Seed Saver par excellence! Seed wizard?

The beauty of Himalayas is yet to sink and even before that the soft spoken smiling Vijay Jardhari and his works inundates me.
Firstly the nature, its beauty and my travails..
Oh man! A 2 hour bus ride from Rishikesh to this upper Nagini (enroute to uttar kashi in the Tehri part of shivalik Himalayas)..was such a scenic one! If it was so beautiful now at this part of the year - off season for farming..what a sight it shud be after rains or in the peak season or around harvest..one can imagine..this is all the Tehri Garhwal region of the Uttarkhand.
It’s a photographers delight..(be warned..i aint one..and i make do with my mobile only!)
I am dumped at a wrong stop by the bus inspite of me reminding that conductor so many times:-( and after all these years of travel, I haven’t learnt to travel light..next bus? forget it..one wud rather walk if its less than 5 kms..so I had to lug another 1 km with the baggage on my back..
But there - all that pain is so easily diverted by the hero standing, welcoming smiling!
He is a real hero..what then? To be a part of Chipko movement in the 70s (in his prime youth then!) Vijay Jardhari went on to accomplish so much in life and still stay so rooted and simple and never exaggerate one word..infact he says it so matter of factly as though it was just another task like eating, sleeping..
After Chipko movement won- yes the Govt had to ban any tree cutting above 1000 meters. (jardhari village is huge collection of some 17 hamlets across a vast area at some 1500 meters!)
VJ with some of his chipko friends in the village fights the mining lobby in 1984-87 and wins again. Stops mining in the Hemvalghati and dhoongahati regions!
So after two successive campaigns, for lack of anything else, he starts to work in his farm. Its then that the hybrid seeds and fertilizers land up in his village and he tries them..and the 1st year he is happy with the output too! There was an yield increase in the 1st year but he is a quick learner..immediately sees that the soil is decreasing the 2nd year itself and find out that this is a high intensive farming and the input cost can only go up.also in the 3rd year he finds that when he saved that seed and grew he just got so low output that it could only be his seed quantity.
So he stops chemical farming immediately..its then that he starts talking to his father and some elders in the village and they admonish the new hybrid seeds and state that there were so many varieties of paddy and others, where as now slowly its all the same hybrid rice.
Its then he starts going around in this whole region chasing and collecting traditional seeds.
This pioneer seed saver and one of its only kind in India has managed to save some 600 varieties, single handedly, till date! Seed saving king, eh?
His deeds and unique seed saving movement is a big hit by then in this region called the Beej Bachao Andolan (seed savers movement!). BBA does so much to reclaim the himalaya’s diversity.

Bara Naja!
It is then he comes out with the old tradition in the Himalayas- Bara naja (some where I have seen this being mentioned as bara anaaj too)..meaning 12 grains/seeds! There are 12 different seeds grown- few grains, some dals, some fibres, some millets, oil seeds, amaranth, buck wheat,a traditional variety of soya called bhaat, even bhang- not the nashaa variety he said:-)
Any 12 of these around 20 seeds are taken..infact this also means there is a nice crop rotation..after these 12 naja are grown, fallow follows and then its rice..then 12 naja follows and wheat or other rabi crop like masoor, barley are grown! He says ragi (finger millet) is the king of this! Such wide bio diversity also means only one or two will effectively fall(fail) for pest or disease. In case of severe rains or flood or drought the ones those are resistant to these vagaries survive..so they dont go without harvest, ever!

His display of seeds is such a visual treat..he wud display and talk about the various varieties without any drama or ‘I-have-accomplished’ feeling but with a small smile that conveys the pride! One gets to see so many varieties of paddy, 15 types of Rajma alone, hosts of dals. The highlight is the navrang dal which is such a colorful sight! So many colours of dal which is also so healthy and local!. The same crop gives out dals of 9 different colours!
This Bara Naja is one helluva discovery and has revamped the agriculture in this part and has done so much good for the community..in the initial days people used to be shy in doing this and wud hide these grains when guests came home..today it’s a matter of pride!

This didn’t come so easily..the modern agri cartel in garb of science, university, scientist and what not pushed for mono crop..in these parts they pushed for Soya – cash. Oil and protein crop! As is the trick these days these soya seeds came free with free fertilizer kits..
So Beej Bachao Andolan had to jump in again to the rescue of farming and farmers.. BBA campaigned and fought hard..they asked the govt who will process the soya bean in to oil or milk? And for whom was the rich protein and cash they were drumming about..the very fact that these were obviously meant for big industries, MNCs and that the farmers after selling these to the rich had to go to the market to buy cheap poor quality ones. So BBA’s save our seed campaign caught up and farmers and farming was saved..old traditional seeds and practices returning..including this Bara anaj!

He not only changed the mindset of people in Tehri Garhwal area but also of the Govt. Today the Uttar Khand state agri dept talks and professes about his bara naaja (12 grain/seeds) system, that he is a very famous name. even more is the fact that this system is being fully spread and practiced all over!
He is also the reason for a cordial relationship with the forest authorities and so there is such a nice give and take happening unlike most other places where each treats the other as sworn enemies..

Its such a fortunate thing for the society and me ofcourse that I could meet him. Thanks to KSY I met him 1st then and now could follow up and it was such an experience..
To stay in his house and keep eating and when not eating gobbling up the scenic beauty allround – I sure am lucky!

What a person and what a feat! Such gems are the hopes for the future.
Thanks VJ!

see here for Photos!

House of Kodai

One of the most fortunate things that has dawned on me after this ‘retirement’ and wedded to agri causes (the organic or sustainable ones) is that we get invited to so many fantastic organic farms..in beautiful locales..incredible achievements, phenomenal people, out of the world farming techniques beckon us..
I said above that we get invited..pl include ‘getting invited’ also as a category..on hearing of good fabulous farms me and W do get ourselves invited and launch ourselves there..

One such farm is the House of Kodai..one heard of Karthik long back with his ingenious ‘Basket of Kodai’ idea..then we at restore get some plums, bananas and other stuff from HOK..later we hear that that the inimitable F is also there..F is known for her extraordinary baking & cooking skills incidentally..so more reasons to go.. meanwhile K & F send restore some pickles and jams in some matchless packing..(am sure its F’s hand)

So more reason to visit..but plans don’t lead to visits, u know..i have been promising K since last year that we will land up there in the next opportunity..KSY, other tours, some advocacy issues, other GM fights, restore tasks all play up in this perennial postponement..
And suddenly in August mid we steal a couple of days and go to Kodai..and so stay over in HOK..oh? did I say Kodai? No its only when we went there we found that it was Switzerland..or prolly a cut paste..
It was very swiss like locale and their practices and style all were very unique and added to my swiss memoirs..
It’s a beautiful piece of land overlooking a ‘north face’ like ‘grindelwald’ type hill range..
A stream running on its edge of their land, recent rains having made this whole place more than a green heaven..
Add to that K & F’s hospitality..one of the best in recent past..
K also ventured in to telecom a bit..out of sheer selfish need to get himself a broadband (for net access) he brings in some wireless equipments and weaves his magic- in the midst of no-where, (since it was surrounded by hills alla round there was no solution earlier..) he gets broadband..This solution especially working with the local youth attracted so many eyes and even the normally immovable BSNL was moved! They have now asked him to use his ‘technology’ to offer to any one who asks for in Kodai and may be scale up to other places..
So this place also is beyond farming..since it is telecom that attracts me more..I really wish it does go places, for all his perspiration!
Add to that K’s popularity all over the Kodai hills..
So we could just go around visiting many more farms and lotsa interesting org farmers..
A memorable trip..inimitable folks..one of the best farms I visited in the recent past..NO! Iam not going to get in to their organic farm, produce, techniques etc..
If I were to build a house in an eventual farm that I will settle, I will copy this house- kitchen, bedroom, balcony overlooking the hill, swiss-like wooden benches and the bath!
Actually I can write one long piece only on that bathroom..i can see F’s stamp on it..This is the best bathroom I have ever used..mind u, I have traveled really wide..across the globe and easily more than 100 organic farms across India and to say this I must be more than convinced..The best bathroom ever..may be I might even opt to just stay there in that bath next time..since Iam still traveling fotos incl those of bathrooms shall be posted only later..but their blog and site has some fotos i guess..
Till then keep checking here..
Please don’t ask me for their address, phone number etc..Iam not going to give that..if u ‘qualify’ u shall get to go there..

Fukuoka’s dream: Do nothing Natural Farm on the outskirts of Bangalore!

N R Shetty, one of the founders of Sahaja Samrudda (a grassroot organization working to convert farmers to organic farming, help them sell thru their outlet and also establish seed banks) lives his dream! In the outskirts of Bangalore, in nelamangala..A fantastic 1.25 acres farm called Nava Nandana, this is a heaven created with nothing but nature and efforts of Shetty and his wife.

It’s a ‘do- nothing” farm like we all hear and read, often quoting Masunobu Fukuoka, that is being practiced here with ease.
This land/grove is only rainfed. There is no bore well or electricity (for farming purpose!)..so no irrigation or watering plans..its all taken care of by the rains/nature. Even for their drinking and washing purposes, rain water is harvested! A 20000 litres capacity sump collects all the rain water and that is the only water source for their living! This is to serve them between rains which could at worst be 3-4 months!

This is more of horticulture farm, obviously.
Do-nothing-farming does involve a lot of initial work and patience. Of course they did water (using ingenious drip technics like placing earthen pots neck deep in soil next to the roots zone or by burying small pipes vertically and pour very little water thru them directly to the roots zone!) in the initial days. All this only for the first 2 years of planting and only in the 3 summer months. That was a full 6 years ago!

Now this is a green heaven (not a square inch of soil exposed to the sky – lots of perennial legumes aka nitrogen fixers), with so many fantastic trees, plants and more useful green manure usually called the weeds by the ‘educated’ and universitywalas! Most of the trees one gets to see here is planted..of course some by birds!
In all some 35 fruit varieties, some timber trees, lotsa shorter duration plants, fence tress, fodder ones like Glyrecedia, greens, creepers, vegetables, are all there. Amazing number of diverse tree species in 1.25 acres.
They also grow some pulses and grains like ragi. So only some items like rice, oils come from outside world.

There are varieties of small cute ideas implemented to enable various beneficial activities in the farm. Simple inverted coconut shells to attract and house wasps, intelligent mixing of plants like castor to attract the pests towards itself, casurina trees that act as wind breakers and are home to fungi etc. The outer periphery had various trees to act as wind breakers and a trench to trap rain water and prevent erosion.

The sapota we plucked and had from the trees were one of the sweetest I have had in my life. As they say the fruits from rainfed wud be the sweetest! How true!!
There was the tree (creeper) potato to satiate the exotic’s thirst!

Shetty cutely says “ if you provide shelter and food (for other organisms like in a fence crop etc) our shelter and food shall not be disturbed or touched”. How prophetic and true!
Simple philosophy is to let nature ‘be’ and he says its so easy and u can never go wrong.

By far, one of the best natural farms visited in all these years. The catch is the number of species and the green cover one sees here.

Way to go Shettyji! Fukuoka will be happy.

For fotos see here!

Bhaskar Save – a legend!

He is 89 and still active. One of the oldest (organic) farmers in India, most revered and a fountainhead of knowledge. He has been practising organic farming since 1956. He is a must see for any one taking to farming and his farm kalpavruksha should be visited- likened to pilgrimage.
Another person influenced by Gandhiji! This list of people across many fields influenced by Gandhiji amazes me.

Saveji was an exemplary chemical farmer in the early 1950s. When there were not many who took to chemical farming in those days, his farm was a ‘sample farm’ the fertilizer industry would bring people to. He was a ‘progressive farmer then:-0 but the point is he was always outstanding.
Suddenly he happened to read some points of gandhiji and the turn around (as well as reasoning) happened. From then till date kalpavruksha is an amazing natural farm. From water conservation to mulching to using weeds to the unique way of using crotons to identify the water needs of plants around to intelligent pest management thru mixed cropping – it’s a delight. A farm even the great Fukuoka said was better than his own, when he visited Kalpavruksha!
Saveji has numerous suggestions to make from his vast experience. He backs them all with heavy interesting statistics that one cant ignore what he says. One can fill this whole space with so much of info.
So here I go, only with some of the fabulous quotes of his.
- gandhijis 4 diktats about non violence, no right to kill other creatures, respect to mother earth, adopting traditional practices was the reason for his turn around.
- prakruti hi parameshwar
- When there is lack of knowledge, ignorance masquerades as ‘science’
- Weeding, Chemicals, cultivation expenses like tractor, etc and pesticides constitute 20% of the expenses each.
- Trees/plants donot take anything from the soil unlike the general wisdom. He went on to prove this by taking a pot with 9kg of soil and grew water melon. This grew and gave 2 fruits – 3& 5 kg (8 kg totally). Then he took the full plant and weighed it, which was 600gms. The soil after drying weighed 9kg again!
- Evaporation of water is like distillation and it leaves behind concentrated salt on the soil which was the main factor for loss of soil fertility.
- During and just after the I world war, British (and the farming community) didn’t bother about agriculture and so there was a sudden dip in production. This gave way to Chemical fever.
- Fruits and seeds comprise only 10-15% the rest is all designed to be given back to mother earth!
- vikas nahi vinash! (It aint development but destruction! While talking on the supposed development)
- if farmer becomes bikari the nation wud become bikari too
- we have no right to tamper with nature, it will take care of itself well if we don’t mess
- sarvodaya Vs Sarvanash
- With all this abundant use of pesticide have the pests vanished? Why isn’t any one asking??
- Soil took lakhs of years to form and how can we have short term plans for it?
- Except Humans all live their life, don’t disturb nor affect themselves or other creatures. and they don’t trade either.
- Earth worm is a great being, that works 24X 7. In a day it comes up to the surface 10-12 times to get O2 and to excrete.While it eats on the soil and all wastes that we put, it nourishes the soil so well. There can be up to 4 lakhs earthworm per acre. Each time it comes out it digs 2 holes (tilling any body?) so 2holes x 10 times x 4 lakhs!! 72 crores holes in a crop cycle on average per acre.
- Earthworms during their action do not disturb any of the fibrous roots but tilling would.
- BTW compost is NOT food for forest. Its food for the micro organisms of the soil.
- Trees need moisture not water! More water actually arrests aeration.
- Just like us, the roots also need to breathe and so excess water is unproductive. Prolonged flooding lets the roots to rot and it takes so much time to recoup even after the water drains or dries. Rice being the only exception.
- The water used to irrigate one acre of chemically grown sugarcane can provide the needs of atleast 25 acres of jowar, bajra or maize. Add to this the consumption at the sugar factories. 1 kg of refined sugar would need 3 tons of water. With this water 250 kg of millets can be grown.
- bcos of dams, theertha shetras became Naraga shetras.
- 40% of microbes and earthworms die in the 1st year of chemical farming. Due to this inadvertent introduction of organic (dead) matter on to the soil, the yield increases, in the 1st year. 3rd to 4th year on it reduces. So the introduction of ‘fiddled ‘ seeds, more chemicals, more water, more of everything and so more debts too!
- Of all the creatures 99% are non-vegetarians and the rest 1% is vegetarian. To avoid this 1% we spray so much of harmful chemicals where as the 99% wud have had enough predators to finish them off naturally.
- Instead we killed these helpful non-veg insects and so the vegetarians are freaking out on our crops.
- Chikkoo (sapota) lives for 3000-4000 years! One such 4000 years tree planted by the portugese is seen at silvassa!
- A very insightful, practical and amazing plan to reap the best out of mixed cropping by him is to mix the alpa jeevi (short duration crops, 2-6 months), Madhyama jeevi (medium duration, 2-12 years) and deerga jeevi (long term, 50-1000years) in such a way that the long term are on the outer periphery and as u go inside towards the centre u have the madhya and alpa jeevis.
Something important: When he shifted from chemical to organic way back in 1956, he had 50% yield only but expenses was a meager 10% of the prev year’s. In 5th year he had achieved 100% and from then it only increased.
His recipe for a sujalam suphalam India is to throw 3 things away; namely Agri university, Agri ministry and cricket.

Savejis open letter to M.S.Swaminathan, the great architect of “green revolution” is very [popular and is floating around all over the internet.
For the 1st letter to MSSwaminathan, see here:
Ofcourse he got a typical bureaucratic, diplomatic (read silly) reply from MSS!
For the 3rd letter see here:

Note: I do have lotsa photos including the great Fukuoka's pictorial comments in his visitor's book. But it can only happen later when I reach home.

Note2: for a cute write up and some photos on the same, check out here. Its with Sriram and Karpagam that i visited this farm and Ahmedabad.

1800 Kms on the road

In all this melee (anti GM campaigns, Piyush affairs,etc) I forgot to chronicle my long tour. 1800Kms on my scorpio to various places..different farms and meeting interesting farmers..It was fun..
It all started with a visit to Point return enroute to auroville..that nights stay at Sadhana Forest! An out of the world project in auroville where volunteers from all over the world come and volunteer in that extraordinary mission of Aviram & Jorit. That day (wednesday) was a talents night out there and to see so many talented youth from across the globe and showcase them casually in that off-grid campus was a great experience. Then we joined the volunteers of sadhana for one session the next morning and set off to trichy.
There was the agri exhibition out there organized by dinamalar (a tamil daily) and so an opportunity to see many farmer, farm equipments. It was fun bcos I happened to spend time with Ashok, rajasekar and Amit palekar (yes, the legendary, zero Budget fame subhash palekar’s son). So met some farmers in their network. Though my expectations weren’t met by this exhib, it had some purpose.

Then we set out to Kallakurichi, to visit an organic (oh no! zero budget) farm. Those farmers who follow palekar school treat ‘organic’ as a bad word. They will be driven by high conviction and wudnt deviate from their natural farming methods. They wudnt even tolerate a hybrid cow (to a nattu/desi cow)..so its always interesting bcos most of them see agriculture as a way of life..more like a spiritual practice than a livelihood.
So it was not new(s) when I met Chandrabose in the village called Neelamangalam 4km before kallakurichi. Nor was I surprised when I came to know there is no other farmer practicing organic farming in the surrounding. This man also hasn’t sold his produce in the market but only given to his relatives & friends alone and most of them have seen vast improvement in taste and health. Good example is his sister who always had acidity and other stomach problems which hasn’t surfaced from the time she has started taking his rice and grains.
It was a shock when I was talking to some farmer in that area when he said that one can’t extract jaggery on their own without ‘license’. Police can raid it seems! I see that as a sugar lobby’s ploy to stop small farmers from extracting their own jaggery but to sell the sugar factories- at the cost they determine! Hmm, ways of democracy!

Then we proceed to a village some 25kms from Attur (before Salem). We had to take a deviation towards koolamedu right at a foothill. The route was so scenic and this farm surrounded by hills on all side was a treat..so a walk around his farm towards the evening was so delightful.
This farmer was some 70+ agile man with loads of knowledge and energy. There were some very interesting products they had too..the steal was their castor oil..traditionally the castor seeds are milled with turmeric we were told and so the fragrance was fantastic..any amount of sniffing by my friends couldn’t lead to correct answer! It was so different. Among other things they had good amount of traditional paddy varities.

From there to Salem and Dharmapuri. As we were leaving the last of our farm visits (& the eco restoration project of Piyush) near pennagaram, we just saw a sign board saying Hogenekkal 18Kms.. we were scheduled to catch Dharmapuri road and head to Bangalore..
But the lure of fun..so we took left and went to hogenekkal had a good massage and a bath and were about to leave..
And here again suddenly we see a sign board saying denkanikota and Hosur..This is a single carriage way and thru the forests..so lured again we go..rest is history..
As my friend SL who was driving asks me to check the sound in the front bumper, I set out to check that and in the process of all those bending and mending, prolly dropped my mobile..bcos after a few Kms I realise my mobile isn’t there and we hit back searching and rest is history, as all of u know..I was without a hand for a few days- good days though, still the feeling of having lost in such crazy situation lets u thinking of butterfly effect and tracing back to so many unexpected turns that u took and how they affected in a totally diff area, unexpectedly..
Such is life- filled with surprises and losses ;-)

farm visits

yeah, am travelling..
after a long time and its pondy, Trichy, Kallakurichi, Atthur, Salem, Darmapuri, Hosur Bangalore. Visiting many farms enroute..
so bear with sparse blogging here, but wait for more stories..
off i go*brrrr*