Success in Organic farming
Extract from Case Study - CWS Gunthaguda success
Adu Nayak belongs to other backward caste (Rana). He lives with his wife, son and mother in Gunthaguda village of Mahadeiput GP. He has five acres of land but due to scarcity of man power he cultivates only three acres and puts the rest two acres to share cropping. He used to grow paddy in two acres and Ragi and Niger in the rest part. His annual harvest consists of 10 quintal of paddy, 2 quintal of Ragi and 1 to 2 quintal of Niger. However he used to sell away Niger (Rs 1500/- to 2500/- on an average in a year) to meet his daily consumption needs (vegetables, salt, oil, etc.).
Since last four years he has started vegetable cultivation in one acre of land as the income from sale of Niger was not adequate to meet the other expenses of his family. He has been selling vegetables worth Rs 3000/- to Rs 4000/- per annum besides catering to consumption needs of his family. But he thinks that in comparison to investment for chemical fertilizers and pesticides (on an average of Rs 2000/- per annum), the profit is quite insignificant. He was quite convinced that without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, vegetable cultivation would not be possible.
In June 2007 Adu got an opportunity to participate in a training programme on SRI and organic practices organized by Pragati at Koraput.Though he was quite skeptical that by adopting organic practices he may not be able to earn a profit, yet he decided to experiment in a small patch of land. He purchased 20gm of brinjal seeds and cultivated 20 cents of land. He applied only cowdung, farm yard manure and 10 kg. of vermi compost and kept a close watch.
For the full story, please see Case Study - CWS Gunthaguda success
