Farmers Diary > Though I am not a farmer by birth, my journey as a farmer, rather as a sericulturist began in the year 1996. We had bought a 2 acre farm, not to do farming, but to start a weaving mill for manufacturing sarees, an ancestral business which was then reeling under a liability of 25 lakhs.
After installing the machinery, myself and my wife, Asha Naik being interested in nature, decided to pursue sericulture and planted mulberry on one and half acre of land which was not being used,. But as the region was reeling under severe drought, we went in for rainwater harvesting and well recharging. The success of rainwater harvesting tempted me to increase my sericulture activities.
Meanwhile, owing to power crisis, we were forced to shut down the power loom business, thus directing our energies into sericulture, expanding it to 10 acres.
Journey towards homa farming
I took a 2 acre land on lease and planted mulberry. To make use of the inter crop spaces, I grew cauliflower. I was advised to follow a schedule of applying chemical fertilisers and pesticides. I did harvest a good crop which fetched me fifty thousand rupees. But when the mulberry leaves were fed to the silkworms, they vomited and died, owing to the chemical residues in the leaf. This continued for one full year and I decided to go organic.
I got another farm of two acres on lease and I planted mulberry. This time I grew cauliflower as an intercrop, the organic way. I planned to sell it through a group called Organic food club which supplied organic vegetables to households in Belgaum. To my disappointment they had closed down. But to my good fortune, I met Mr. Abhay Mutalik Desai who was coordinating the project. He introduced me to Homa farming techniques which was another turning point in my farming journey.
Me and my wife decided to adopt Homa farming on our farm. We got trained on the methods of using this technique by the volunteers of “Homa Farming” group, who visited our farm on several occasions. A resonance point was installed on the farm. This is a special system consisting of 10 pyramids charged by Mantras and installed in a special configuration. After setting up the system, we are continuing with Agnihotra and Tryambakam Homa till to date.
My experiences
You heal the atmosphere and the healed atmosphere heals you! – The essence of Homa Farming
Homa farming is a system which comes from ancient science of Vedas. Homa is a Sanskrit word used here synonymously with Yajnya. Yajnya is the technical term from the Vedic science of bio energy denoting the process of removing the toxic conditions of the atmosphere through the agency of fire. This means healing and purifying of the atmosphere with fire as the medium. Of all the healing fires in Homa therapy, Agnihotra is the basis. Agnihotra is the process of purification of the atmosphere through the agency of fire prepared in a copper pyramid tuned to the biorhythm of sunrise and sunset.
In a few weeks time it started showing results. First the birds moved in; then came the predators to destroy the attack of whiteflies on gerbera plants in the green house.
In the first three months of starting Agnihotra on the farm, I noticed a lot of birds on the farm. They fed on pests in the green house and also made my farm their home and started nesting giving a new generation of birds.
Distinctly visible are the greater coucal (bharadwaj), asian koel, parrots, love birds, owls, sparrows, crows, cranes, wood pecker, pigeons, bulbuls, babblers, fly catchers, robins, baya weaver, kingfishers, mynas, and lots more and in pairs.
The presence of the lady bird beetles (Scymnus nubilus) made my farm free from powdery mildew attack. Earthworms in the farm has increased and you can see herds of millipedes.
By practicing Agnihotra homa farming techniques we have been able to manage pest and diseases. In addition, the atmosphere has become pure and filled with positive energies created by the Homa. Leaf size and quality have improved tremendously showing its impact on the yield. In the last one year, I have regularly obtained 80kg per 100 dfls (disease-free layings). That is 30% more than the state’s average and 20% higher than any good sericulturist. For all the efforts that we have put in, I am glad to share that my wife Asha Naik received the prestigious ASPEE L.M. PATEL farmer of the year award in 2010.
Acknowledgements
This story has been developed with inputs from Homa farming team (www.homafarming.com)
Mr. Tejasvi Naik can be contacted at tejasvinaik@yahoo.com
