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REPORT
ON VARIOUS ACTIVITIES AT
SONURLI FARM OF SHRI KANEKAR
FROM 30.06.2000 TILL FEBRUARY, 2001
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A.Six
to Eight ft. long, Two and Half ft. broad and Two
ft. deep pits [ Char ] were dug on the hill slope.
Slope of the hill and rainfall was considered before
digging the pits. As the pit size was unlikely to
cover rain water hence, buckets were dug inside these
pits (Length & breadth one foot, depth 1 &
½ ft.). These buckets were filled with dry grass which
was broken at two ends and was tied properly (Molya
Bandhalya). Two ends were broken to break open phenols
and to expedite de-composition process The duly bound
grass (Molya) was properly arranged in a horizontal
and vertical style in the buckets like masonry work.
The soil removed was properly arranged on three sides
of the pit against the slope ( Bandhara). The pits
were arranged in below mentioned fashion to minimise
water seepage.
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- Three
to four pits of sizes varying from two by one,
one by one and one & half ft. were dug around
25 Sample Trees. These Pits were also filled with
dried well arranged grass shown above.
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- In
addition to this two ponds were also dug in the
first week of July.
One
Pond is on the backside of the House. It is 30
ft. long, 20 ft. broad and 3 to 3 & ½ ft.
deep. The soil removed was used for building Compound
[ Bandhara ] on all sides of the Pond as a result
we could get 5 to 5 & ½ ft. height.
The
Other Pond is in front of the House and it is
25 ft. long, 18 ft. broad and 2 & ½ ft. deep.
The Soil removed was used for building compound
on the Pond as a result we could get 4 to 4 &
½ ft. height.
Both
these Ponds were filled with duly arranged grass
mentioned above. Both these ponds consumed grass
filled in seven big tempos.
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- After
two rainfalls we realized that the water collected
in my Farm was insufficient to fill the Tank No.
1 and hence a 4 ft. deep and 200 mtrs. nalha was
dug to collect water flowing from the adjacent
hill.
- Seeds
like Karela, Padval, Shirala, Beans, Tomato etc.
were planted on the compounds [ Bandhara ] of
pits and ponds. The overall soil type found in
my Farm is such that during rain it becomes muddy
but dries out very fast and becomes sandy. As
a result whatever was planted could not survive
for long.
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COSTING
:
- Digging
of pits Rs. 1,200/-, Labour for Molya Rs. 350/-,
- Digging
of holes around trees Rs. 300/-, Labour for Molya Rs.
140/-
- Digging
of ponds Rs. 9,500/-, Cost of grass purchased Rs. 4,900/-,
Cartage & Labour for Molya Rs. 2,000/-, Digging of
Nalha Rs. 1,000/-
- Seeds
worth Rs. 400/-, planting expenses Rs. 280/-
Thus
roughly Rs. 20,000/- were spent.
BENEFITS
:
While
digging the first pond we realized that inspite of heavy
rainfall from mid May till first week of June, the
soil was not at all wet beyond 15 to 18 Inches from
top. This clearly meant that most of the rainfall
water was being wasted. The first benefit was the mental
satisfaction of saving tones and tones of water and
for being of a creative help to the nature.
- The
rains were unsteady throughout the season but as a result
of these two ponds overall downside water level was good.
Previously due to unsteady rainfall, we had to start the
water pump at regular intervals. This time during monsoon
Pump was hardly used
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- The
grass filled in the pond and pits in July provided humus
of II nd & III rd grade by November end and provided
quality food to the trees, which are more than 1,800
now. The growth of the trees in terms of vegetation,
stump size is extremely good. This growth cannot be
valued positively but it can certainly be valued negatively.
Till I joined Prayog Pariwar, I had around 950 trees
of 2 to 3 years age and on an average I used to spend
Rs. 15,000/- on fertilizers and sprays and around Rs.
2,500/- on Labour. This time I had to incur labour charges
of Rs. 2,000/- for digging 1/3 rd pits around the trees.
The below mentioned cashew palnts were purchased and
planted at the same time, next to each another. The
first plant was brought up in my conventional fashion,
while the other plant was brought up in Prayog Pariwar
pattern. Both these plants are still existing on my
farm. The difference need not be elaborated.
The
loss of seeds worth Rs. 450/- taught me a lesson worth
double the cost and that was that unless I improve the
quality of soil I should not plant vegetable seeds and
in the initial period I should use Mogli Erand, Wala Grass,
Nachani, Jondhala, Wari, Til, Rui, Babhali, Rice etc.
The
biggest advantage is noted now in the month of February.
By January end the water level of the well used to start
falling and roughly it use to take 8 to 10 hours for re
filling. We had to restrict the use of water pump for
maximum period of 4 hours. Now in the month of March the
water level has increased by more than 50 % as compared
with previous years and the re filling time has reduced
to one hour.
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2.GREENING
THE COMPOUND :
In
anticipation of monsoon we had accumulated good
quantity of humus ranging between 2 nd and 3 rd
grade. During monsoon small holes of around 9
inches deep were made through out the compound.
They were filled with humus and stumps of Glidiceria,
Chapha, Cactus, Local Erand were planted. Within
one month I could see a good root development.
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By
December glidiceria was found dead but Chapha, Local
Cactus and Erand has well survived and grown.
For
past five years I was trying to improve the compound
and my achievement was 50 glidiceria trees, one
local Erand, and 40 cactuses. With the help of
humus I succeeded in greening more than 50 % of
Compound. My plot admeasures around 7.5 acres.
I
have around fifty glidiceria trees on my compound.
Branches of these trees were tied horizontal to
the compound by removing all leafs and starting
shoot( Comb). During monsoon this had developed
good branches but now they have lost all most
all leafs.
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SUN
FARMING :
Due
to lack of knowledge and over enthusiasm I had purchased
barren plot of Land. The top soil layers were removed
long back by Sun, Wind and Rainfall. The soil had
become thick like concrete and it was resisting
air pockets required by roots.
Of
course, even this I realized only after I joined
Prayog Pariwar.
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The
first thing I did, was to plough the maximum strips
of empty land.
My
neighbours told me that the plot of land behind
my house was most ideal for ground nut plantation
and we planted ground nut. By June the vegetation
growth (greenery) was wonderful.
Same
time Dabholkar Sir visited my farm. At first instance,
he told me that the farming was bad and plants had
moved towards vegetation growth instead of root
growth. He plucked out one plant and showed me the
bad state of roots as well as missing plums (Gathi)
required for ground nut. He told that it was a very
bad farming. Assistants on my farm were very much
annoyed with this remark as the whole village had
given the first rank to our ground nut farming.
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They
realised it only at the end, when they had to remove lot
of garbage and few ground nuts. The quality of the ground
nuts removed was very poor and it yielded the lowest rate.
The cost of removing exceeded the final sale proceeds.
During
the same visit Dabholkar Sir had shown a new method of
rice farming and on the very next day we had seen a significant
growth of white root. I instructed my assistants to plant
rice, nachani and jondhala in the same pattern at least
on one guntha each. They totally neglected my instruction
and did the farming in conventional mode. Not only this,
they neglected the rice portion sowed by Dabholkar Sir.
As a result I was unable to find the end result.
But
the end result of conventional farming was bad. Final
result was total expenditure of Rs. 18,000/-, food grains
worth Rs. 6,000/- and green matter worth Rs. 6,000/-.
The answer found by my assistants was that the loss was
exclusively due to bad vision of the neighbour.
This
experiment proved how difficult it is to change the mentality
developed over the years and also taught me the means
of overcoming.
Ofcourse,
now my assistants have realized that Dabholkar Sir is
certainly a highest authority on any plant. More important
is the confidence developed by them in the methods of
Prayog Pariwar.
To
get labour as per your requirements during monsoon is
hell of a problem in my area and even if we were lucky
to get some, they never used to cut green grass for the
fear of snakes. Ultimately, I purchased a Grass Cutter
worth Rs. 30,000/- and for the first time since I joined
the Prayog Pariwar, we were able to start grass cutting
from the month of August and were also able to repeat
this cutting cycle after almost 21 days. As a result on
some plots we had as high as 5 cuttings. The grass cut
was laid on the same plot. Due to this continuous cutting
strength of the final grass was very weak due to continuous
branching and the cutting kept on becoming easy.
Petrol
worth of Rs. 2,000/- was spent for this experiment and
labour charges of Rs. 1,000/- were incurred for cutting
the grass which otherwise could not be cut with the help
of the machine. Employee cost of the man handling machine
was Rs. 2,000/-. A year before this, I had to pay Rs.
12,000/- for single cutting.
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My
neighbour had matured bamboos on his compound and
Dabholkar Sir guided us to an yet another experiment
We
went to the compound and dug one side. This digging
helped us to identify how the bamboos were joined
from inside. We selected bamboos which were more
than one year old but less than two years old. After
this we dug other three sides of bamboo root ensuring
no harm to the root. Then we took a long koyta [
Phal ] and kept it on the root between two bamboo
shoots. With the help of a wooden log we striked
the long koyta. This peculiar method of cutting
was used to ensure perfect cutting of bamboo root.
This bamboo was removed out and at a height of around
7 fts. we cut it into two pieces. White ash was
applied on the root wound and both the pieces were
brought to my farm. The bamboo with the root was
planted on a rock and dried grass was arranged over
the root. The top portion on the bamboo was used
to give support. Then at a distance of 5 ft. six
another bamboos were planted in the same way.
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I
had instructed my assistants to plant more bamboos
as per the Prayog Pariwar method. My assistants purchased
200 bamboos for Rs. 1,000/-. They spent Rs. 700/-
on labour. Inspite of practical demonstration they
purchased bamboos which were either raw or very matured.
They dug holes, used cowdung and planted the bamboos
in a row. Result was more than 80 % of the bamboos
died and inspite of spending money we had nothing
great to display on our farm. Out of the 7 bamboos
planted in the month of June in front of Dabholkar
Sir, at the end of the February 5 have survived. They
have developed good roots and branches.
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By
conventional method of planting bamboo shoots, it
would take atleast seven years before the bamboo bet
develops fully but with the help of Prayog Pariwar
method one can reduce the period by minimum four years.
My assistants could not develop this vision that time.
In
the same way we had planted banana trees but the
land where the planting was done remains muddy throughout
the monsoon and the experiment failed.
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Sugarcane
is certainly not a speciality of Konkan Region. We
had a sugarcane on our farm. Under the instructions
of Dabholkar Sir we removed it out, cut the top raw
portion of the sugarcane and planted it horizontally
with the help of humus of II nd grade. Within a month
it gave birth to more than 8 plants. This was the
most simple trick of multiplying the output with minimum
input. The mortality rate was noted at 10 % till February.
A bamboo was also planted in this method.
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Throughout
our Prayog Sessions Dabholkar Sir used to highlight the
concept of Jungle Farming. Till Dabholkar Sir visited
my farm I had developed the concept of Jungle Farming
as a non concept of monoculture. As a result in addition
to cashew, mango and coconut I planted around 200 trees
of accesia mangium, 200 sag shoots, to dilute monoculture.
All these trees were planted exactly as per the Prayog
Pariwar Method and equal mixture of top soil, humus and
a little bit of dried fish bone was provided to these
trees at regular intervals since July, 1999 and miraculous
progress till December, 2000 is visible below :
To
increase monoculture dilution, in the month of July 2000
we palnted few plants of Harda, Behada, Bibba, Ritha,
Shatavari, Sarpagandha, Ashwagandha, Adulsa, Anatoe, Undi,
Karanj, Mohogani, Gunj, Kuda, Bel etc. They were provided
special Prayog Pariwar food and within a span of six months
they achieved a minimum height between 6 to 8 fts., good
stump size and a good canopy. For the first time in last
two and half years I could experience the wonders of Prayog
Pariwar and the trees absolutely obeying my commands.
But
the day Dabholkar Sir visited my farm, for the first time
I realised that jungle farming meant a farm of different
layers together in a group. I had isolated each and every
tree. Rectification process was started immediately. At
the bare ground level I planted creepers like sweet potato,
water melon, Cucumber, then I planted wala grass and rui,
then I planted Moguli Erand, then I planted banana trees.
For the first time in my life I realised the meaning of
optimum utilization of resources. Possibly I might be
the first farmer of his kind to have yield like Karli,
Padval, Dodka on Mango Tree.
The
results will be known soon. Till then, JAY "AMBA"JI
( 19.03.2001)
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MY
TWO AND HALF YEARS WITH PRAYOG PARIWAR
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Till
I joined the Prayog Pariwar in July, 1998, I never thought
that planting trees was a science and with sincere studies
you can earn a guaranteed yield. In the first inauguration
meeting I was very much thrilled to find that the pariwar
was going to work under the directions of Dabholkar Sir.
The
first concept I picked up was of Top soil. Immediately
in my next visit to my farm I collected top soil attached
to grass roots, as by then the monsoon had started. To
this top soil I added equal quantity of Shen Khat.
The
second concept picked up by me was to identify the white
roots. Accordingly I selected a lemon tree, made a small
pit around the tree and tried to go as near to white roots
as possible. This pit was filled by the above mentioned
mixture of top soil. The same experiment was also made
on three mango plants who had four to five leafs after
three years of plantation. I pulled out the trees and
was shocked to find almost invisible white roots. The
trees were filled with top soil mixture. Out of 75 mango
trees planted by me the state of more than 60 mango trees
was pitiable as the sample trees selected.
Exactly
after one month I was astonished to see powerful flush
of white roots on the lemon tree with proportionate increase
in vegetation. Surprisingly even the three sample mango
trees were speaking a different but certainly identifiable
tune.
I
sensed the magic touch. In my next visit I carried with
me three plastic buckets of 35 liters each. By then I
had learned the concept of humus, Boron, Calcium &
Indol acetic Acid and use of animal urine. I instructed
my assistants to collect dried leafs, these leafs were
put in the bucket filled with water for 24 hours. After
24 hours manual attempts were made to break phenols of
dried leafs to facilitate speedy de-composition. Arrangement
was made with the neighbor for one bucket of Buffalo urine
and cow dung. We used to mix 25 gms. of jaguar in the
properly mixed equal quantity (16 liters each )of cow
dung and urine. A little bit of fish bone was also used
& the mixture was allowed to ferment for four days
in a sealed condition. After four days one liter of this
mixture was diluted in 80 liters of water and sixteen
liters dose was given to each tree after every fourteen
days.
In
a short time I realised that it was impossible to collect
required quantity of humus needed by around 950 trees.
Secondly as monsoon passed collection of urine became
difficult and the experiments were coming to stand still.
In
1998 the monsoon was heavy and prolonged. Even in the
month of November we had experienced heavy rains. Result
was double quantity of wild grass. For the first time
in the history of my farm I was very much happy with this
wild grass. I had to spend around Rs. 12,000/- on grass
cutting.
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We
could not find a simple way of decomposing so much
quantity of grass and at the same time I had to solve
the problem of urine and cowdung. As a result I purchased
three old unusable buffaloes for a sum of Rs. 4,500/-.
I constructed a gotha with concrete slope in such
a way that every drop of urine could be collected.
These buffaloes finished all the grass in a span of
4 months and the extra cow-dung was used for Shen
Khat. On occasions we used to mix the cow-dung and
urine in water and used to keep it for 4 hours. Afterwards
we use to filter it and spray it on the trees. These
buffaloes were used to break open the phenols of the
dry matter by crunching. The dried matter used to
be accumulated at one place. Little water used to
be sprinkled every day. Crunching process was normally
carried out for 6 hours in a day and after three days
the broken leafs with little polish used to be dumped
in water.
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With
the increase in pace of experiments the buckets
were found insufficient and I constructed a small
concrete tank. The dried matter in the form of leafs,
grass etc. used to be thoroughly deeped in this
tank for 24 hours.
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After
24 hours we used to take out this wet matter and used
to arrange it under tree shadow in such a way that the
height would not exceed 1 ft. and the width would not
exceed 3 fts. The length normally used to be within the
range of 2 to 3 mtrs. The dried matter selected used to
be cashew leafs, banana stumps, mango leafs, wild leaves
etc. Within 2 months we had kept more than 2 truck loads
of dried matter for decomposition. As if this was not
sufficient we purchased one tempo load of sugarcane waste
from Amboli, we had purchased more than 20 sacs of rice
waste [bhatachi tuse], we had also accumulated one tempo
load of dried accesia leaves. The polish and phenol of
these leaves was very strong and after 5 months we were
forced to burn it. In addition 10 sacs of goat waste,
3 sacs of chicken waste and 1 tempo load of fish was purchased
to improve the soil quality.
To
protect direct contact from Sun, these heaps were covered
by grass and alternate day water was showered by 1 inch
pipe.
For
almost more than one year humus was prepared in this fashion
at a place which was far away from the end place i.e.
the white roots of trees. Secondly instead of sprinkling
the water, we used to shower water. This excessive water
by force removed all the inside air pockets and resulted
in extending de composition time period. Thirdly, the
life cycle of the humus was not kept active and as a result
the expected results were not achieved, but still the
progress was great as compared with earlier years.
Simultaneously,
top soil was being collected by scrubbing upto six inches
of land, by sweeping roads outside the farm etc. This
top soil used to be properly arranged in heaps and the
life cycle was maintained by planting Maka. Kakadi etc.
The
humus mixed with top soil in equal proportion, with little
bit of fish bone etc. was supplied to all the plants by
identifying white roots. The roots were identified by
following process. Mid point of canopy and stump was marked
first. 2 ft. long, 1 ft. broad and 1 ft. deep pits were
dug and the soil towards stump was removed slowly. The
masala soil was filled on the white roots. While digging
the pits, at a time only 1/3rd pit was dug
to ensure minimum shock to the tree and the balance 1/3rd
portion was dug after 21 days rest. The best part of the
humus is that we can remove it without disturbing tender
white roots. This specialty always helped us to identify
the root growth. Once roots were confirmed the second
stage was to trim the tree and to try to bring it in shape.
This cutting and trimming after sufficient supply of food
stuff help the farm improvement. We were over enthusiastic
in giving regular urine dose as explained above. As a
result the vegetation growth continued without flowering
and fruiting. As if this was not sufficient various micro
nutrients were sprayed on these trees without understanding
head or tail of it. The result was almost for a month
the plants were as if in coma. I realised my error very
late and that was for the first time I understood that
the experiments are to be carried on few sample trees
rather than carrying them throughout the farm. During
the monsoon of 1999 we had to face the problem of various
insects on Mango Tree and I was forced to shred the trees
by 25 %. Since then we started a regular spray at the
end of every fortnight. The spray cycle is as below :
1st fortnight urine and cowdung as explained
above, 2nd fortnight Tobacco and 3rd
fortnight Kadu Nimb Pend. Over and above this with the
regular use of humus even the soil type has improved.
As a result in and after the monsoon of 2000 hardly 1
% trees were infected.
Since
I joined Prayog Pariwar by the end of January we apply
white wash on stumps and big branches of all the trees
for protecting them from sun.
S.P.
KANEKAR,
Ranjan
Farm, Sonurli, Behind Railway Tracks, Sawantwadi, Dist.:
Sindhudurg, Maharashtra
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