research proposals to validate and/or add value to them. Perhaps the institutional context of modern agricultural research still doesn’t provide enough space for learning from farmers and building upon the lessons so learned. This is so, although the Government of India and other developing countries borrow millions of dollars from international financial institutions for strengthening extension research linkages. There is something fundamentally flawed with the working of the system which keeps young scientists from being excited and curious about the need for learning from people.
These practices were collected from the villages adopted by the regional research centres and contrasted with the practices from adjoining non-adopted village.
SRISTI is cooperating with Dr Gopalam and Dr J C Kalla, Director, NAARM to explore the possibility of improving the format of such field surveys and hopes to work together with NAARM to help develop respect for peoples’ knowledge in the young minds.
Ravindra Mulge
University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka
Two villages viz., Kachenahalli and Shattahalli, about 10 km away from UAS, Dharward, close to a highway, were selected. Both villages have irrigation facility. The major crops of the villages are sorghum, cotton, potato, groundnut, mango, sapota (‘chikoo’) and guava.
Horse gram to control weed
A farmer explained how he controlled the high intensity of weeds in a field by growing horse gram continuously for three seasons. Horse gram may create specific allelopathic effects.
Water spray after frost
Some farmers spray water after frost to prevent flower and fruit drop and to control outbreaks of pests and diseases. This is scientifically supported because water spray helps in maintaining temperature. (In North Gujarat too farmers irrigate frost-exposed cumin crop to protect it from damage. :Ed.)
Control of mould
A suspension prepared with wheat flour is sprayed on the mango and sapota plants infected with mould. The farmers believe that wheat flour adheres to the mould and thus controls it. (A similar practice was recorded by Dr Vivek Bhat, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, from Navloor and Hosavellapur villages of Dharwad block in Karnataka. In Gujarat, farmers have used bajra flour particularly after it becomes unfit for human consumption. :Ed.)
S J Ankegowda
Regional Research Station, Mandya, Karnataka
The villages Kachenahalli and Shattahalli of Nagamangala taluka in Karnataka have about 500 households each. Agriculture is well developed. As Kachenahalli had been adopted by Regional Research Station, Mandya, agricultural equipment, fertilizers and other external inputs as well as bank loans were organized under Lab-to-Land programme. Ragi, paddy, horse gram, vegetables, red gram and groundnut were major crops of this region. Some farmers in both the villages have fish ponds.
(1) Farmers collect the soil deposited near the entrance of the ant-hills and make a paste of it with water and smear it over the pulse seeds to protect during storage. (In Gujarat, farmers use soil of termite burrow for treating cotton seeds for easy sowing. :Ed.)
(2) For prolonged storage of pulse seeds they are mixed with ragi husk, ash and salty soil. The husk of ragi may act as dessicant and absorb the moisture while ash may act as insecticide. Salty soils help in preventing microbial growth.
V P Sobhakumari and
Shirly Ravchal Samuel
Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasargod, Kerala
Both the scientists did their field work independently in the same villages, Chengala and Muttathody, in a hilly region about 10 km away from the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasargod, Kerala. The major crops grown in these villages are coconut, banana, sugarcane, cashew, betelvine, arecanut, pepper, mango, jackfruit and vegetables.
To maintain turgidity in coconut
Farmers apply salt in coconut basin in winter. It is believed that it helps in maintaining the turgidity of the tree in summer when there is a water scarcity.
Scientists have tried to explain the scientific reason for this practice. Sodium may partially substitute the function of potassium which plays major role in keeping plant cells turgid. Moreover planting coconut in hard laterite soil causes difficulty in root penetration and sodium helps in dispersion of soil and facilitates better root penetration and better utilization of available water. (In Saurashtra, farmers incorporate salt and dried fish in the soil around the tree. They believe that it helps in increased fruit setting since it provides salinity similar to the coastal regions which are the natural habitat of the coconut. :Ed.)
Ms V P Sobhakumari has collected some more practices:
(1) Farmers plant dried leaf axils of coconut in paddy fields. These provide perches for birds to rest on and catch insects and caterpillars.
(2) Snake gourds are covered with cow dung slurry. This acts as antifeedent and also affords physical protection to the fruit. They also tie stones at the tip of snake gourd during growing stage. This is done to keep the fruit straight; straight fruits have good market value. (A similar practice was reported from Navloor and Hosayellapur villages of Dharwad block in Karnataka by Dr Vivek Bhat :Ed.)
Dr Amla Prabhakaran
RRS Paiyar, Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu
Dr Amla Prabhakaran recorded various indigenous methods of seed storage and seed treatment from Segalalli and Bommagalli villages of Dharampuri district, Tamil Nadu.
Seed storage
(1) Seeds are hardened with cow urine for 16 hours to enable them to withstand drought. (The information about the kind of crop has not been given :Ed.)
(2) Turmeric rhizomes are mixed with cow dung and red gram seeds mixed with red soil during storage.
(3) Sorghum seeds are put in a bag and stored in four to five-metre deep pits and covered with soil. This helps in retaining the viability of the seeds.
(4) Pulse seeds are stored in bags after drying fully and small bits of the basil plant (Ocimum) are mixed with it to keep away storage pests. |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 6(3):3-4, 1995 |
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