Lankan farmers take lessons in natural farming

A delegation of farmers from Sri Lanka visited farm of natural farmer Ramesh Raju at Kurahatti, India last week.

Raju has succeeded in reaping good yield by adopting natural farming. Instead of fertiliser and other stimulants, Raju uses cow urine, cow dung cakes and jaggery to increase productivity of crops like banana and sugarcane. Sharing his success story with his Sri Lankan counterparts - led by Jayant Tilak on a study tour, Raju said he cultivated 50 tonnes of sugarcane on one acre of land, spending Rs 30,000. He has already earned Rs 50,000 by growing sub-crops like brinjal, chilly and others.

The sugarcane expected to be harvested in five months will help produce 50 quintals of jaggery. According to the prevailing price jaggery costs Rs 3,500.

He advised the delegates to adopt natural farming as propagated by Subhash Palekar - invest less and earn more without depending on fertiliser. "Already five workshops have been conducted in Sri Lanka. It was the workshop that aroused the curiosity of farmers and hence we are on a study tour. We will also urge the government to adopt natural farming to increase food production to meet the growing demand," he said.

The delegation included Sri Lanka Farmers' Association president Darshan de Silva and Subramanya Pillai among others.

They were accompanied by natural farmers Pratibha Nagavara and Anantaraj Keragodu.

Courtesy: Decca Herald