M. Rudraaradhya
More than 70% of the farming community own less than one hectare of land. They belong to the small and marginal category. These farmers feel that, except going for a single cropping system, there is hardly any possibility of trying new practices or methods for farm improvement. To address the needs of sustainable farming of such small and marginal farmers, a farming model which is sustainable and low cost has been developed. The model integrated local farming practices and watershed concepts. This model has been tried out in the Agricultural Research Station of Tarikere in Shimoga district of Karnataka.
The main objective of developing this model is to enable a small farmer to produce his family’s requirements for food and fodder on a sustainable basis, supplemented with a regular cash income through one or two farm related enterprises.
Design of the model farm
This model has been developed on a farm size of one acre (100mX40m) keeping in mind the small farmers of watershed area (See Figure 1).
The model farm area is fenced by trees like casuarina and silver oak. They are planted on the boundaries. Agave is planted in between these trees resulting in live fencing of the farm. Besides Agave, trees like bamboo, pongamia, neem, hibiscus etc., were also planted for fulfilling various farm family needs. The area has been divided into 5 parts or plots. To conserve water these have been separated by field bunds across the slope. These bunds were planted with Glyricedia,
Five plots of equal size were made on the one-acre farm.The first plot is planted with fruit trees like mango alternating with sapota, jackfruit, tamarind, pongamia, neem and jamun trees in the ratio of 2:1 in a triangular pattern with 10mX10m dimension. In between these trees, pulse crops like horse gram, dolichos lablab, peas etc. were raised.
Four rows of ragi and one row of sesamum were intercropped in the second plot.
In the third plot, 4 rows of ragi and 1 row of dolichos lablab were intercropped. In this plot, after ragi’s harvest, high yielding local variety of dolichos lablab crop was raised.
8 rows of groundnut and two rows of redgram were intercropped in the fourth plot
In the fifth plot, there are five sub components – a small house for the farmer to reside, housing for livestock, one sanitary latrine, a bio-fuel unit, 5 units of organic manure production, one farm pond, a poultry unit and a kitchen garden have been designed.
The farm house has been constructed with locally available materials like bamboo. Climbers are raised on the rooftops of farmhouse. Stoves using biofuels has been erected in the kitchen. Sanitary latrine is constructed using brick and cement. In the farm house surroundings floral plants, one or two coconut trees, medicinal plants etc., are raised. Wherever possible banana plants are raised.
In the cattle shed space has been provided to house 3-4 cattle and 10-12 sheep. The shed design enables enough ventilation and light. Special racks have been made to store the feed. One light is powered by using bio fuel. Climbers are raised on the rooftop of cattle shed.
Five compost units (one vermicomposting unit, one phospho compost, one NADEP model, one stone walled compost unit and one compost unit made of glyricidea branches) are set up. A shade is provided over the pits and vegetable climber crops like gourds are raised over the support.
Farm pond of size 5 sq.m X 8 sq.m with 2 m depth is constructed. About 100 fishes can be raised in this farm pond during June to December. Each fish would weigh around 0.5-0.75 kg. Above this, a poultry unit is set up wherein 20 poultry birds can be raised. For this, white leg horn breed is the most suitable one and not the local breed. All around the pond a fence is erected and vegetable climbers are raised.
Kitchen garden is raised in an area of four guntas. Vegetables like brinjal, bhendi, beans, tomato etc., have been raised. 12 plots are made and 12 different types of green leaf vegetables are grown.
Benefits from this model
This model has had its impact in two ways. Firstly, better conservation and use of on-farm natural resources, like the soil moisture and soil fertility status. Secondly, this model has been able to meet most of the family needs of food, fodder, fuel and cash income to a great extent.
1) Conservation and utilisation of On-farm natural resources
Soil moisture conservation
Bunding done across the slope, both on the boundaries and in between the plots reduced the speed of water flow, thus enabling more moisture to be available to plants. The vegetation on the bunds helped in stabilising the bunds, besides providing fodder and green manure.
The farm pond is situated at the lowest point on the field. The excess water which would have otherwise gone waste, got collected in the pond. The harvested water was used for irrigating vegetable crops.
Soil fertility
During the first year, fertilisers were applied. From second year onwards there was a gradual shift towards application of organic manure. The crop residues of the five plots and the animal wastes have been the major source for composting manure. The five compost units produced enough compost to meet the requirements of the five plots. Moreover, the vegetation on the bunds provides green manure based on availability. Thus the soil fertility was managed by lesser external inputs and more from the on-farm produce itself.
2) Meeting Family Needs
The model farm meets the various needs of the family, generated income and benefits the farmer as described below:
Food needs
During the previous year, the model plot was able to produce 12 kg horsegram, 69 kg dolichos lablab, 25 kg peas and 10kg green gram from the first plot, 2 bags of ragi and 20 kg of sesamum from second plot, 2 bags of ragi and 30 kg dolichos lablab from third plot and 120 kg groundnut and 123 kg redgram from the fourth. On the whole, the food requirements of cereals, pulses and oilseeds were largely met from these plots.
In addition, 12 different types of green leaf vegetables were grown in the kitchen garden. These provided greens for the family for a period of 8 months and chilly crop provided green chillies for 3 months. The remaining chillies were dried and stored which weighed 6 kgs. Tomato grown based on the availability of water in the farm pond is another source of nutrition for the family. During the first year, vegetables worth Rs.2500 were produced.
Household milk requirements were met by the Murrah buffalo.
Fodder needs
The bunds planted with Glyricedia, served as a regular source of fodder supply. To get a continous supply of fodder plants, the crop was cut from one bund at a time. Thus, by the time the fourth bund is harvested, the first bund is once again ready with vegetation for harvest. By this way, feed for livestock was ensured for 8 months in a year.
Fuel needs
The bio-fuel unit, besides providing fuel for cooking, also provided power for lighting bulbs, one in the cattle shed and one in front of the farmhouse. The light in front of the house helped in identifying the pests as they got attracted to the light and fell in the water tub arranged below. This helps the farmer to take adequate crop protection measures.
The farm house in fact is being known as a “Hi-Tech Hut”. Here, no firewood is burnt for cooking, no soot is generated in the kitchen, no usage of electric power for lighting purpose. Everything is by use of bio-fuels. Such a biofuel unit can be set up by majority of the small farmers as government subsidises the cost of installation.
Income generation
Livestock rearing started with one Murrah breed buffalo and 4 sheep. The Murrah breed buffalo produced 8 litres milk per day. After meeting the households milk requirements, on an average the daily income from sale of milk was Rs.40-50. Sheep rearing was started with 4 sheep. The sheep numbers has increased to 10 of which 2 are rams. An additional income of Rs.8000-10000 was generated by selling 4-5 well-grown sheep.
Other farm enterprises
Pisciculture is one activity that has been possible because of the farm pond. Farm pond is constructed in such a way that the excess rain water gets in the pond. When the poultry shed is cleaned the droppings fall into the farm pond. This serves as feed for the fishes. The light near the farm house also attracts the insects. The insects falling into the farm pond offer a wonderful meal to the fishes.
Other benefits
Over a couple of years, besides the above mentioned benefits, the farm family can benefit from production of fruits from horticulture plants, flowers, fuel from trees etc., They can serve as some nutrition and also some cash income. Ropes can be made from agave which is a fibre plant, to be used for livestock. These types of enterprises provide labour for the family over the entire year.
Conclusion
The model depicts a fine blend of all the farm enterprises where in each and every component feeds into the other, thus making efficient utilisation of products, bye products and also wastes generated on the farm. This model is being recognised as a useful one by small farmers for sustainable living.
M. Rudraaradhya, Agricultural Research Station, Bavikere, Tarikere – 577 144
