Development of farm facilities and habitat
i.
Infrastructure
·
Reserve
3-5% space for utilities, such as space for cattle, vermicompost bed,
compost tank, Vermiwash/ compost tea unit etc. 3-4 trees should be
planted only on this space, as all utility infrastructure need shade.
·
Dig
some percolation tanks (7x3x3mt) for rain water conservation (1 pit per
ha) at appropriate places depending upon slope and water flow.
·
If
possible develop a farm pond of preferably 20x10 mt size.
·
Keep
few 200 lit tanks (1 per acre) for liquid manure preparation and few
containers for botanicals.
·
For
5 acre farm, develop 1-2 vermicompost beds, 1 NADEP tank, 2-3 compost
tea/ vermiwash units.
·
Irrigation
well, pumping infrastructure etc can also be in this utility area
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ii. Habitat
·
Plant
Glyricidia, perennial Sesbania, Luecanea leucocephala, Casia tora etc
for biological nitrogen fixation on bunds (1.5 mt wide, on at least
800-1000mt for 5 acre).
·
Planting
of some trees, bushes at appropriate places e.g. Neem (Azadirachta
indica) 3-4 trees, Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) one, Gular (Ficus
glumerata), 1-2, ber (Zizyphus sp) bushes 8-10, Aonla (Embilica
officinalis) 1-2, Drumstick, Custard apple 2-3 and 2-3 fruit trees.
·
In
between Glyricidia rows insert few plants of pesticidal value such as
Adathoda vesica, Vitax nigundo, Calotropis, Datura alba, Ipomea
(Besharam) etc.
·
Trees
on utility space can be allowed to grow fully. Trees and bushes on farm
bunds should be placed randomly at sufficient distance and pruned at
repeated intervals.
·
Glyricidia
plants should be planted at close spacing on all major bunds and all
around the farm. They will act not only as biological fence but also
provide biologically fixed nitrogen to soil.
·
A
400 mt long Glyricidia strip can provide 22.5 kg N/ha per year from the
year 3 and up to 77 Kg N/ha from year 7 under rainfed conditions. This
can be 75-100% higher under irrigated conditions. Three to four
harvests can be made under irrigated conditions and two harvests under
un-irrigated conditions. Never allow them to grow above 5.5 ft to avoid
shading effect. Lopping is used as green leaf manure. Simply harvest
them and incorporate in soil before sowing or use as mulch.
Schematic model of an 10
acre organic farm
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Conversion of
soil to organic
a. Low input alternative
·
In
first year simultaneously sow three different types of legumes, first
of 60 days, second of 90-120 days and third of more than 120 days in
strips. Extract only grains or green pods, use entire crop residue as
mulch along with uprooted weeds.
·
In
second season apply compost @ 2.5 ton/ha and sow cereal crop with
legume as inter or companion crop. After harvest use entire legume and
remaining part of cereal crop as mulch.
·
If
irrigation facilities are there, take summer legume with some vegetable
crop. Recycle entire residue as mulch.
·
Use
3-4 application of liquid manure during each cropping season for soil
application.
b. High input alternative
·
Incorporate
2.5 ton compost/ vermicompost, 500 kg crushed oil cakes, 500 kg rock
phosphate, 100 kg neem cake and 5kg PSB biofertilizer in soil.
·
Sow
3-4 types of different crops in strips. 40% crop stand should be of
legumes. After harvest incorporate entire residue in soil or use as
mulch after sowing of the next crop. For second crop also use similar
quantities of manures.
·
Use
liquid manure @ 200lit/acre 3-4 times during cropping season along with
irrigation water
After about 12-18 months the
soil will be ready for organic cultivation of any crop combination. For
next two-three years, along with any crop incorporate legumes as inter
or companion crops. Ensure that crop residue should always have at least
30% residue from legumes. Also treat crop residue with liquid manure
before incorporating into soil or using as mulch.
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iv. Multiple
cropping and crop rotation
·
In
organic farming there is no place for mono cropping.
·
Entire
farm should have at least 8-10 types of crops at all the times.
·
Each
field/ plot should have at least 2-4 types of crops out of which one
should be legume.
·
In
case if only one crop is taken in one plot then adjacent plots should
have different crops.
·
Follow
3-4 years rotation plan.
·
All
high nutrient demanding crops should precede and follow legume
dominated crop combination.
·
For
maintenance of diversity and pest control, randomly plant 50-150/acre
vegetable seedlings for home consumption and 100 plants/acre of
marigold (Genda) in all crop fields.
·
Even
high nutrient demanding crops such as sugarcane can also be grown with
suitable combination of various legume and vegetable crops with optimum
productivity.
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v. Status of
rich and live organic soil
·
A
fertile and live organic soil ideally should have organic C between
0.8-1.5%.
·
At
any point of time it should have adequate quantity of dry, semi
decomposed and fully decomposed organic matter for the use of
micro-flora and fauna.
·
Total
microbial load (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes) should be above 1 x
108 /gm of soil.
·
There
should be at least 3-5 earth worms/cubic ft of soil.
·
There
should be enough quantity of small life forms and insects such as ants
etc.
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vi. Manuring and
soil enrichment
·
Lopping
from Glyricidia and other plants grown on bunds, on-farm produced
compost and vermicompost, animal dung and urine and crop residue should
form the major source of nutrient.
·
Suitable
combination of biofertilizers and concentrated manures such as crushed
oil cakes, poultry manure, vegetable market waste compost and other
novel preparations such as biodynamic formulations EM produced composts
etc can also be used in appropriate quantity.
·
Use
of high quantities of manures should be avoided.
·
Changing
crop rotations and multiple crops ensure better utilization of
resources.
·
Depending
upon the type of crop and requirement of nutrients for different crops,
the quantity of externally produced inputs is determined.
·
Application
of liquid manure is essential to maintain the activity of microorganisms
and other life forms. 3-4 applications of liquid manure is essential
for all types of crops.
·
Vermiwash,
compost tea and cow urine are excellent growth promoters when used as
foliar spray. 3-5 sprays after 25-30 days of sowing ensure good
productivity.
·
As
organic management is a complex integrated process, where all the
components are interlinked and independent on each other and no single
crop is grown at a time it is very difficult to develop a package for
any single crop, one example of nutrient management is given below
(just as an example):
-
Cereal legume combination
In kharif, jowar, bajra or
maize (cotton also) can be grown in combination with legumes. Main
cereal crop should occupy 60% of total space while two legumes can be
grown in remaining 40% space in strips. 1.5-2.0 tons of compost, 500 kg
of vermicompost mixed with 100 kg rock phosphate is applied as basal
dose. Biofertilizers are used as seed and soil treatment. Previous crop
residue is treated with liquid manure and spread over the soil surface
immediately after sowing. Weeding is done manually and weed-biomass is
used as mulch. 3-4 application of liquid manure @
200lit/acre/application is essential and applied along with irrigation
or sprinkled uniformly over one acre during rains. Biodynamic
preparations, cow pat pit or EM formulations can also be used along
with or in place of composts. 2-3 foliar sprays of vermiwash or cow
urine or both (1:1) ensure good productivity.
In rabi, first take a quick
crop of green leafy vegetables such as Trigonella or spinach (Palak)
and then take wheat. Instead of wheat, vegetable can also be grown in
combination with legumes. Similar quantities of manures can be used if
wheat is grown. In case of vegetables add 500 kg of crushed oil cakes,
100 kg neem cake and 50 kg rock phosphate per acre to the compost. As
the soil builds up, the use of composts can be reduced to 50% after 3-4
years of starting the organic management.
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vii. Seed
Treatment
In organic management,
protection measures are used only in the case of problematic
situations. Use of disease free seed and stock and resistant varieties
is the best option. There is no standard formulation or treatment
methodology, available as on today, but farmers use different methods.
Few of such innovative seed treating formulations are as follows:
·
Hot
water treatment at 530C for 20-30 min.
·
Cow
urine or cow urine-termite mound soil paste
·
Beejamrut
(mix 50 gm cow dung, 50 ml cow urine, 10 ml milk, 2-3 gm lime in one
lit of water keep overnight).
·
Asphoetida
250gm in one lit. of water for 10 kg seed
·
Turmeric
rhizome powder mixed with cow urine
·
Pachgavya
extract
·
Dashparni
extract
·
Trichoderma
viride (4gm/kg seed) or Pseudomonas fluorscens (10gm/kg seed)
·
Biofertilizers
(Rhizobium/ Azotobacter +PSB)
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viii. Preparation
of liquid manures
Many variants of liquid
manures are being used by farmers of different states. Few important
and widely used formulations are given below
·
Sanjivak – Mix 100 kg cow dung, 100
lit cow urine and 500 gm jaggary in 300 lit of water in a 500-lit
closed drum. Ferment for 10 days. Dilute with 20 times water and
sprinkle in one acre either as soil spray or along with irrigation
water.
·
Jivamrut – Mix cow dung 10 kg, cow
urine 10 lit, Jaggary 2 kg, any pulse grain flour 2 kg and Live soil 1
kg in 200 lit water and fermentation for 5 to 7 days. Stir the solution
regularly three times a day. Use in one acre with irrigation water.
·
Panchgavya – Mix cow dung slurry 4 kg,
fresh cow dung 1 kg, cow urine 3 lit, cow milk 2 lit, curd 2 lit, cow
butter oil 1 kg and ferment for 7 days with twice stirring per day.
Dilute 3 lit of Panchgavya in 100 lit water and spray over soil. 20 lit
panchgavya is needed per acre for soil application along with
irrigation water.
·
Enriched
Panchgavya – Mix fresh cow dung 1 kg,
cow urine 3 lit, cow milk 2 lit, curd 2 lit, cow deshi ghee 1 kg,
sugarcane juice 3 lit, coconut water 3 lit, banana paste of 12 fruits
and ferment for 7 days. Method of application is same as Panchgavya
above.
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ix. Pest
management
As in organic farming
management, use of synthetic chemicals is prohibited, the pest
management is done by: (i) cultural or agronomic (ii) mechanical (iii)
biological or by (iv) organically acceptable chemical alternatives
·
Cultural
alternative
Use of disease free seed or
stock and resistant varieties are best preventive practice in organic
pest management. Maintenance of biodiversity, effective crop rotation,
multiple cropping, habitat manipulation and use of trap crops are also
effective practices which can keep the population of pests below
economical threshold limit (ETL).
·
Mechanical
alternative
Removal of affected plants
and plant parts, collection & destruction of egg masses and larvae,
installation of bird perches, light traps, sticky colored plates and
pheromone traps are most effective mechanical methods of pest control.
·
Biological
alternative
Use of pest predators and
pathogens has also proved to be effective method of keeping pest
problem below ETL. Inundative release of Trichogramma sp. @ 40,000 to
50,000 eggs per hectare, Chelonus blackburni @15,000 to 20, 000 per
hectare, Apanteles sp.@15,000 to 20,000 per ha and Chrysoperla sp.@
5,000 per ha., after 15 days & others parasites & predators
after 30 days of sowing, can also effectively control pest problem in
organic farming .
·
Use
of Biopesticides
Trichoderma viride or T.
harazianum or Pseudomonas fluorescence formulation @ 4gm/kg seed either
alone or in combination, manage most of the seed borne & soil borne
diseases. There are other formulations viz. Beauvaria bassiana,
Metarizium anisopliae, Numeria rileyi, Verticillium sp, which are
available in the market and can manage their specific host pest.
Bacillus thurengensis stenebrionis and B.thurengensis sandigo are
effective against coleopterans as well as some other insect species.
Bt. has been used in the management of diamond back moth on crucifers
and vegetables @ 0.5-1.0 kg. formulation per ha.
Viral biopesticides of
baculovirus group viz. granulosis viruses (GV) and nuclear polyhedrosis
viruses provided a great scope in plant protection field. Spray of
nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPV) of Helicoverpa armigera (H) or
Spodoptera litura (S) @ 250 larval equivalents are very effective tools
to manage the Helicoverpa sp. or Spodoptera sp. respectively.
·
Botanical
pesticides
Many plants are known to
have pesticidal properties and the extract of such plants or its
refined forms can be used in the management of pests. Among various
plants identified for the purpose, neem has been found to be most
effective.
Neem (Azadirachta indica) – Neem has been found to be
effective in the management of approximately 200 insects, pests and
nematodes. Neem is very effective against grasshoppers, leaf hoppers,
plant hoppers, aphids, jassids, and moth caterpillars. Neem extracts,
are also very effective against beetle larvae, butterfly, moth and
caterpillars such as Mexican bean beetle, Colorado potato beetle and
diamondback moth. Neem is very effective against grasshoppers, leaf
minor and leaf hoppers such as variegated grasshoppers, green rice leaf
hopper and cotton jassids. Neem is fairly good in managing beetles,
aphids and white flies, mealy bug, scale insects, adult bugs, fruit
maggots and spider mites.
·
Some
other pest control formulations
Many organic farmers and
NGOs have developed large number of innovative formulations which are
effectively used for control of various pests. Although none of these
formulations have been subjected to scientific validation but their
wide acceptance by farmers speak of their usefulness. Farmers can try
these formulations, as they can be prepared on their own farm without
the need of any purchases. Some of the popular formulations are listed
below:
Cow urine – Cow urine diluted with
water in ratio of 1: 20 and used as foliar spray is not only effective
in the management of pathogens & insects, but also acts as
effective growth promoter for the crop.
Fermented curd water – In some parts of central
India fermented curd water (butter milk or Chaach) is also being used
for the management of white fly, jassids aphids etc.
Dashparni extract – Crush neem leaves 5 kg,
Vitex negundo leaves 2 kg, Aristolochia leaves 2 kg, papaya (Carica
Papaya) 2 kg, Tinospora cordifolia leaves 2 kg, Annona squamosa
(Custard apple) leaves 2 kg, Pongamia pinnata (Karanja) leaves 2 kg,
Ricinus communis (Castor) leaves 2 kg, Nerium indicum 2 kg, Calotropis
procera leaves 2 kg, Green chilly paste 2 kg, Garlic paste 250 gm, Cow
dung 3 kg and Cow Urine 5 lit in 200 lit water ferment for one month.
Shake regularly three times a day. Extract after crushing and
filtering. The extract can be stored up to 6 months and is sufficient
for one acre.
Neemastra - Crush 5 kg neem leaves in
water, add 5lit cow urine and 2 kg cow dung, ferment for 24 hrs with
intermittent stirring, filter squeeze the extract and dilute to 100
lit, use as foliar spray over one acre. Useful against sucking pests
and mealy bugs.
Brahmastra - Crush 3 kg neem leaves in
10 lit cow urine. Crush 2 kg custard apple leaf, 2 kg papaya leaf, 2kg
pomegranate leaves, 2 kg guava leaves in water. Mix the two and boil 5
times at some interval till it becomes half. Keep for 24 hrs, then
filter squeeze the extract. This can be stored in bottles for 6 months.
Dilute 2-2.5 lit of this extract to 100 lit for 1 acre. Useful against
sucking pests, pod/fruit borers.
Agneyastra - Crush 1 kg Ipomea
(besharam) leaves, 500 gm hot chilli, 500 gm garlic and 5 kg neem
leaves in 10 lit cow urine. Boil the suspension 5 times till it becomes
half. Filter squeeze the extract. Store in glass or plastic bottles.
2-3 lit extract diluted to 100 lit is used for one acre. Useful against
leaf roller, stem/fruit/pod borer.
For More Information on Stevia Cultivation
Pankaj kalita: 09854093470, 09085578408
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