january-march 1999

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2 A Dialogue on People's Creativity & Experimentation

Honey Bee Vol 10(1) January-March 1999

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Honey Bee stands forpeople to people networking inlocal language(s), andassurance to providers ofknowledge that they would notbe impoverished by sharing theknowledge:when bees cross-pollinate,flowers do not complain thatpollen is taken away.

Printed, published and owned by Kirit K Patel on behalf of Sristi Innovations, B/2, Srikrishna Apartments, Near Lad Society,Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380 015. Printed at M/s Colourman Offset, Ahmedabad. Editor: Anil K Gupta

Defying scientific recommendation:Applying FYM after sowing ............................. .4

Crop protection in Rajasthan .. ..... 9

Regular FeaturesHoney Bee HumsSnail menace & veterinary wisdom ...................... 5Mixing seeds to scare pests ................................. 6Organic paddy & homeopathy for agriculture ......... 7Vanaspati: Butea monosperma ......................... 3Survey of Innovations ..................................... 13Bookworm ........................................................ 18News & Views ................................................... 19Dialogue ............................................................ 20

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Honey Bee networkmeeting .....................................10

Patent:The Ayahuasca story ..................... 3

Shodh Yatra:A journey of exploration ................ 17

Institution :Community compostmanagement..............................16

Knowledge or wisdom? The story of the three crows

When fledgling crows reach a certain age, their fellow crows questionthem to determine whether or not they are worthy of joining the flock.

On a day when three fledglings were to take their examination, theleader of the flock perched before the first. “Tell me”, he said, “what is the mostfearsome thing in all the world?”

Almost immediately the young crow answered, “ an arrow”, to the approval ofthe surrounding crows.

The leader flew on to the next fledgling, perched on a different tree, and repeatedthe question.

This time the fledgling paused for a moment in thought. “A skillful archer”, hesaid, “for while it is the arrow which injures or kills, it is the archer who chooseshis target.”

The leader nodded in approval; the surrounding crows cawed their acceptance.

The leader moved on to the final fledgling, and again repeated his question.

After an even longer, more thoughtful pause, the third fledgling replied, “I fearthe unskilled archer.”

The nearby crows looked puzzled. “Why do you give such an answer?” askedthe leader.

“Because a skilled archer will aim truly. By flying just a little to the right or left,one can avoid the arrow. But there is no way to predict where the arrow of theunskilled archer will fly.”

The flock loudly cawed its approval, and the leader flew dejectedly away. He knewthat his days as the leader were numbered: the flock already recognized the wisdomof the young fledgling.

Wisdom as we know always transcends the boundaries of knowledge. Why do we stillignore the wisdom of creative grassroots people so persistently? We await your contributionof stories, puzzles and anecdotes that illuminate this contradiction.

Makabuhay saves rice:Indigenous knowledge from thePhilippines.................................8

Potpourri: Controlling crabs,gathering medicine ......................12

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Rmau Diar is looking for a retail/wholesale outlet that specialises in organicfoods through which organically grown rice can be marketed. He has 12 acresof organically grown Mussorie rice and this is the third season. Email him [email protected] or write to Post Munsad, Dist. Navsari, South Gujarat.

(Readers may recall that we have decided to devote some space to a forumfor those interested in sale and purchase of organic products. :Ed)

Will you stand by the IPRs of peasants ? 3


Editor

Anil K Gupta

Associate Editors

Riya SinhaKirit K Patel

Rati Mehrotra

Editorial Team

Vijaya Sherry ChandSoumitri Das

Suchitra NarayananShrabani Bose

Brij KothariS MuralikrishnaShailesh Shukla

Jyoti CapoorPanna Patel

Sanjay GoswamiSrinivas Chokkakula

Graphics & Design

D T PadekarPalash Graphics

UnnikrishnanSatpal Chabra

Administrative Assistance

R P S YadavR Baskaran

Balaganapathy MudaliarKinnari Shah

Editorial Address

Honey BeeC/o Prof Anil K Gupta

Indian Institute of ManagementVastrapur, Ahmedabad 380 015

India

Tel : 91-79-6407241 Fax : 91-79-6427896

Email

[email protected]@iimahd.ernet.in

[email protected]

Home Page

http://csf.colorado.edu/sristi

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Creativity counts, at last!!

February 27, 1999. The government of India in its budget of 1999 announcesthe setting up of a National Innovation Foundation to:

‘‘...unleash the creative potential of our scientists and innovators at grassroots level. Only then we can make India truly self-reliant and a leaderin sustainable technologies. I propose a national foundation for helpinginnovators all over the country. This fund, with an initial corpus of Rs.20 crore, will build a national register of innovations, mobilise intellectualproperty protection, set up incubators for converting innovations into viablebusiness opportunities and help in dissemination across the country.”

The Inter-Ministerial Committee of Secretaries met soon after, under the leadership ofthe Finance Secretary, to give this institutional innovation a concrete shape. SRISTIwelcomes this long overdue initiative by the government. It is such a big task that noone organization or group can ever achieve it alone. The government can certainlysupport this process but the task of scouting and nurturing innovations all over thecountry can only be done in a non-governmental culture and ethos, through wider civilsociety participation. The readers and well wishers of Honey Bee network will have torededicate themselves to this new national initiative. We hope that a resurgent Indiawith a clear focus on green grassroots innovations as the basic building block ofsocietal transformation will chart out a new path of development - a path that willhopefully inspire other developing countries to follow suit.

Women's wisdom:

I have to share with you some areas where we have not been able to makeas much impact as we wished. I hope to hear from you about the ways inwhich we can do this better.

One: In our database, we have far more innovations by men than by women.Is it because we have fewer women field researchers, or is it that we have touse different methods for scouting women’s innovations? Women are obviouslyno less creative and inventive than men!

Two: There are many technologies used by women that have not undergone muchtransformation over the centuries. The best example is that of pulleys used fordrawing water. (At least it was, till Amrutbhai of Pikhore village, Gujarat, modifiedit two years ago through a trigger by SRISTI). Is it because women have learnedmore to cope and adapt to adversity rather than to transcend it? Or is it thatmale innovators have neglected the technological handicaps faced by women evenin the informal sector? I do not have to say anything about the persistentindifference of the institutional scientists among whom we are yet to find manyinsurgents who would change the rules of this game. Some insurgents are indeedemerging, otherwise we would not have been able to make inroads at thepolicy level.

Three: The scope for induced innovations in the case of hardships faced by womenseems to be more than in the case of similar problems faced by men. For instance,

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(We hadm a n yinterestingresponsesto the coverstory of HB9(4) 1998,and have

carried the two most innovative ones!What really happened is that the kinggave the fruit to Avvaiyer. He thoughtthat if he lived a long life he wouldexpand his kingdom and be responsiblefor the death of many people. On theother hand, if he gave the fruit toAvvaiyer, she would use her talents toserve the people. The people would bebetter served by her wisdom than byhis ambitions. :Ed.)

Nicholas [email protected]

The king should marry Avvaiyer, andfeed her the fruit when she announcesshe is expecting their first child.That way it would sustain both hiswise counselor and also the naturalsuccessor to the throne. When thechild is weaned, the king can retireto a hermitage and cultivate virtue,knowing that his kingdom is in safehands, not just while his queen isregent, but later on as well when hischild succeeds to the throne.

Rajesh [email protected]

The king thought that the fruit shouldbe given to his beloved, hence hechose to give it to his wife. Thequeen, who had fallen in love witha handsome person working in thepalace, chose to give it to him.He in turn presented it to a beautifulmaidservant. The maidservant thoughtthat the King was such a nice personand running the kingdom so well,that he deserved the fruit, soshe gave it to the King! The kingrealized what had happened andthanked God for showing him wheretruth lay.

we learned in a meeting with SEWAmembers that in the case of gumcollection by women from thornyProsopis trees in dry regions, the needfor a gum scrapper had been realisedbut it had not yet been invented. Inanother case, a male labourer haddeveloped a fruit plucker for citrustrees. Should we bring together menand women innovators to solve suchproblems through their combined genius?

Four: The focus on just technologicalinnovations is misplaced unless wetransform the institutional context ofthese innovations. For instance, SEWAmembers from Banaskantha, a dryregion, told us in a recent workshopthat able bodied women get up earlyin the morning and collect gum fromthe trees nearer the village. Sick orhandicapped women and those withyoung children then have to travelmuch further to collect the gum. Oncethe technology for efficient andexpeditious gum scrapping is developed,the problem of these disadvantagedwomen might intensify. The need fordeveloping rules, which would helpthese women have assured access tosome trees, is obvious. Besides, all theextractors of gum will have to workin a sustainable framework so that thetrees are not affected and some gumis left behind for other living beings.

Five: We already have a data base ofwomen innovators and knowledgeexperts, thanks to more than a hundredundergraduate theses guided by mycolleagues at a Gandhian rural studies

institution and a post graduate thesis onthe heuristics of women’s innovations(perhaps the only such thesis in thecountry). It is necessary to disseminatethese to the thousands of women'ssavings and credit self-help groups andother NGOs so that a more and moregender-based search for innovations andoutstanding examples of traditionalknowledge can take place.

Six: The need for making grassrootsinnovations the basis for majordevelopmental initiatives for women andmen, farmers, labourers, artisans, etc.,cannot be over-emphasised. But thiswill require serious rethinking at manylevels including the media, policy, NGOsand other civil society organizations.

I look forward to hearing from you asto what concrete initiatives we can taketo tap the creative potential of ‘unsungheroes and heroines’ of our society. Inthis issue, we carry a report of ourHoney Bee Network meeting in whichwe honoured outstanding innovators fromall over the country. We invitenominations for next year’s awards.We launched two herbal pesticides, twoherbal growth promoters, a cattle feedmixture and four indigenous veterinarymedicines on the occasion. Those ofyou who are willing to try these out forlarge-scale demand generation are invitedto write to us. We strongly hope thatincentives for conservation of biodiversityand other natural resources will emergethrough value addition and benefitsharing, no matter what sceptics maysay. Women’s and men's knowledgesystems complement each other. Thechallenge is to build upon this synthesiswithout one overpowering the other.

IIMA organized a workshop onincubators for innovations and may setup support systems for high-tech aswell as high impact innovations. Wewelcome this initiative from IIMA.

Of what use is recognition if we cannot doanything concrete to help innovators?

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Anil K Gupta



Butea monosperma is a medium-sizeddeciduous tree belonging to the familyFabaceae. It is commonly termed “flameof the forest” because of itscharacteristic orange-red flowers.Flowering and fruiting occur duringDecember to May. The plant is knownas palash in Sanskrit, Marathi andBengali, khakra in Gujarati, dhak in Hindi,murukamaram in Tamil andmutthugamara in Kannada.

Almost all the plant parts possessmedicinal properties. The bark of the treeyields an astringent used for tumours andmenstrual disorders. The tree yields agum 'bengal kino', an astringent used tocure diarrhoea. The seeds are laxativeand anthelminthic. Pounded with lemonjuice, they act as a powerful rubefacientand cure a form of Herpes called ‘dhobi’sitch’. The leaves and flowers are tonic,aphrodisiac and diuretic.

Ayurved recognizes its actions asagnideepani (gastro-intestinal stimulant),bhedana (purgative), trishnahamani(thirst reliever) and krimighna(anthelminthic). Phytochemical analysisshows the presence of flavonoidglucosides - butrin and isobutrin - in theflowers. The alcoholic extract of seedswas found to have an antifertility effectin female mice and rats. Palasonin, anactive principle isolated from the seeds,and its piperazaine salt, exhibitanthelminthic activity in vitro onAscaris lumbricoides (roundworm).

The people of North Gujarat considerit to be an auspicious tree which is anexcellent indicator of rainfall in theregion. Just before the onset of themonsoon, a new sprout comes from theroot. The length of the sprout is anindication of the extent of rainfall. If thisparticular sprout has a large number ofsun-dried leaves, heavy rainfall ispredicted. If there are no sprouts, thenscarce rain is foretold.

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The indigenous tribes of the Amazons,the Shamans, are traditional healers andreligious leaders. They collect the plantBanisteriopsis caapi and process itaccording to their traditional techniquesto produce a drink called ayahuasca. Theyuse it to heal the sick, commune withspirits and divine the future.

On March 30, the Center for InternationalEnvironmental Law (CIEL), thecoordinating body of IndigenousOrganizations of the Amazonian Basin,and the Coalition for Amazonian peopleand their Environment, filed a request withthe United States Patent and TrademarkOffice (PTO), seeking cancellation of apatent on the ayahuasca plant. This patent,Plant Patent No 5,751,was issued toLoren Miller on June 17, 1986. It claimsrights over a supposed variety of caapi,which Miller dubbed as “Da Vine”. Asexplained in the request to the PTO, theayahuasca patent is utterly flawed.Patents are supposed to reward those whoadd something to the world’s store ofuseful knowledge. In exchange for thiscontribution, the inventor receives anexclusive right over the use and sale ofthe invention. Thus, a person can patenta plant under US law if it is a new anddistinct variety. The original idea was toreward people like fruit growers whoinvest in developing new varieties ofapples and other crops. The patent in thiscase is completely inconsistent with thepatent law’s original goals. This patent

claims the plant is novel because the patentowner identified its medicinal qualities.But indigenous people have known theplant’s medicinal qualities for manygenerations. The patent claims that theplant is distinct because it has differentcoloured flowers from other plants of thespecies (Banisteriopsis caapi). Butaccording to a leading expert, this plant’sflowers are typical of the species.

Equally important, this patent claims asprivate property something that is sacredto the religions of the indigenous peopleof the Amazon. In their culture, thissacred plant is something to be shared,respected and used with caution. It isnot something to be privatized, boughtor sold.

This is not an isolated case. When anindividual can claim as private propertysomething that is the sacred heritage ofperhaps an entire civilization, concernarises that private property has expandedtoo far into the public domain. The 1992Convention on Biological Diversity, signedby over 170 countries, recognizes thatthe genetic and chemical informationfound in the biological diversity liketraditional knowledge is beingappropriated as a resource for patentedtechnologies, without consent or adequatecompensation.

These trends have important implicationsnot only for certain people, but for thepublic at large. In an unprecedented event,a group of Shamans came all the way fromthe Amazon rainforest to Arlington,Virginia, where they made their request tothe office of the PTO. The three groupshope that there is a chance of a having adialogue through which the PTO willreassess the treatment of biologicaldiversity and cultural and moral valuesunder the patent law, and consult with thepublic on possible reforms.

1CIEL, 1621 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., STE.200 Washington DC 20008 USA

David Downes1

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10101 Reduce wilting

According to the farmers of Ballia district,wilting in gram can be minimized if it isinter-cropped with linseed (Linumusitatissimum). Late sowing can bebeneficial as it delays pod formation tothe month of March (the pod borer is mostactive in February). On the other hand,farmers of Raibareli practice mixedcultivation of gram and barley to reducethe wilting problem in gram. They practisemixed cultivation of arhar and jowar tocontrol the wilting problem in arhar.Farmers of Banda tackle the wiltingproblem in gram and lentil by treating theseeds with asafoetida (heeng) at the rateof one g/kg seed or mustard oil at the rateof 100 g/40 kg seeds, before sowing. Forpreventing wilting in pulses, the pulseseeds are soaked in buttermilk at the rateof 40 kg seeds in 5 litres of buttermilk for24 hours before sowing.

10102 Hill wisdom

In Tehri Garwal, farmers apply FYM(farm yard manure) after the germinationof the wheat crop, instead of the researchrecommendation of incorporating eighttonnes FYM/ha at the time of fieldpreparation. Similarly, they use 30 kg seed/ha instead of the researchrecommendation of 10 kg seed/ha in caseof finger millet and barnyard millet.

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Earthquake

We offer our condolences to all those who have been affected by the recentearthquake in Chamoli. We had carried a story in one of our issues (Vol. 8(3) 1997)related to indigenous technology for earthquake resistant buildings. Readersinterested in this can refer to the article or write to us. These traditionally builthouses incorporate many of the basic features of quake- proof construction. Theywere built at least ten years ago and are called pherols. They have the ability towithstand large shocks.

S K Pradhan1

We regret that farmers’ names are not given in this article. We request prospective contributors to Honey Bee tokindly ensure that acknowledgement of respondents is not missed. Given the relevance of knowledge on sustainableagriculture, we have made an exception in this case while accepting it for publication.

Pesticides from bamboo sprouts

Farmers in Palamu district of Biharprepare pesticides from bamboosprouts to use against BPB and otherpests of paddy. They take bamboosprouts (locally called kariyal), removethe outer rind and make slices an inchlong. The slit bamboo sprouts aresoaked in twice the volume of waterin an earthen pot for four to five days.

One must secure the opening of thepot to prevent people and animalsfrom drinking the water accidentally,as it is poisonous. This water is usedas a pesticide. Ten litres are neededfor a paddy field of 30 acres.

Farmer: Arjun PrasadComm.: A Ravindara

They mix a local variety of toria (Brassicanapus) that matures early along with themain wheat crop sown in September. Assoon as the toria matures in December,before the snow fall, the crop is harvestedby uprooting the main plant.

10103 Cucurbit care

The first fruit of cucurbits is used for seedpurpose. At the seedling stage, the top ofthe vine may be attacked by insects. Tominimize damage, ash is broadcast on thecrop in the early morning.

10104 Storage of Legumes

Horse gram (Dolichos biflorus) andlentil (Lens culinaris) are highlysusceptible to storage pests. To minimizedamage, the famers of the hill districtcoat the legumes with cow urine beforekeeping them in storage bins.

Walnut (Juglans regia) leaves can alsobe used for storage grain pest control.The leaves are kept on the top of thestorage bins before they are sealed.Neem leaves, quick lime, common saltand asafoetida are also used for storinggrain.

(NAPDB: The whole plant of Juglansregia is used as an insecticide (Ref:Yazdanpanah R (1985) Abstr.Internat.Res.Congr.Nat Prod,Univ N Carolina,ChapelHill, NC, p. 196))

10105 Veterinary practices

For removal of retained placenta, cowsand buffaloes are fed bamboo leaves andgur (jaggery) immediately after parturition.

The farmers of Raebareli and Varanasi feedpalash (Butea monosperma) leaves andtree bark of neem (Azadirachta indica)boiled in water to treat animals sufferingfrom foot and mouth disease.

(NAPDB: The hexane extract of Buteamonosperma has antibacterial properties(Ref: Porwal KM et al (1988) Fitopteria59(2):134-135))

1U P Bhumi Sudhar Nigam, T C/19 V.Vibhutikhand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, UP



The farmers of Tehri region of UttarPradesh experienced a major problem -the snail. In Garhwal, the ghogha or theghadiyal, as the snail is known, is famousfor its smooth and delicate constitutionwhich is well protected by a calcareousshell. The snail is usually found in moistplaces like ponds, lakes and fields.

The Tehri region harvests broad beans(Dolichos lablab). The seeds of broadbeans are usually sown during themonths of May and June. But for thepast few years, the farmers have notbeen able to set eyes on their harveststhanks to the snail armies. Like swarmsof locusts, these snails invade the fields

and feed on the germinating seedlings.The farmers tried sowing two or threetimes, but each time they met withdisaster. Many pesticides were tried butto no avail. The snail can hide inside itshard calcareous shell and save itself. Theresult of the snail invasion is that theUttarakhand region faces a severeshortage of seeds.

The farmers do not want to use anychemical pesticide for the simple reasonthat it would pollute the ground watertables besides killing many crop friendlyorganisms. They even tried to mix saltin water and spray them on the snails. Itworked with a few snails, but most ofthem saved themselves by retreatinginside their shells. In short, the menaceof snails seems to be on the increase.Can anyone think of a solution to thisgrave situation?

Raghubahai Jardhari , Tehri

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10106 Cure for eye ailments

Many livestock get injured while grazing,particularly around the eye or in the eye

itself. Such an injury can prove dangerousand the animal can go blind if proper careis not taken. An unusual solution ischewing common salt and spitting it intothe injured eye of the animal. This relievesthe animal of any discomfort.

(Refer HB 9(3) 1998, p.17, for a similarpractice in which the leaves of Capparisand Salvadora are used)

Bihari Lal, Una

10107 Easing throat pain

Sometimes cattle may eat poisonousleaves during grazing. This causes pain inthe throat. Due to the pain, they find itdifficult to swallow food. Farmersgenerally treat such cases by givingthe cattle boiled moong (Phaseolusvulgaris) three times a day for one or twodays.

Jeet Singh, Una

Leaves of adusa (Adhatoda vasica),nirgandhi (Vitex negundo) and fennel(Foeniculum vulgare) are boiled. Thethickened mixture is strained and givento the animal to drink. This eases throatpain. Alternatively, pure ghee mixedwith black pepper powder can also begiven to the animal to eat. This is oneof the most effective cures for throatpain. A paste of leaves of halin-halon-halma chanasaur (Lepidium sativus), ifspread on the swollen part of thethroat, is also effective in reducing theswelling.

Maya Devi, Una

(NAPDB: Vitex negundo is analgesic (Ref:Srivastava SC and Sisodia CS (1970) IndVet J 47:170-175) and cures sprains andswellings (Ref: Jain SP and Puri HS(1984) Ethnopharmacol.12:213).Lepidium sativum is analgesic (Ref:Fleurenten F and Pelt J (1982): JEthnopharmacol 6(1):85-108) and curesabdominal pain (Ref: Kloos H et al (1978)Ethiopian Med. J.16:33))

10108 Mustard oil for mouth ulcers

Mouth ulcers cause cattle to salivate alot. The cattle are not able to eat ordrink. Unable to even open theirmouths, they become weak. Lukewarmpure mustard oil, when smeared on theneck, proves to be an effective remedyfor the pain.

Kamla Devi, Shyam Nagar

10109 Swelling subsides with semal

Some cattle tend to develop swelling ondifferent parts of their bodies, which ifnot treated immediately could lead to theformation of an abscess. The bark ofkachnar (Bauhinia variegata) and semal(Bombax malabarica) is pounded withwater. This mixture is heated and appliedon the abcess.

Sujhbujh(Hindi version of Honey Bee)Shalini Sharma, EditorEEG, J-50, ODA FlatsLajpat Nagar 4, New Delhi 110024

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10110 Mustard to the rescue

A few plants of mustard (Brassicacampestris) grown in between fingermillet (ragi) reduce the extent of pestattack on the millet crop. Aphids andladybird beetles are attracted to themustard and, thus, leave the ragi alone.In addition to this, inter-cropping ofmustard acts as a fall back option forfarmers if ragi fails.

Bhutha Lingappa, ChitradurgaComm: Krishnaprasad G

(NAPDB: Brassica campestris haslarvicidal (Ref: EshitaY et al (1978) EiseiDobutsu 29:34) and antifungal (CheongNE et al Physiol.Plant.101(3):583-590)properties)

10111 Sweep away insects!

Branches of Calotropis, neem(Azadirachta indica) and cactus should

be tiedtogether like abroom andmoved overthe paddycrop acrossthe field. Thispractice will

sweep away the larvae and small insectsclinging to the crop, ridding it of insects.


(Refer HB 8(3) 1997, p.12, for use ofCalotropis as an insect trap)

10112 Tamarind compost

Peels of tamarind (Tamarindus indica)along with the seed coat, rind and stringscan be conveniently made into richcompost along with other wastes. Thiscompost is known to reduce the soil pHand increase the activity of microbes inthe soil when applied to an alkaline field.

It also increases the vigour of plants inthe field, aiding in the fight against insectsand pests.

Comm: Nagarathna BK

(The lowering of soil pH is probably due tothe presence of excess tartaric acid intamarind.)

10113 Mixing seeds to scare pests

Seeds are mixed with turmeric (Curcumalonga) powder and castor(Ricinuscommunis) oil at the rate of about 50 gcastor oil and 25 g turmeric powder forone kg seed. They are then dried in thesun. Such seeds remain free from pestattack during storage. Alternatively, piecesof red chilli (Capsicum annuum) alongwith salt are mixed with grain to reducepest attack. For a kg of grain, about 100g of chilli and 100 g of salt are required.

Storing castor and sesamum (Sesamumindicum) seeds together can also reducepest attack. Jowar is stored by mixing withsalt, neem leaves and garlic (Alliumsativum).

Seeds of big grains such as red gram,cowpea, green gram and black gram arethoroughly mixed with wet red soil anddried in the sun. They become moreresistant to pest attack.

To reduce attack of pod borer, certainseeds such as that of ridge gourd, bottlegourd and cowpea are stored in the formof whole pods or dried fruit withoutextracting the seeds.

Coconuts are stored at a height of five orsix feet on a platform made of localmaterials such as bamboo sticks. Thanksto the circulating air, the coconutsremained unspoiled.

Farmers of ChitradurgaComm: Nagarathna BK

(NAPDB: Insecticidal properties ofCurcuma longa (Ref: Rogers EF et al(1950) Lyodia 13:89-92), Allium sativum(Ref:Rajendran B et al (1992): Indian JAgri.Sci.49:295-297), and Ricinuscommunis (Ref: Wilcoxon F (1941):ContraBoyce Thompson Instt.12:127-141) are welldocumented. Capsicum annuum hasantiviral (Ref: Roychoudhuri R (1980)Acta Bot. Indica 8:91-94) and antifungal(Ref: Caceres A et.al.(1991) J.Ethnopharmacol 31(3):263-276)properties)

10114 Smoke scares pests

At the edge or border of the field, the cropresidue and other wastes are collected andthey are set on fire. To this fire are addedthe bones of animals such as that of cattleand dog and even the bones of humans if

available. The smoke is made to pass overthe field. It is known to reduce the pestattack on ragi and paddy. Fire has to beset considering the direction of wind insuch a way that the smoke passes overthe field along with the wind.


Hittalagida (Kannada version of HoneyBee)T N PrakashEditor, Hittala GidaDept. of Agri. EconomicsUniversity of Agri. Science, GKVKBangalore - 560 065 Karnataka



Nam Vazhi Velanmai(Tamil Version of Honey Bee)P Vivekanandan, EditorSEVA, 43, TPM Nagar, VirattipathuMadurai 625010, Tamil Nadu

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10115 Higher yield of cotton

AR Ramraj has hit upon an innovative wayof preventing flower dropping in cottonand increasing the crop yield. Powder onekg tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) andsoak it in three litres water in an earthenpot for three days. Then filter it and add500 ml neem oil. Mix this with soap. Dilutewith water and spray the mixture on thecotton crop. It is sufficient for one acre.The results, i.e., good flower and fruitformation and reduced flower dropping,are apparent within a week. It alsocontrols boll worms.

AR Ramaraj, Dist. Virudunagar

Organic paddy:

In Madurai, SEVA farmers mostly growpalsandy (ASD-16) variety of paddy. Thisyields good quality rice for consumption.The farmers routinely use organicfertilizers and pesticides.

10116 Herbal fertilizer

Prior to sowing or transplanting paddy,25 kg of kolunchi (Tephrosia purpurea)seeds are broadcast in the fields as greenmanure. Forty days after sowing, thegreen manure must be ploughed. The cropduration is 90 days and transplanting isdone after 21 days. Before transplantation,one bag (68 kg) of groundnut cake isapplied per acre as a basal dose in the field.About 22 days after transplantation,weeding is done and 50 kg of neem cakeis applied in the field.

10117 Herbal pesticide

The farmers have learned the techniqueof preparing and using herbal pesticidesfrom SEVA. About 500 g dried tobacco

leaves, one kg neem (Azadirachta indica)kernel, 500 g lime powder, 500 g Daturaleaves and 500 g pods and seeds ofoleander (Nerium oleander) are powderedand mixed together, then soaked in 50 litreswater for 15 days. On alternate days, themixture needs to be stirred with a stick.After 15 days, one litre of the filtrate ismixed in 15 litres water and sprayed onthe paddy crop. It is enough for six acresand is meant to keep away all kindsof pests.

Chinnakuruswamy, Uchappatty

(NAPDB: Aqueous extract of Neriumoleander has insecticidal activities (Ref:Bhasin HD (1926) Rept. Operations Dept.Agri. Punjab 1 II :69-121))

(Refer HB 9(3) 1998, p.10. Nerium odorumis applied as a wormicide on Areca tree.)

Homeopathy in Veterinary Medicine

10118 Diarrhoea and dysentery

A newborn calf had an onset of yellowdiarrhoea. It was the first calf of themother and she was nervous aboutgetting milked. In this confusion the calfdrank too much and had diarrhoea. Sixdosages of Aconite (6C) 1-1/2 hoursapart completely cured the calf. Thismedicine is also used for treatingshocks. Arsenic Alb200 C works well

for watery diarrhoea in five doses atan interval of two hours. Blooddysentery is cured by Mercurius Cor200C administered four times a day.

10119 Wounds and injuries

Arnica montana is very effective -it controls bleeding, reduces swellingand hastens recovery. It prevents septicconditions and can also ensure an easydelivery when given at intervals duringpregnancy. The medicine should betaken internally in high potencies andshould not be used on open wounds.

10120 Blood instead of milk!

A cow soon after delivery suddenlygave bright red blood from one teatinstead of milk. It was really shocking!However, after administering Ipecac 30C three times a day for four days,the blood changed to pinkish milk. Itwas an effective remedy.

10121 Conjunctivitis

An epidemic of eye disease had occurredin the herd. The symptoms werewatery eyes to begin with and then redswollen eyes and pus discharge withthe eyes turning white with cornealulceration. Kali hydroicum 200, threetimes a day for four days, took careof the early watery stage. Theinflammation and watery discharge couldbe effectively cured by Argentum Nit30 C given three times a day for aweek. Silicea 200C given once a daymade the white ulceration disappearlike magic within a week.

Source: Treatment of Cattle byHomeopathy by George Mcleod, JainPublishers, Delhi and Ms.Roshabi Malik,ISKCON, PuneComm: P. Vivekanandan

Contd.... on page 8



The rice farmers of the Philippineshave hit upon an innovative ideawhich involves using a creepermakabuhay (Tinospora rumpii) as apesticide to curb the pests infecting

lowland rice.

The stem borer and brownThe stem borer and brownThe stem borer and brownThe stem borer and brownThe stem borer and brownleafhopper are the pests whichleafhopper are the pests whichleafhopper are the pests whichleafhopper are the pests whichleafhopper are the pests whichusually affect rice. The answer tousually affect rice. The answer tousually affect rice. The answer tousually affect rice. The answer tousually affect rice. The answer tothese pests is the crthese pests is the crthese pests is the crthese pests is the crthese pests is the creeeeeeeeeeper per per per per makamakamakamakamakabbbbbuhauhauhauhauhayyyyy.....When applied to the rice seedlings byWhen applied to the rice seedlings byWhen applied to the rice seedlings byWhen applied to the rice seedlings byWhen applied to the rice seedlings by

root soaking methods, the vine is alsoroot soaking methods, the vine is alsoroot soaking methods, the vine is alsoroot soaking methods, the vine is alsoroot soaking methods, the vine is alsotototototoxic to the gxic to the gxic to the gxic to the gxic to the grrrrreen geen geen geen geen grrrrrasshopperasshopperasshopperasshopperasshopper. . . . . TTTTThehehehehevine is so effective that if it isvine is so effective that if it isvine is so effective that if it isvine is so effective that if it isvine is so effective that if it isbroadcast on rice seedbeds ten daysbroadcast on rice seedbeds ten daysbroadcast on rice seedbeds ten daysbroadcast on rice seedbeds ten daysbroadcast on rice seedbeds ten daysafter sowing, it is as toxic as aafter sowing, it is as toxic as aafter sowing, it is as toxic as aafter sowing, it is as toxic as aafter sowing, it is as toxic as achemical pesticide. Mixing water tochemical pesticide. Mixing water tochemical pesticide. Mixing water tochemical pesticide. Mixing water tochemical pesticide. Mixing water tothe crushed vine paste makes athe crushed vine paste makes athe crushed vine paste makes athe crushed vine paste makes athe crushed vine paste makes aconcoction of the vine. The rice seedsconcoction of the vine. The rice seedsconcoction of the vine. The rice seedsconcoction of the vine. The rice seedsconcoction of the vine. The rice seedsare soaked overnight in thisare soaked overnight in thisare soaked overnight in thisare soaked overnight in thisare soaked overnight in thisconcoction before transplanting.concoction before transplanting.concoction before transplanting.concoction before transplanting.concoction before transplanting.

There are other unusual ways ofThere are other unusual ways ofThere are other unusual ways ofThere are other unusual ways ofThere are other unusual ways ofcombating the pest problem and herecombating the pest problem and herecombating the pest problem and herecombating the pest problem and herecombating the pest problem and herethe farmers have come up withthe farmers have come up withthe farmers have come up withthe farmers have come up withthe farmers have come up withvarious recipes. One is the use of thevarious recipes. One is the use of thevarious recipes. One is the use of thevarious recipes. One is the use of thevarious recipes. One is the use of themakamakamakamakamakabbbbbuhauhauhauhauhayyyyy slush. slush. slush. slush. slush. TTTTThis inhis inhis inhis inhis invvvvvolvolvolvolvolves usinges usinges usinges usinges usingthree more ingredients namely chilli,three more ingredients namely chilli,three more ingredients namely chilli,three more ingredients namely chilli,three more ingredients namely chilli,onions and turmeric. The ingredientsonions and turmeric. The ingredientsonions and turmeric. The ingredientsonions and turmeric. The ingredientsonions and turmeric. The ingredientsare taken in the meticulousare taken in the meticulousare taken in the meticulousare taken in the meticulousare taken in the meticulousproportion of a kg of the vine, twoproportion of a kg of the vine, twoproportion of a kg of the vine, twoproportion of a kg of the vine, twoproportion of a kg of the vine, twobig onions, half a kg of turmeric andbig onions, half a kg of turmeric andbig onions, half a kg of turmeric andbig onions, half a kg of turmeric andbig onions, half a kg of turmeric andone cup of cone cup of cone cup of cone cup of cone cup of chilli hot pehilli hot pehilli hot pehilli hot pehilli hot pepperpperpperpperpper. . . . . TTTTThesehesehesehesehese

�� Ely Lumdang1

are boiled in a kerosene can till onlyare boiled in a kerosene can till onlyare boiled in a kerosene can till onlyare boiled in a kerosene can till onlyare boiled in a kerosene can till onlyhalf the amount is left. Thehalf the amount is left. Thehalf the amount is left. Thehalf the amount is left. Thehalf the amount is left. Theconcoction is diluted with water atconcoction is diluted with water atconcoction is diluted with water atconcoction is diluted with water atconcoction is diluted with water atthe rate of four ounces to five gallonsthe rate of four ounces to five gallonsthe rate of four ounces to five gallonsthe rate of four ounces to five gallonsthe rate of four ounces to five gallonsof wof wof wof wof waaaaaterterterterter.....

YYYYYet another tret another tret another tret another tret another traditional method thaaditional method thaaditional method thaaditional method thaaditional method thatttttthe farmers follow is the immersionthe farmers follow is the immersionthe farmers follow is the immersionthe farmers follow is the immersionthe farmers follow is the immersion

method. The method. The method. The method. The method. The makabuhaymakabuhaymakabuhaymakabuhaymakabuhay vines are vines are vines are vines are vines arecut to 30 cm or a fcut to 30 cm or a fcut to 30 cm or a fcut to 30 cm or a fcut to 30 cm or a foot’oot’oot’oot’oot’s length ands length ands length ands length ands length andtied to a couple of bamboo stakestied to a couple of bamboo stakestied to a couple of bamboo stakestied to a couple of bamboo stakestied to a couple of bamboo stakeson both ends. The stakes are drivenon both ends. The stakes are drivenon both ends. The stakes are drivenon both ends. The stakes are drivenon both ends. The stakes are driveninto the water inlets in the field.into the water inlets in the field.into the water inlets in the field.into the water inlets in the field.into the water inlets in the field.

Another novel way is to chop theAnother novel way is to chop theAnother novel way is to chop theAnother novel way is to chop theAnother novel way is to chop thevines an inch long and put themvines an inch long and put themvines an inch long and put themvines an inch long and put themvines an inch long and put theminside a netted shopping bag. Theinside a netted shopping bag. Theinside a netted shopping bag. Theinside a netted shopping bag. Theinside a netted shopping bag. Thebag is then placed in the waterbag is then placed in the waterbag is then placed in the waterbag is then placed in the waterbag is then placed in the waterinlets of the paddy field. The vineinlets of the paddy field. The vineinlets of the paddy field. The vineinlets of the paddy field. The vineinlets of the paddy field. The vineneeds to be replaced every twoneeds to be replaced every twoneeds to be replaced every twoneeds to be replaced every twoneeds to be replaced every twoweeks as it rots. The bag needs toweeks as it rots. The bag needs toweeks as it rots. The bag needs toweeks as it rots. The bag needs toweeks as it rots. The bag needs tobe removed before the fruit seedsbe removed before the fruit seedsbe removed before the fruit seedsbe removed before the fruit seedsbe removed before the fruit seedsbebebebebegggggin to ain to ain to ain to ain to appearppearppearppearppear,,,,, as it ma as it ma as it ma as it ma as it may causey causey causey causey causethe rthe rthe rthe rthe rice to taste bitterice to taste bitterice to taste bitterice to taste bitterice to taste bitter.....

11111Community Management Institute, P OCommunity Management Institute, P OCommunity Management Institute, P OCommunity Management Institute, P OCommunity Management Institute, P OBox 1840, Diliman, Quezon City, 1100Box 1840, Diliman, Quezon City, 1100Box 1840, Diliman, Quezon City, 1100Box 1840, Diliman, Quezon City, 1100Box 1840, Diliman, Quezon City, 1100PhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippinesPhilippines

Killing softly – the carotovora way

Antonio L Cedo2

The cabbage is one vegetable whichThe cabbage is one vegetable whichThe cabbage is one vegetable whichThe cabbage is one vegetable whichThe cabbage is one vegetable whichoften goften goften goften goften grrrrraces the common man’aces the common man’aces the common man’aces the common man’aces the common man’ssssstable and for many it serves as atable and for many it serves as atable and for many it serves as atable and for many it serves as atable and for many it serves as ameal in itself. Cabbage is prone tomeal in itself. Cabbage is prone tomeal in itself. Cabbage is prone tomeal in itself. Cabbage is prone tomeal in itself. Cabbage is prone tosoft rot infection. This infection hassoft rot infection. This infection hassoft rot infection. This infection hassoft rot infection. This infection hassoft rot infection. This infection hasbeen the major cause of loss amongbeen the major cause of loss amongbeen the major cause of loss amongbeen the major cause of loss amongbeen the major cause of loss amongcabbage farmers (an estimated 15-cabbage farmers (an estimated 15-cabbage farmers (an estimated 15-cabbage farmers (an estimated 15-cabbage farmers (an estimated 15-35%). It is characterized as a soft35%). It is characterized as a soft35%). It is characterized as a soft35%). It is characterized as a soft35%). It is characterized as a softmmmmmushushushushushy lesion with fy lesion with fy lesion with fy lesion with fy lesion with foul odouroul odouroul odouroul odouroul odour. It. It. It. It. Itstarts at the butt end and eventuallystarts at the butt end and eventuallystarts at the butt end and eventuallystarts at the butt end and eventuallystarts at the butt end and eventuallyspreads until the entire cabbagespreads until the entire cabbagespreads until the entire cabbagespreads until the entire cabbagespreads until the entire cabbagehead is affected.head is affected.head is affected.head is affected.head is affected.

The causative organism is The causative organism is The causative organism is The causative organism is The causative organism is Erwiniacarotovora. . . . . TTTTTrrrrrimming initiallimming initiallimming initiallimming initiallimming initiallyyyyycontrolled this but again the losscontrolled this but again the losscontrolled this but again the losscontrolled this but again the losscontrolled this but again the lossincurred was enormous. The diseaseincurred was enormous. The diseaseincurred was enormous. The diseaseincurred was enormous. The diseaseincurred was enormous. The diseasecan be controlled using plantcan be controlled using plantcan be controlled using plantcan be controlled using plantcan be controlled using plantextracts like that of extracts like that of extracts like that of extracts like that of extracts like that of ampalayaampalayaampalayaampalayaampalaya,,,,,kulasimankulasimankulasimankulasimankulasiman, , , , , kamanatiguekamanatiguekamanatiguekamanatiguekamanatigue, , , , , ipip-ipilipip-ipilipip-ipilipip-ipilipip-ipil etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.But plants known to be activeBut plants known to be activeBut plants known to be activeBut plants known to be activeBut plants known to be activeagainst bacterial diseases,against bacterial diseases,against bacterial diseases,against bacterial diseases,against bacterial diseases,particularly cabbage soft rot, haveparticularly cabbage soft rot, haveparticularly cabbage soft rot, haveparticularly cabbage soft rot, haveparticularly cabbage soft rot, have

not been innot been innot been innot been innot been invvvvvestigestigestigestigestigaaaaated so fted so fted so fted so fted so far (War (War (War (War (Wilsonilsonilsonilsonilsonand Pusey).and Pusey).and Pusey).and Pusey).and Pusey).A study was conducted to determineA study was conducted to determineA study was conducted to determineA study was conducted to determineA study was conducted to determinethe potential of leaf extracts fromthe potential of leaf extracts fromthe potential of leaf extracts fromthe potential of leaf extracts fromthe potential of leaf extracts fromdifferent plant species as biocontroldifferent plant species as biocontroldifferent plant species as biocontroldifferent plant species as biocontroldifferent plant species as biocontrolagents against bacterial soft rot inagents against bacterial soft rot inagents against bacterial soft rot inagents against bacterial soft rot inagents against bacterial soft rot incabbage. It was aimed to evaluatecabbage. It was aimed to evaluatecabbage. It was aimed to evaluatecabbage. It was aimed to evaluatecabbage. It was aimed to evaluatethe effectiveness of leaf extractsthe effectiveness of leaf extractsthe effectiveness of leaf extractsthe effectiveness of leaf extractsthe effectiveness of leaf extractsfrom plants known to havefrom plants known to havefrom plants known to havefrom plants known to havefrom plants known to havepesticidal activity in controlling thepesticidal activity in controlling thepesticidal activity in controlling thepesticidal activity in controlling thepesticidal activity in controlling thedisease and to determine the mostdisease and to determine the mostdisease and to determine the mostdisease and to determine the mostdisease and to determine the mostefficient leaf extract for controllingefficient leaf extract for controllingefficient leaf extract for controllingefficient leaf extract for controllingefficient leaf extract for controllingsoft rot. Leaf extracts from guava,soft rot. Leaf extracts from guava,soft rot. Leaf extracts from guava,soft rot. Leaf extracts from guava,soft rot. Leaf extracts from guava,lemon grass or lemon grass or lemon grass or lemon grass or lemon grass or tangladtangladtangladtangladtanglad, and, and, and, and, and

milkweed or milkweed or milkweed or milkweed or milkweed or gatas gatasgatas gatasgatas gatasgatas gatasgatas gatas ( ( ( ( (Euphorbiahirta) were found to prevent soft rot) were found to prevent soft rot) were found to prevent soft rot) were found to prevent soft rot) were found to prevent soft rotinfinfinfinfinfection totallection totallection totallection totallection totallyyyyy. Leaf e. Leaf e. Leaf e. Leaf e. Leaf extrxtrxtrxtrxtract fract fract fract fract fromomomomomasyangasyangasyangasyangasyang was effective only at 1:1 was effective only at 1:1 was effective only at 1:1 was effective only at 1:1 was effective only at 1:1dilution whereas oregano anddilution whereas oregano anddilution whereas oregano anddilution whereas oregano anddilution whereas oregano andclamansi leaves were not effectiveclamansi leaves were not effectiveclamansi leaves were not effectiveclamansi leaves were not effectiveclamansi leaves were not effectivewhen used in the form of purewhen used in the form of purewhen used in the form of purewhen used in the form of purewhen used in the form of pureextracts.extracts.extracts.extracts.extracts.22222VVVVVisaisaisaisaisayyyyyas Staas Staas Staas Staas State Collete Collete Collete Collete Colleggggge of e of e of e of e of AgAgAgAgAgrrrrriculturiculturiculturiculturicultureeeee,,,,,Baybay, Leyte, PhilippinesBaybay, Leyte, PhilippinesBaybay, Leyte, PhilippinesBaybay, Leyte, PhilippinesBaybay, Leyte, Philippines

Contd... from page 7

10122 Foot and Mouth Disease

The affected animal is given MercSol 200 C and Natrum Mur 200 Cthree times a day for full recovery. Analternative treatment is one dose eachof Merc Sol 30 C, Arsenic Alb 30Cand Variolinum 30C separately atintervals. For mouth sores, Borax 30Cis a good remedy.

10123 Mastitis

To treat swollen udders in cows, fourdoses of Phytolacca every threehours are very helpful. Depending onspecific symptoms, Belladona is alsosuitable for acute mastitis, swollenand painful udders and reducing bodytemperature.



10124 The scarecrow effect

Since time immemorial, the mostSince time immemorial, the mostSince time immemorial, the mostSince time immemorial, the mostSince time immemorial, the mostcommonly used deterrent to scarecommonly used deterrent to scarecommonly used deterrent to scarecommonly used deterrent to scarecommonly used deterrent to scareaway birds from fields is theaway birds from fields is theaway birds from fields is theaway birds from fields is theaway birds from fields is thescarscarscarscarscarecrecrecrecrecrooooowwwww. Scar. Scar. Scar. Scar. Scarecrecrecrecrecrooooows arws arws arws arws are mainle mainle mainle mainle mainlyyyyyerected during the erected during the erected during the erected during the erected during the kharif kharif kharif kharif kharif cropcropcropcropcropplantation. Bhils in certain parts ofplantation. Bhils in certain parts ofplantation. Bhils in certain parts ofplantation. Bhils in certain parts ofplantation. Bhils in certain parts ofRajasthan modify this scarecrow byRajasthan modify this scarecrow byRajasthan modify this scarecrow byRajasthan modify this scarecrow byRajasthan modify this scarecrow byequipping it with a boequipping it with a boequipping it with a boequipping it with a boequipping it with a bowwwww. . . . . TTTTThis ishis ishis ishis ishis isparticularly effective in scaringparticularly effective in scaringparticularly effective in scaringparticularly effective in scaringparticularly effective in scaringcrows. Flags are tied on a leadingcrows. Flags are tied on a leadingcrows. Flags are tied on a leadingcrows. Flags are tied on a leadingcrows. Flags are tied on a leadingshoot of a tall tree to frighten birdsshoot of a tall tree to frighten birdsshoot of a tall tree to frighten birdsshoot of a tall tree to frighten birdsshoot of a tall tree to frighten birdsaaaaawwwwwaaaaayyyyy. . . . . TTTTThis is most efhis is most efhis is most efhis is most efhis is most effffffectiectiectiectiectivvvvve ine ine ine ine inwarding away fruit eating birds fromwarding away fruit eating birds fromwarding away fruit eating birds fromwarding away fruit eating birds fromwarding away fruit eating birds fromorchards.orchards.orchards.orchards.orchards.

(Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p. 14, for an(Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p. 14, for an(Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p. 14, for an(Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p. 14, for an(Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p. 14, for anunusual scarecrow)unusual scarecrow)unusual scarecrow)unusual scarecrow)unusual scarecrow)

10125 Teak tale

LeaLeaLeaLeaLeavvvvves of es of es of es of es of Tectona grandis or or or or or Buteamonosperma are tied to a string toare tied to a string toare tied to a string toare tied to a string toare tied to a string tomake a festoon of dry leaves. Thismake a festoon of dry leaves. Thismake a festoon of dry leaves. Thismake a festoon of dry leaves. Thismake a festoon of dry leaves. Thisfestoon is connected by another stringfestoon is connected by another stringfestoon is connected by another stringfestoon is connected by another stringfestoon is connected by another stringaaaaat mid point. t mid point. t mid point. t mid point. t mid point. A man sitting on aA man sitting on aA man sitting on aA man sitting on aA man sitting on amachan jerks the string. Such amachan jerks the string. Such amachan jerks the string. Such amachan jerks the string. Such amachan jerks the string. Such adevice is called a device is called a device is called a device is called a device is called a halanhalanhalanhalanhalan. The noise. The noise. The noise. The noise. The noiseproduced by the dry leaves keeps theproduced by the dry leaves keeps theproduced by the dry leaves keeps theproduced by the dry leaves keeps theproduced by the dry leaves keeps thebirbirbirbirbirds ads ads ads ads at bat bat bat bat bayyyyy.Y.Y.Y.Y.Yet another systemet another systemet another systemet another systemet another systempractised by the Bhils is the use ofpractised by the Bhils is the use ofpractised by the Bhils is the use ofpractised by the Bhils is the use ofpractised by the Bhils is the use ofmetallic bells (locally called metallic bells (locally called metallic bells (locally called metallic bells (locally called metallic bells (locally called tokratokratokratokratokra)))))instead of leaves.instead of leaves.instead of leaves.instead of leaves.instead of leaves.

10126 Hanging dead crows

A dead crow hung on a pole is veryA dead crow hung on a pole is veryA dead crow hung on a pole is veryA dead crow hung on a pole is veryA dead crow hung on a pole is veryeffective in repelling other crows.effective in repelling other crows.effective in repelling other crows.effective in repelling other crows.effective in repelling other crows.(((((Though we disapprove of the idea ofThough we disapprove of the idea ofThough we disapprove of the idea ofThough we disapprove of the idea ofThough we disapprove of the idea ofkilling a crow for the purpose. :Ed.)killing a crow for the purpose. :Ed.)killing a crow for the purpose. :Ed.)killing a crow for the purpose. :Ed.)killing a crow for the purpose. :Ed.) In In In In Inthe same wthe same wthe same wthe same wthe same waaaaayyyyy,,,,, an ef an ef an ef an ef an effffffigigigigigy of a langury of a langury of a langury of a langury of a langurmade with cotton and old cloth andmade with cotton and old cloth andmade with cotton and old cloth andmade with cotton and old cloth andmade with cotton and old cloth andhung on a hung on a hung on a hung on a hung on a Madhuca indica tree will tree will tree will tree will tree willkeep away langurs and birds fromkeep away langurs and birds fromkeep away langurs and birds fromkeep away langurs and birds fromkeep away langurs and birds fromthe flowering the flowering the flowering the flowering the flowering mahuamahuamahuamahuamahua tree. tree. tree. tree. tree.

10127 Sling

The sling is a device for peltingThe sling is a device for peltingThe sling is a device for peltingThe sling is a device for peltingThe sling is a device for peltingstones. It is locally called the stones. It is locally called the stones. It is locally called the stones. It is locally called the stones. It is locally called the gophahagophahagophahagophahagophahaand is used in all parts of the state. Itand is used in all parts of the state. Itand is used in all parts of the state. Itand is used in all parts of the state. Itand is used in all parts of the state. Itis made of is made of is made of is made of is made of Crotalaria juncea or a long or a long or a long or a long or a longnarnarnarnarnarrrrrrooooow strw strw strw strw strip of gip of gip of gip of gip of goaoaoaoaoat skin. t skin. t skin. t skin. t skin. A stone isA stone isA stone isA stone isA stone iskept at mid point between the twokept at mid point between the twokept at mid point between the twokept at mid point between the twokept at mid point between the twofolded arms of the sling and it isfolded arms of the sling and it isfolded arms of the sling and it isfolded arms of the sling and it isfolded arms of the sling and it isjerked in a circular motion. One ofjerked in a circular motion. One ofjerked in a circular motion. One ofjerked in a circular motion. One ofjerked in a circular motion. One ofthe arms is freed to release the stonethe arms is freed to release the stonethe arms is freed to release the stonethe arms is freed to release the stonethe arms is freed to release the stonein the desired direction.in the desired direction.in the desired direction.in the desired direction.in the desired direction.

10128 Ghunku

A piece of goatskin with a hole in itsA piece of goatskin with a hole in itsA piece of goatskin with a hole in itsA piece of goatskin with a hole in itsA piece of goatskin with a hole in itscentre is taken and placed over thecentre is taken and placed over thecentre is taken and placed over thecentre is taken and placed over thecentre is taken and placed over themouth of an earmouth of an earmouth of an earmouth of an earmouth of an earthen pitcthen pitcthen pitcthen pitcthen pitcherherherherher. . . . . A tailA tailA tailA tailA tailfeather of a male peacock is insertedfeather of a male peacock is insertedfeather of a male peacock is insertedfeather of a male peacock is insertedfeather of a male peacock is insertedinside the hole and a knot is made atinside the hole and a knot is made atinside the hole and a knot is made atinside the hole and a knot is made atinside the hole and a knot is made atits lower end. The goatskin is thenits lower end. The goatskin is thenits lower end. The goatskin is thenits lower end. The goatskin is thenits lower end. The goatskin is thentied to the pitctied to the pitctied to the pitctied to the pitctied to the pitcherherherherher. . . . . TTTTThis is called ahis is called ahis is called ahis is called ahis is called aghunku. ghunku. ghunku. ghunku. ghunku. It is placed between the feetIt is placed between the feetIt is placed between the feetIt is placed between the feetIt is placed between the feetand the feather is tweaked with theand the feather is tweaked with theand the feather is tweaked with theand the feather is tweaked with theand the feather is tweaked with thehelp of the thumb and fhelp of the thumb and fhelp of the thumb and fhelp of the thumb and fhelp of the thumb and forororororefefefefefingingingingingererererer. . . . . AAAAAloud sound is generated which is veryloud sound is generated which is veryloud sound is generated which is veryloud sound is generated which is veryloud sound is generated which is veryeffective in keeping away birds.effective in keeping away birds.effective in keeping away birds.effective in keeping away birds.effective in keeping away birds.

10129 Darana

An earthen pitcher with a hole at theAn earthen pitcher with a hole at theAn earthen pitcher with a hole at theAn earthen pitcher with a hole at theAn earthen pitcher with a hole at the

�� Satish Kumar Sharma1

In the arid region of Rajasthan, rainfall is scanty and it is extremely difficult to cultivate crops. Production offood grains is vastly affected by the presence of damaging agents, particularly birds. The people of Rajasthanhave come up with many traditional practices of crop protection.

Drumstick delicacies

Ingredients: Fresh flowers andIngredients: Fresh flowers andIngredients: Fresh flowers andIngredients: Fresh flowers andIngredients: Fresh flowers andtender leaves of drumstick (tender leaves of drumstick (tender leaves of drumstick (tender leaves of drumstick (tender leaves of drumstick (Moringaoleifera), turmeric, salt to taste,), turmeric, salt to taste,), turmeric, salt to taste,), turmeric, salt to taste,), turmeric, salt to taste,frfrfrfrfresh coconesh coconesh coconesh coconesh coconut,ut,ut,ut,ut, g g g g grrrrram fam fam fam fam flourlourlourlourlour,,,,, m m m m mustarustarustarustarustardddddseeds and green chillies.seeds and green chillies.seeds and green chillies.seeds and green chillies.seeds and green chillies.

Recipe 1: Make a thick batter of Make a thick batter of Make a thick batter of Make a thick batter of Make a thick batter ofgggggrrrrram fam fam fam fam flourlourlourlourlour,,,,, ad ad ad ad add a pincd a pincd a pincd a pincd a pinch ofh ofh ofh ofh ofturmeric, salt and freshly gratedturmeric, salt and freshly gratedturmeric, salt and freshly gratedturmeric, salt and freshly gratedturmeric, salt and freshly gratedcoconcoconcoconcoconcoconut. ut. ut. ut. ut. AdAdAdAdAdd almost equal amountsd almost equal amountsd almost equal amountsd almost equal amountsd almost equal amountsof the fof the fof the fof the fof the flololololowwwwwererererers to the bas to the bas to the bas to the bas to the batterttertterttertter. Mak. Mak. Mak. Mak. Makeeeeeuniform sized balls and deep fry tilluniform sized balls and deep fry tilluniform sized balls and deep fry tilluniform sized balls and deep fry tilluniform sized balls and deep fry tillgolden brown. The golden brown. The golden brown. The golden brown. The golden brown. The pakoraspakoraspakoraspakoraspakoras go well go well go well go well go wellas a snack or side dish along withas a snack or side dish along withas a snack or side dish along withas a snack or side dish along withas a snack or side dish along with

daldaldaldaldal (pulses) and rice. (pulses) and rice. (pulses) and rice. (pulses) and rice. (pulses) and rice.

Recipe 2: Place the leaves in a vessel Place the leaves in a vessel Place the leaves in a vessel Place the leaves in a vessel Place the leaves in a vesseland gently steam it with salt and aand gently steam it with salt and aand gently steam it with salt and aand gently steam it with salt and aand gently steam it with salt and alittle wlittle wlittle wlittle wlittle waaaaaterterterterter. . . . . TTTTThen adhen adhen adhen adhen add cd cd cd cd choppedhoppedhoppedhoppedhoppedchillies and grated coconut andchillies and grated coconut andchillies and grated coconut andchillies and grated coconut andchillies and grated coconut andsaute with mustard. Steam it oncesaute with mustard. Steam it oncesaute with mustard. Steam it oncesaute with mustard. Steam it oncesaute with mustard. Steam it oncemore. It goes very well with rice.more. It goes very well with rice.more. It goes very well with rice.more. It goes very well with rice.more. It goes very well with rice.

Source: Shrabani Bose and SuchitraSource: Shrabani Bose and SuchitraSource: Shrabani Bose and SuchitraSource: Shrabani Bose and SuchitraSource: Shrabani Bose and SuchitraNarayananNarayananNarayananNarayananNarayanan

bottom is hung upside down from thebottom is hung upside down from thebottom is hung upside down from thebottom is hung upside down from thebottom is hung upside down from thebough of a trbough of a trbough of a trbough of a trbough of a tree or bamboo. ee or bamboo. ee or bamboo. ee or bamboo. ee or bamboo. AAAAAbamboo stick about 30 cm long isbamboo stick about 30 cm long isbamboo stick about 30 cm long isbamboo stick about 30 cm long isbamboo stick about 30 cm long isinserted in the hole in the pitcher andinserted in the hole in the pitcher andinserted in the hole in the pitcher andinserted in the hole in the pitcher andinserted in the hole in the pitcher andits upper end is tied with strits upper end is tied with strits upper end is tied with strits upper end is tied with strits upper end is tied with stringinginginging. . . . . AAAAArectangular piece of some metal sheetrectangular piece of some metal sheetrectangular piece of some metal sheetrectangular piece of some metal sheetrectangular piece of some metal sheet(or the bottom of an old tin) is tied at(or the bottom of an old tin) is tied at(or the bottom of an old tin) is tied at(or the bottom of an old tin) is tied at(or the bottom of an old tin) is tied atthe lower end of the bamboo stickthe lower end of the bamboo stickthe lower end of the bamboo stickthe lower end of the bamboo stickthe lower end of the bamboo stickthat acts as a striker and produces athat acts as a striker and produces athat acts as a striker and produces athat acts as a striker and produces athat acts as a striker and produces asound while hammering the earthensound while hammering the earthensound while hammering the earthensound while hammering the earthensound while hammering the earthenvessel. This contraption is called avessel. This contraption is called avessel. This contraption is called avessel. This contraption is called avessel. This contraption is called adaranadaranadaranadaranadarana and is used by Bhils to keep and is used by Bhils to keep and is used by Bhils to keep and is used by Bhils to keep and is used by Bhils to keepaway parrots from the crop.away parrots from the crop.away parrots from the crop.away parrots from the crop.away parrots from the crop.

(In Tripura, farmers beat drums to drive(In Tripura, farmers beat drums to drive(In Tripura, farmers beat drums to drive(In Tripura, farmers beat drums to drive(In Tripura, farmers beat drums to driveaway birds.away birds.away birds.away birds.away birds. Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p.Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p.Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p.Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p.Refer HB 9(4) 1998, p. 17.)17.)17.)17.)17.)

1RangRangRangRangRange Fe Fe Fe Fe Forororororest Ofest Ofest Ofest Ofest OfffffficericericericericerAravalli Afforestation Project, UdaipurAravalli Afforestation Project, UdaipurAravalli Afforestation Project, UdaipurAravalli Afforestation Project, UdaipurAravalli Afforestation Project, Udaipur



Honey Bee Network Meeting

The annual Honey Bee network meeting was held on 14th March1999, at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. It wasattended by 225 participants. Honey Bee network has been

organizing meetings for the last five years to bring networkmembers together and honour innovators. The difference this yearwas that members from other states were also invited. In thenetwork meeting this year, policy makers, scientists, voluntaryworkers, innovative farmers, regional version collaborators, artisans,etc., were invited. Unlike previous years when we honouredoutstanding innovators only from Gujarat, this year we honouredinnovators from all over the country. Prof Saha, Director IIM A,was the guest of honour and chaired the prize distribution ceremony.Prof Bakulbhai Dholakia, Dean IIMA and chief guest on theoccasion, gave away prizes to individuals awardees.

A presentation was made of SRISTI’s recent activities. On displaywere several new products including two herbal pesticides, twogrowth promoters, a cattle feed and a herbal veterinary kit.Arvindbhai had brought along his water cooler and Anna Sahebhis rain-gun. Gram Bharati, Amrapur, and Mahila Gram Vidyapith,Nardipur put up an exhibition of local seeds. There was also anexhibition of the plants collected in biodiversity competitions heldamong children.

Participants were divided into five groups and group discussionswere held on the strategy for future activities in organic agriculture,

��

Mulubhai Shambhubhai Sejadlia of Junagadh filled an emergingniche in the field of farm machinery by developing a tractor ofonly 4.5 HP which is quite functional in nature, cheap and easyto maintain.

Bhanjibhai Nanjibhai Mathukia of Junagadh developed a tractorof 10 HP with many advantages over the commercially availabletractors apart from energy and costs, entirely by his ingenuity.

Maganbhai Meghjibhai Cheladia of Amreli fabricated motor cyclemounted farm machinery attachments so that by removing therear wheel, the bullet 3.5 HP motor cycle became a ploughingmachine.

Premjibhai Patel of Rajkot has planted more than forty five truckloads of tree seeds single handedly in Gujarat.

Vrajalal Jadhavji of Junagadh has several innovations in organicfarming to his credit.

Shashikant Shukla of Ahmedabad conceived the possibility ofrearing erisilk in Gujarat, which has the highest area under castorin the world. This silk is non-violent in nature because thecocoons do not have to be boiled and the insects are not killed.

Ambalal Khodidas Patel of Mehasana, at the suggestion ofSRISTI, tried to rear erisilk worms in Gujarat and made asuccessful attempt to produce cocoons.

Jaminiben Boro of Ahmedabad helped in perfecting thetechnology for erisilk rearing in Khadi Prayog Samiti, Sabarmati,Ahmedabad.

Yogesh Joshi, an inmate of Ahmedabad Central Jail, toiled hardto rear erisilk in the jail complex where castor was grown.

Arvindbhai Patel of Ahmedabad has come up with severalinnovations including a solar heater, a cooler and an auto kick airpump for filling tyres of two-wheelers.

Thakarsibhai Bhadabai Savalia of Junagadh developed a new earlymaturing, high yielding and pest resistant variety of groundnut.This is the first farmer bred variety that has been taken up for allIndia trials by ICAR.

Swami Iswardas Ramanandi of Bhavnagar gave herbal pesticidesas prasad to his disciples. He got in touch with SRISTI anddeveloped herbal pesticides that were distributed in the networkmeeting.

Sunda Ram Varma of Rajasthan evolved a technique of growingtrees in dry regions with only one litre water. He has alsodeveloped new varieties of chillies and other spice crops.

Maruthrao Sarode of Maharashtra fabricated a unique groundnutpod separator that uses rotating blades to snip off the pods. He

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women’s ecological knowledge, on-farm and on-station research,commercialization of innovations, and educational innovations.

The key recommendations of the working groups were:

� Change in SRISTI board membership with innovative farmersincluded in the board

� Affordability of testing fees for each innovation

� Commercialization support by SRISTI and GIAN includingmarket surveys, help in patenting, access to outlets andfacilitation of interaction between farmers and traders

� Encouraging women’s innovations and skill development byarranging workshops and disseminating information

� Compilation of folk songs and cultural anecdotes related toenvironmental knowledge

� Arranging on-farm training of students

� Planting of endangered species by children in the course ofbiodiversity competitions

� Inclusion of indigenous techniques of farming in the syllabusof Gram Vidyapeeths

� Inclusion of a column on education by children inLoksarvani

has recently obtained a patent for this.

VR Iyappan of Tamil Nadu has come up with innovative botanicalalternatives in plant protection. He has experimented with herbalpesticides.

Dhularam Mondol of Calcutta has developed a new variety ofbroad bean that bears larger pods with thicker covers by out-crossing two local varieties midnapuri and altapati.

WB Rahudkar of Maharashtra is a valued and dedicated memberof the Honey Bee network whose inputs and contributions haveenriched the network over the years.

Ganeshwar Rao of Andhra Pradesh has made some low costand efficient pumps that can be manually operated to raise water.

PD Uplenchar of Maharashtra developed a low cost multi-purpose pesticide consisting mainly of herbal ingredients.

Seetharam of Tamil Nadu is a self-made innovator in the field ofagricultural implements.

Satya Priya Gautam, a young first year student of Uttar Pradesh,has on many occasions risked his own life to save the lives ofbirds and animals. He runs a nature club called ‘Bambi’ inKashipur.

Anna Saheb Udgavi of Karnataka designed a unique sprinklerhead named Chandraprabha Raingun designed to irrigate densesugarcane crops.

Puriben Wagabhai Iyer is one of the most distinguishedembroidery worker of SEWA supported women’s association inBanaskantha.

Ranjanben Vasantlal Joshi of SEWA developed an innovative wayof making bunds in the field so as to strengthen the conservationpotential.

Manabai Lalkant Baloch of SEWA has many innovations to hercredit in the field of nursery management of growing trees.

Baluben Daramsi Bajania of SEWA has done outstanding workin the field of the rural housing.

Ranubai Jemalji Rouma of SEWA has contributed to excellence ingum collection and processing.

Menaben Harchandbhai Takore of SEWA has done outstandingwork in the field of plantations.

Bahrama Gouda of Karnataka is an organic farmer who hasdeveloped several crop management practices for plant protectionand enhancing productivity without using any chemicals.

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Only Ganges water for the emperor

The emperor Harshavardhana lived inKannauj. It was simple for him to getdrinking water from the river Ganges. Itis, however, surprising that later Muslimrulers should have set such store by it.When Mohammad-bin-Tughlak movedhis capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in1340, water was brought to him byrunners all the way from the Ganges,1500 km away. Akbar termed it ‘waterof immortality’ and appointed experienced

men as ‘water-tasters’. Jahangir andAurangzeb continued these practices.Vessels of sealed Ganges water werekept unspoiled for decades in manyHindu homes to be administered to adying person as a last ministration. Duringcolonial rule, a British physician notedthat water taken from the Hughli atCalcutta would remain fresh all the wayto London, but returning ships had toreplenish their English water en route.

The Ganges water drawn above Hardwarhas an unusual capacity for self-purification, and is exceptionally lethalagainst bacteria and cholera germs.Organic pollutants discharged into theriver are removed much faster than inany other river in India. The reasons maybe the presence of bacterio-phages, heavymetals with bactericidal properties andminute quantities of radio-active minerals.Sadly, however, below Hardwar the waterhas become so polluted that it is evenunsafe for human use.

Source: Achaya KT (1994) Indian Food –A Historical Companion.Comm: AK Bhatia

Ways of knowing, ways of seeing:Story from Alaska

“It could help you”, he said, “This isa very powerful plant. You could useit.” I felt Bob Sam was offering me agift as he showed me how to gathermedicine in the Alaskan woods. He cutlong stems of Devil’s Club in earlyspring before new growth made it moredifficult and the renewing energy of theplant transfomed into foliage. Scrapingoff the rough outer brown bark,he showed me the pale green innerbark. This was its medicine. Theshavings he placed carefully in apaper bag.

Bob Sam spoke about preparing himselfto gather medicine, how he puts all badthoughts out of his mind. “That wayyou can only do good with what theplant offers you,” he told me, “You haveto ask the plant if it can be taken. Speakto it, ask for help. Tell it that someoneis sick, that you need to make medicine.His ancestors used to fast before enteringthe forest. I understood that when I wasready, the plant would reveal itself tome. Looking hard and deep, Iwalked through the forest searchingfor Devil’s Club. Wanting somuch to make my medicine. Itwas all around me, I knew. Butwhere?

The next day, I returned to look again.This time I stood quietly within myself,inhaling the mushroomy scent of decayand new growth, of last year’s memoriesintermingled with those of tomorrow. Ipracticed not looking. And I waited. Stillas stone from the forest’s edge, Devil’sClub showed itself to me for the firsttime. Perhaps I had dreamed of it lastnight while the forest waited for me toawaken. Now it is a plant I work withoften – wherever I am.

Marilyin [email protected]

Controlling crabs

Crabs are a menace in rice-fish farmingsystems. They damage the levee of theplot by burrowing holes on the sides.Increasing rice flood erodes the leveesand the farmed fish escape to otherplots. This is one of the majorimpediments in greater adoption of rice-fish farming.

However, farmers of Juria in Nagaondistrict of Assam have a traditionalmethod of crab control being followedsince time immemorial, long beforeanyone knew of rice-fish farmingtechnology.

They use the leaves of tarua kadam orAcacia nilotica and raw cow dung aspesticides. The leaves of this tree arepoisonous and exude a repelling odour.The leaves are finely ground and madeinto dough by mixing with an equalamount of cow dung. Then the doughis converted into a number of roundballs the sizes of which match the size

of the crab holes. The balls are driedin the sun for three to four hours andplaced at the mouths of the crab holes.The crabs die overnight.

U K Baruah, R K Talukdar and A KBhagowati, Fisheries Research Centre,A s s a m Agricultural University

(Refer HB 4(4) 1993, p. 16, HB 5(1) 1994,p. 18 and HB 9(3) 1998, p. 16-17 for morepractices on controlling crabs in paddy.)



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TeamDilip Koradia

Pravin H RohitMahesh Parmar

Chiman H ParmarIshwar S Kiradiya

Ramesh F TaviyadS Muralikrishna

Hema PatelRiya Sinha

Panna PatelSanjay Goswami

Kirit K PatelAnil K Gupta

Collaborating Institutions

Mahila Gram Vidyapith, Nardipur

Gram Bharati, Amrapur

Sabar Gram Vidyapith, Sonasan

Lok Niketan Vidyapith, Ratanpur

Lok Bharati, Sanosara

Nootan Bharti Vidyapith, Madanagadh

J C Kumarappa Gram Vidyapith, Gadhada

B M Shah Gram Vidyapith, Zilia

Nootan Gram Vidyapith, Thava

Banas Gram Vidyapith, Amirgadh

B R S College, Dumiyani

Gandhi Gram Vidyapith, Vedachhi

B R S College, Shardagram

Shree Saraswati Gram Vidyapith, Samoda

Gujarat Agricultural University

Dept of Rural Development, Govt of Gujarat

Dept of Education, Govt of Gujarat

Dept of Forest and Environment, Govt of Gujarat

Jai Research Foundation, Vapi

L M Pharmacy College, Ahmedabad

Bharatiya Agro-Industries Foundation

Department of Microbiology, Gujarat University

M S University of Baroda

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad

Self Employed Women's Association, Ahmedabad

Dept of Botany, South Gujarat University, Surat

10130 Caterpillars in cabbage

Small green caterpillars with white fur(Heliothis armigera) are a menace to thecabbage crop. They damage the crop byconsuming the leaves and fruits.Bhagwanbhai of Bhavnagar uses ketaki(Agave americana) and chilli to controlcaterpillars in cabbage crop. Ketaki leavesare beaten on a rock a couple of times,then packed in a plastic packet. The packetis squeezed to get the juice from the leaves.About 200 g of juice is mixed with a fistfulof dry red chilli powder. A glass of wateris added to this mixture. The mixture isstirred and further diluted in 14 litres ofwater. This is filled in a spray pump andthen sprayed on the cabbage crop. Onespray pump full of this liquid is prescribed

for half a vigha of land. Bhagwanbhai saysthat even human skin would itch if it camein contact with ketaki juice. The skin ofthe caterpillar being more delicate than thatof humans, and there being the addedpunch of chilli powder, the liquid is quickto take effect. He has been using thismethod for the last seven years.

Farmer: Bhagwanbhai Aambabhai Ghori,Dist: BhanagarComm: Pravin I Patel.

10131 Haamda iyal: a tangy remedy!

This colourful pest of the castor croplocally called haamda iyal (Achoeajanata) is one inch long and has hair onthe upper part of the body. This pest isalso seen on trees. Bhaanidaan has for thelast seven years been using lemon juice(Citrus limonia) and sour tamarind(Tamarindus indica) for the control ofiyal pest in castor. Around 150 ml lemonjuice and 150 ml tamarind juice is mixedin 15 litres of water. This is the amountprescribed for one vigha. If results arenot apparent, the treatment may berepeated.

Farmer: Bhaanidan Mavalji Gadhvi, Dist:KhedaComm: Rajesh V Patel

(The pest may not be able to tolerate acuteacidic condition imparted by citrus andtamarind juice. :Ed.)

10132 Alum and castor shells controlpests

Chilli and brinjal pests are white colouredand shaped like ants. With a life span ofabout 15 days, they are seen in abundance.Maliyabhai of Baroda has been using atraditional method of control for the last19 years. He uses alum and empty castor(Ricinus communis) shells to controlthese pests. Around 60 kg empty castorshells and two kg alum are mixed togetherand spread on the land while ploughingbefore the sowing of the seeds.

Farmer: Maliyabhai Dhaniyabhai Rathwa,Dist: Baroda. Comm: Rajesh Patel

Spraying Milk to Control Leaf Curl!

Readers may recall an article in HB 9(3) 1998, p. 14, on the use of cow milkfor controlling leaf curl mosaic virus in chilli. In this issue, we have a ladyfarmer, Machar Babudiben, sharing her practice of spraying goat milk forcontrolling leaf curl in chilli. We wonder why scientists continue to ignore suchsuitable scientific practices for pest and disease management! Similarly, use ofalum and castor shells by Maliyabhai Dhaniyabhai is a very low cost substitutefor pesticides. Will scientists in national and international institutions please takenote!



Krushi Rishi Purushottam Rao

We extend our heartfelt condolences tothe family of Purushottam Rao ofThirthalli, Karnataka, who passed awayon 18 September1998. He founded theKrishi Prayoga Pariwara, a fraternityof experimental farmers. PurushottamRao, a practicing farmer, was once astaunch follower of modern agriculturaltechniques with emphasis on chemicalfertilizers and pesticides. With time, herealized the limitations of this approach.In 1989, he turned to organic farming.He was particularly concerned with therejuvenation of Indian traditional(vedic) agriculture, and sought torecover its spirit and interpret it for themodern mind. He also developed asuccessful package of practices calledthe ‘Five samskaras’, which impliesrejuvenation of soil, seed, water air, andhuman beings. Purushottam Rao wasalso instrumental in establishing theSanjeevana Agro-Research Foundation,a research and training institute for theadvancement of a modern agriculturethat is rooted in traditional values andwisdom. He benevolently donated all hisassets and belongings to a trust formedin his name: Purushottam RaoMemorial Agricultural Research Trust.

(Readers may refer to HB 7(2) 1996, p.3-4 and HB 7(3) 1996, p. 10 for organicpractices devised by Purushottam Rao.:Ed.)

10133 Goats’ milk stops leaf curl

Certain vegetables like chilli (Capsicumannuum), brinjal (Solanum melongena)and spices like black pepper (Piper

nigrum) experience fruit and flowerabscission and leaf curling. This diseaseoccurs due to extreme cold andparticularly so in the months of Novemberand December. To control thisphenomenon, fresh milk of goat issprinkled on the plant using a pumpsprayer. The results are visible in a week’stime.

Farmer: Machar Babudiben, Dahod.Comm: Ramesh Taviyal

10134 Assessing rainfall

To know if there will be good rainfall, oneneeds to see the fruiting pattern of thumari(Securinaga leucopyrus). If it bears alarge number of fruits, then rainfall tendsto be heavier in that season. Conversely,if fruit borne is less, then rainfall will mostlikely be less.

Farmer: Manabhai Nathubhai Agori,Banaskantha

Animal Husbandry Practices:

10135 Prolapse of uterus

Many a time, cows and buffaloes are indanger of prolapsed uterus. The dangerincreases with the approach of deliverytime. Manabhai has come up with a methodusing onions to avert this problem. Whenan animal has suffered from prolapse ofthe uterus in the past, it is given ten kg

onion to eat when it is not carrying. Thisprevents prolapse at delivery time.

Farmer: Manabhai Ranchhodbhai Rathod,Dist: Sabarkantha. Comm: Taral Kanti J

10136 Haemorrhage in bullocks

This remedy is particularly meant forbullocks. Bleeding occurs in these animalswhen they are wounded or in pain. Thishappens particularly to bullocks becausethey are used as beasts of burden. Theshoulder region bears the brunt of the load.The cure is as follows. Mix equal quantitiesof leaves of aval (Cassia auriculata) andgoat droppings thoroughly. Add a smallamount of water to get a paste-likeconsistency by grinding with a stone. Thispaste is used as a dressing and the clot isbandaged. One has to be careful that thedressing does not move away from the

point of the clot or injury. The onlydisadvantage of this remedy is that itcannot be used for injuries on the stomachor hooves/feet of the animal.

Farmer: Parmar Chetasingh Vir SinghBaroda. Comm: Jayendra Vaghela

(NAPDB: Dried flowers and leaves of Cassiaauriculata are used to mend broken bones(Ref.: Vedavathy S & Rao KN (1991) JEthnopharmacol. 33 1/2: 193-196))

10137 Anorexia in camels

If a camel has undergone hard labour, itsintestines and liver are liable to swell andit will not consume its regular grass feed.After hard labour the camel drinks morewater, breathes heavily, sits downconstantly, and slowly stops taking itsregular meals. Pappubhai Marwadi adoptsan interesting method to help his camels.About 100 g each of alum and kalijeeri

(Vernonia anthelmintica) and one kg ofjaggery are added to two litres of waterand boiled. The boiled brew is allowed tocool down and given to the camel to drinkin the morning for three days. The camelsoon starts taking its regular food. Thecamel breeder has used this method twicein the last five years. He learnt about itwhile travelling from one place to anotheralong with his animals. Other farmers saythis remedy is also useful for bullocks.

Farmer: Pappubhai Dargajibhai Marwadi,Dist: KhedaComm: Pravin Rohit.

Obituary



(NAPDB : Seed powder of Vernoniaanthelmintica is used against diarrhoea(Ref: Girach R D et al (1994):Int. JPharmacog.32(3): 274-323))

(Refer HB 4(2 & 3) 1993, p. 23, and HB8(2) 1997 p. 14, for more practices oncamels)

10138 Anestrus in buffaloes

To get buffaloes into heat (estrus) andcontrol their cycle, feed them the shellsof four to five hens’ eggs with the feedonce a day. The buffalo comes into heatwithin a week. The reason for this is thatthe egg shells generate heat in the buffalo’sbody.

Farmer: Agarben Mankabhai DesaiSabarkantha. Comm: Mahesh Parmar

(Refer HB 6(3) 1995, p. 14, for a practiceon feeding grasshoppers to bring animalsinto heat)

10139 Mange in camels

Camels lose hair usually in winter. Onecan prevent this by applying a special oil.The ingredients used for making the oilare bhilama (Semecarpus anacardium),Copper Sulphate and karanj(Pongammia pinnata) oil. Five to ten kgkaranj oil, 50 g bhilama and 50 g CopperSulphate are mixed thoroughly and boiled.

After the oil cools down, it is applied usingjute bags as swabs. The only precautionthat needs to be taken is to see that thecamel does not lie down. If it does, dustwill stick to its body, making the remedyineffective. After application of this oil,the hair growth returns to normal within10 to 15 days.

Farmer: Maljibhai Goabhai Desai,Sabarkantha. Comm: Mahesh Parmar

(NAPDB: Fresh fruit juice of Semecarpusanacardium is used to treat skin disease(Ref: John D (1984) Int J Crude Drug Res22 (1):17-39). Flowers of Pongamiapinnata are used to treat skin disease,sores and eczema (Ref: Garg P and KhannaRN (1983): Int. J Crude Drug Res 21(1):43-47))

10140 Cure for aafraa

Aafraa (flatulence/tympany) causesdistension of the left side of the abdomen.There is salivation from the mouth andmotions are not discharged in a regularway. It is an acute problem and theanimal needs to be relieved in a fewhours or there could be seriousconsequences. Babaji Khaant uses podsof garmalo (Cassia fistula) and steamcoal to cure animals of aafraa. Around200 g pods of garmalo and 100 g steamcoal are mixed and pound to a finepowder. This is thoroughly mixed inwater and filtered. The filtered liquid isgiven to the animal to drink once a dayfor two days. It will have loose motionsthen become well.

Farmer: Babaji Sonaji Khaant, Dist:SabarkanthaComm: Kantibhai Taral

(NAPDB: Cassia fistula fruits are used totreat gastro-intestinal disorders (Ref:Belladkar J et al (1991): JEthnopharmacol.35(2):123))

(Refer HB 9(2) 1998, p. 18, and HB 3(1)1992, p. 17, for other remedies forflatulence)

10141 Cure for FMD

To cure an animal of foot and mouthdisease, a paste of the leaves of sadad(Terminalia crenulata) is made andapplied on the affected area. This curesthe animal.

Dharambhai Mugdabhai Damor,Banaskantha. Comm: Shodh Yatra

(Refer HB 9(2) 1998, p. 17, for otherremedies for FMD)

Ethnomathematics and indigenouseducation

The Kayabi , a part of the linguistic groupof Tupi family, are tribal inhabitants ofthe Xingo National Park in the AmazonBasin of Brazil. They are one of thelargest tribes that have survived theappalling consequences of the advanceof the white road builders, foresters andrubber tappers. They possess a reservoirof ethnomathematical knowledge. Anative form of scientific knowledgeexists in their community as an integralpart of the popular culture. Thisknowledge is passed down from onegeneration to another. The knowledgehas been accumulated over hundreds ofyears. For instance, the entire system ofcounting in the village is passed down inconnection with the manufacture ofurupemas. They are circular sieveswithout holes which are used to fan food,to close receptacles containing foodstuffor other articles and as ornaments. The

art of making these urupemas is taughtin a “natural school” to men who attainthe age of maturity. The learning processtakes place by watching others makeurupemas and looking at how they aremade by taking apart the old ones. Thedesigns of the urupemas talk of history,mythology, warfare with other tribes andmysticism. The women use the samedesigns in the manufacture ofhammocks. The most popular design ofthe Kayabi is a symbolic representationof an anthropomorphic figure used inShamanistic rituals which represents ahuman being whose arms and legsare the basic units in forming thepattern.

Source: Adult Education and Develop-ment, 51 1998, p. 69-78



Chimanbhai Parmar, a young man of 26,was born into a middle class peasantfamily. He is a native of Chandrodavillage of Chanasama- taluka of Gujarat.His father is essentially a farmer andbreeder of livestock. His mother is anexpert in matters relating to animalhusbandry. She has received the SRISTISamman in her own right as a localexpert. Chimanbhai completed hisprimary education from his villageChandroda and graduated from GandhiAshram Zilia with a Bachelor of RuralStudies. His curriculum at the graduationlevel was based on practical applications.Here the student is made to work on allthe aspects of agriculture like tilling,sowing, watering, weeding etc. Thereis a project work which has to be takenup by all the students. They alsoparticipate in exchange programes.Chimanbhai worked on fallow land andplanted 100 plants which grew well andprovided the hostel inmates with thevegetables they required. He has beenparticipating in Jan Jagruti Abhiyan andis an active member of Bhim RaoAmbedkar Yuva Mandal.

Chimanbhai has been working as anactive member of SRISTI for over twoyears now. He is involved in scouting ofinnovations, analysis of data andorganizing workshops and Shodh Yatraswith other colleagues.

Deep in the desert region of Kutch is aremote village called Godhana. It is namedafter Godhaji Darbar. Around 500 yearsago, the Randhanpur Nawab’s officialswere taking the cows to be slaughtered.In his attempt to stop this cruel act,Godhaji Darbar sacrificed his life.

Godhana is a small village with just 1200inhabitants whose main occupations arefarming and livestock rearing. There areapproximately 2000 animals includingcows, buffaloes, sheep, goat, bullocks andcamels. The important crops are jowar,bajri, cumin, cotton, wheat, chickpea,moong and sesame.

Community waste disposal

The waste disposal ground is situated atthe boundary of the village. It is the placewhere all the organic matter like cowdung, waste fodder, harvest residue, etc.are dumped. The villagers have evolved afew rules to manage the compost. Anyvillager can take as much manure as hewants from the FYM site. If anyone otherthan the villagers wants the manure, he/she must pay Rs 200 per cartload ofmanure. All the income generated fromthe compost is deposited with the GramPanchayat.

By this compost management scheme,200 tractor loads of organic manure arecollected annually. Many farmers say thatwhen such manure is used the harvest isdefinitely good. The crop and the weeds(the manure contains seed of certainweeds that are eaten by the animals andpassed out in the dung) are quick to absorbmoisture from the earth. It is almost likeeach one of them is competing for thescarce moisture in the soil. If they usethis organic manure and the rainfall ispoor, then the crop fails. Many farmersavoid using the manure out of this fear.Thus, a self-restraint ensures that nobodyuses too much of it, though one could ifone wished.

Code of conduct

The village has seven wells and twoponds. One pond is meant for animals,and the other for use by humans. Thepresence of places of worship includingtemples and a dargah around the pondmeans that no one is allowed to washclothes there. Water must be drawn fromthe pond and then used. Anyone who doesnot observe these rules is fined. The‘punishments’ can be in the form ofmonetary fine or feeding grains to the birdsor even feeding the cows! The peoplethemselves administer the rules.

Other rules

Any one who kills a peacock in the villagehas to pay a fine of 220 kg bajri. If a cowgets lost while grazing, then it is theresponsibility of the owner of the pastureto find the lost animal, or give another onein return. By mistake if a cow grazes insomeone else’s field, then a fine has to bepaid by the cowherd and not by the ownerof the cow.

��%�� Chimanbhai Parmar

Godhana, a village which is approximately 25 km away from Sami, is very well known for its unique method ofagricultural waste management through composting. It serves as a model for community development. We talk alot about scarcity of organic manure and here is one example where a village does the community a lot of helpby selling organic manure. The proceeds are used for village development. Here we present a close look at thecode of ethics backing the institutional management of waste. Acknowledgement to Jivabhai Kotiya for help inscouting this case.

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On the afternoon of December 31,1998, we undertook our second ShodhYatra through the villages of NorthGujarat. In the course of the next sevendays, we covered more than 150 kmon foot. Full of energy and determination,we started our journey from Amirgarh,a village around 35 km from Palanpur.It was an occasion for the Honey Beefamily including field staff, well-wishersand professionals, to get together withthe innovators we have supported foryears. Since part of our journey leadus through the Jessore Sloth BearSanctuary, we could use it as anopportunity to generate awareness forconservation.

The journey was an opportunity tosearch within us, drawing inspirationfrom the thinking and lifestyle of thepeople we met on our way. Premjibhai,the person who had single handedlysown more than 45 truckloads of seedsin Gujarat, was a real inspiration. Whenwe started from Uplav Bandh on themorning of the second day, each oneof us decided to carry seeds to sowon both sides as we walked down theforest. Premjibhai told us of hisinvolvement in watershed developmentand how he has successfully motivatedvillagers to construct a check dam forRs 12,000, the kind of project on whichthe government usually spends lakhs. Itwas quite amazing that nobody hadtried his simple formula before.

We had all heard about the genius ofKarimbhai and his knowledge of plants.He too was with us and as we walkedwith him, we realized that we could nothave found a better guide. He knew theforest like the back of his hand and hadanswers to every query about any plant.In fact, he arranged the seeds that allof us sowed in the forest.

Perhaps none of us will be able to forgetthe cool shade of the mango tree atKaramdi. It was an old tree and had agirth of more than fifty feet. During ourjourney, we came across many suchtrees that were old and revered by thepeople. They were all intact with nota single mark of injury anywhere. Manyof them even bore the marks of worshipby the village folk, indicating that theywere sacred trees.

The hospitality that we received fromthe villagers throughout the journey wasremarkable. After lunch at Karamdi, wewere to leave for Dabchitra, a villagefive kilometers away. Dharambhai, theKaramdi sarpanch, decided toaccompany us with a gun and a dagger.Many of us were amused but forDharambhai it was a matter of pride.Later on, we discovered he had anamazing quality. He had a photographicmemory. Though he was totally illiterate,he could still identify any particular cardwhen asked to, from a bunch ofbusiness cards he carried with him. For

him it was simply a matter ofremembering the form of the letters andthe words in the card and associatingthem with the appearance of the personto whom the card belonged!

At Dabchitra, the villagers gatheredaround a small fire that we had builtto keep away the cold. The multimediadatabase was displayed to them andthey saw and heard innovators describingtheir innovations. This did much togenerate awareness and respect forcreativity.

The diversity in the flora of the regionis truly amazing. There were wildrelative of the brinjal, lady’s finger andcucurbits that were endemic to thisarea. Limbabhai, a schoolteacher atAmirgarh and a medicinal plantenthusiast, was a boon to us as heshared his knowledge of the flora.

In the village Kumbhariya, we cameacross a temple with a strange deity,a stone idol of a man sitting on amotorcycle. We found out it was of aperson whom everyone in the regionliked and respected. He had fought forthe rights of the laborers working in thenearby stone quarries. He was murderedwhile riding home one day. As a markof respect and honour, the villagers hadbuilt this temple at the entrance of thevillage.

We held biodiversity contests for childrenin the villages and gave prizes to the'little geniuses'. At Sembalpani AshramSchool, some children identified morethan 125 plants!

We scouted for innovations in thedifferent villages and honouredinnovators. Since many innovators werewalking with us, they were able todescibe their innovations to the peoplewe met, the idea being that if they couldinnovate, so could others!

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Image of the New World:The American continentportrayed in native textsGordon Brotherston1979 Thames and Hudson Ltd.,London, 500 Fifth Avenue, New

York 10036, p. 324, $ 19.95

“He shaped sun, moon, starsthese he made to move well.Strong wind blew the water off;clean, the islands found their place.”

One of the great, unsuspected treasuresof the New World is to be found inits literature. Native texts had beenrecorded in many ways, includinghieroglyphs and pictographs, long beforeEuropeans set foot on the Americancontinent. This book, packed with 118documentary texts and illustrations,draws an ‘image’ of the new worldthrough ‘classic’ American texts. Itdetails calendars, mathematical systems,medicine, history and philosophy of thenative peoples. Taken together, the texts

are a revelation of the every dayexperiences of native peoples and theirsuffering at the hands of invaders fromthe Old World.

Krsi-ParasaraParasaraSri Narayan SinghChaudhuri,Varanasi

“Annam hi Dhanya sanjatanDhanyam krsya vina na chaTasmat sarva parityajyaKrsi yatnena karyett.”

‘As food comes from crops that cannot

be produced without farming, thereforefarming as a profession should befollowed with utmost care.’ So saysKrisi-Parasara, verse no. 7. The bookis a compilation of 243 Sanskrit‘shlokas’ (verses). The original text isa famous early medieval era treatise onagriculture authored by the sageParasara. The book reflects on theindigenous agro-ecological andagricultural knowledge of ancient India.Along with the original text, the bookalso contains the Hindi translations ofthe verses for the benefit of the pedestrianreader. Several colloquial poetic sayingsthat reveal the contemporary localknowledge on innovative agriculturalpractices have been included in thebook.

According to Parasara, farming is thesole activity that sustains life of humans.The text thus begins by glorifying thefarming profession. The followingsections detail monthly astronomicalobservations and indications related torainfall and its prediction, highly relevantin the context of rainfed farming inIndia. The next section describes severalissues related to the tending of livestock.Parasar emphasizes organic farming anddescribes methods of preparing bio-fertilizer by recycling organic farmwastes. Forty verses are dedicated tothe correct usage and effective handlingof agricultural implements. Ideal ritualsand timings of seed sowing for enhancingcrop productivity are also mentioned.Plant protection, weeding and harvestingpractices and effective storagemethodologies are mentioned towardsthe end. The author covers all theaspects related to achieving a bountifulharvest. The text, however, revolvesaround the cultivation practices ofpaddy. This maybe because Parasaralived in a region where paddy was thedominant crop.

In the wake of recent eco-friendly low-input organic agro-practices, the literature

of this ancient text would be of helpto practitioners of contemporaryintensive agriculture.

Sage Philosophy:Indigenous Thinkers andModern Debate onAfrican PhilosophyH. Odera OkuraActs Press, African Centre

for a Technology, P.O.box 45917, Nairobi,Kenya

This book is a unique collection ofAfrican sage philosophy. The contentscan be broadly divided into threesections. The first gives the author’sviewpoints on the rationale for treatingsage philosophy as a full-fledged trendin the development of African philosophy.The second section consists ofinterviews with the sages themselves.The last section contains papers fromselected scholars debating the merits ofthe present work.

Sage philosophy basically consists ofthe expressed thoughts of wise men andwomen of a community. It is a wayof thinking and explaining the world thatfluctuates between popular wisdom(general common sense truths) anddidactic wisdom (rational thought ofsome given individuals of a community).When it comes to who qualifies as asage, the best judge must be thecommunity from which the personhails. The sage Stephen M Kithanje saysthere are three kinds of wise persons,those wise in the service of theirstomachs, those wise for having learntfrom others and those wise becausethey were born wise!

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Threats to Biodiversity: Stakeholder’sWorkshop

A national workshop was organized on2nd and 3rd February 1999 at IIM,Ahmedabad, in the context of the ongoingGlobal Environmental Facility project on‘Conservation and sustainablemanagement of dryland biodiversity ofNorth Gujarat’. The main objective wasto facilitate a dialogue among theacademia, industrialists, policy makers,social workers, NGOs, industry,development sectors and the localinhabitants - all those who have astake in the long term sustainability inthe project implementation area.

The threats perceived in the study areawere identified and ranked. Humaninduced threats were found to be morepronounced as compared to natural ones.It was felt that institutional arrangements,more than monetary investments, wererequired to aid conservation. Based on thesurveys conducted by GIDR (GujaratInstitute of Development Research) andSRISTI on the perceptions of the localpeople (Banaskantha district), priorities ofconservation were drawn up and thecauses of reduction of forest cover listed.

Discussions involved, among others,Dhramishthaben Rathod, leader ofSEWA, President of Adivasi MandalBhoomjibhai, herbalist Karimbhai andSukhadevbhai, leader of the SaltManufacturing Association for Wild Ass

Sanctuary area. The concluding sessionincluded discussions between the saltmerchants, government organizations andseveral eminent ecologists like Dr. ManojMuni, BNHS, Bombay, GSF Corporation'sMD Mr Verma and Mr. Y. D. Singh, GIDE,Bhuj. There was a brain storming sessioninviting suggestions from all theparticipants on curbing threats to thepriceless biodiversity resources of thethree sanctuaries located in the drylandsof North Gujarat.

UNESCO Workshop: Criteria &Indicators of Sustainability

The Centre for Management in Agriculture(CMA), IIMA, in collaboration withUNESCO, organized a workshop toidentify key criteria and indicators ofsustainability from socio-economic,environmental and gender perspectives.The main objective was to build capacityamong senior experts and administrators,scholars and community leaders inidentifying and operationalising the criteriaand indicators of sustainability of naturalresources-based rural developmentprograms and policies. The trainingworkshop involved presentations byexperts and selected participants, smallgroup discussions and informal dialogueswith emphasis on lateral learning.

An interesting mix of participants in theworkshop included senior officers fromUNESCO regional offices in the South andCentral Asia. The countries represented

were Mongolia, Bangladesh, Burma,Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Iran. Asignificant feature of the workshop wasthe presence of the young scholars whohad been selected through a papercompetition conducted at the nationallevel. The best paper award went toDepinder Kapoor of SPWD, New Delhi.

Presentation to Chief Minister

A presentation was made to Chief Minister,Minister of Agriculture and Industry,Economic Advisor to Chief Minister, ChiefSecretary, and Secretaries of Agriculture,Industry, General Administration, etc., inDecember 1998 on the work being doneby SRISTI and GIAN in Gujarat. TheChief Minister not only appreciated thework but also shared the need for voluntaryaction to build upon grassrootsinnovations. He shared his ownexperience of having developedinnovations in the form of bullock poweredand mounted sprayer which somehow didnot receive adequate attention and supportfrom the scientists and policy makers atthat time. He offered to provide land,financial and other support for scaling upthe activities of GIAN and organising anexhibition of Honey Bee database ofinnovations. We hope that other stateswill also take the lead in providing similarsupport to grassroots innovations.

AnnouncementsAnnouncementsAnnouncementsAnnouncementsAnnouncements

The fifth summer school on Managementof Common Property Resources is to beheld at the Indian Institute ofManagement Ahmedabad between June11 - 20 1999. Home page at http://w w w. i i m a h a d . e r n e t . i n / - a n i l g /summer.htm.

The third Shodh Yatra (journey ofexploration) will be conducted bySRISTI during May 15 -25 1999. It willbegin from Mangal BharatigramVidyapeeth (Vadodara) and culminate atDodiyapada village of Narmadadistrict in Gujarat. Readers are welcometo join.



been reported. I hate to disappoint you,but the Datura plant with a doublecorolla tube is not a ‘discovery’. Doubleand even triple corolla tubes aremorphological variations found in Daturametel (please refer ‘Flora of the IndianDesert’ by M.M. Bhandari, p. 240).These variations are not very rareeither. I have photographs of flowersof Datura metel with double corollatubes growing along roadsides andgarbage dumps in Bhavnagar. In oneof your earlier issues too a particularplant species was incorrectly illustrated.It would be a good idea to havesomeone with a botany background onyour editorial board in order to avoidsuch mistakes in the future as theseare detrimental to the sound reputationof your magazine.

(Thanks for pointing out this mistake. Wehave four botanists and then havingmade a mistake of this kind is inexcusable.Please do join the effort to help usprevent this kind of errors altogether.Your watchful eye will help Honey Beebecome totally flawless in due course.Keep it up. :Ed.)

Where is Honey Bee?

Malay Kr. Mandal, Sutlej Hostel, RoomNumber : 242, NDRI, Karnal - 132001Haryana

I have subscribed to your magazine onFeb. 19, 1999. But I have yet to receiveany copies! Please look into the matterand send me a copy as soon aspossible.

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Corporations notice informalcreativity

Ashok JainVice President, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.P.O. Box 72, Jalgaon

I was delighted to know about theimportant extension work you haveundertaken. Countless ingenious farmersare experimenting and coming out withnew and cost-effective implements foruse in agriculture. They, however, donot see the light of the day because thefarmers lack necessary resources.

We are an Agriculture Company andhave been working for the past 35 yearsin this field. We would like to get acomplete write-up with regard to variousexperiments different farmers haveundertaken. In particular, we areinterested in filling of plastic bags withthe help of a mechanical unit. If we canget some literature, idea about the priceand the possible address where we cansee this for ourselves, we will be happyto do so. We are also interested in thefertilizer applicator.

I would be grateful you send us theexhaustive list of all such experimentsand the details where we can obtain thesame for use in our R & D farm.

(Welcome Shri Jain, to the world ofgrassroots innovators. Once corporateslike you join hands with unsung herosand heroines of our society, nothing canstop India from becoming an inventiveand innovative society. The challenge isto build bridges for a fair sharing ofbenefits. :Ed.)

Not a ‘discovery’!

Rupa Desai AbdiS-A II/5 Scientist Appt, Bhavnagar

With reference to HB 9(4) October-December, under the ‘Discovery’ section(p. 12), a new species of Datura has

Oops!

V J Raghuvanshi8, Bhagylaximi Society, Nava Vadaj,Ahmedabad

This is with reference to practice 9433in the Survey of Innovations on page13 of HB 9(4) October-December. Itdescribes a practice in which mahualeaves are stored. This is incorrect.Mahua leaves are not stored. It is theflowers that are dried and then storedfor food or other purposes. Hence thereshould have been a mention of mahuaflowers and not mahua leaves.

(You are right. We goofed up! It is mahuafruits and not leaves that are stored bythis method. :Ed.)

Vanaspati: Welcome new column

R RadhakrishnanPO Sukkampatty, Thadicombu, Dindigul,Tamil Nadu

I read ‘Chanothi’s medicinal magic’ inthe new section on medicinal plants inHB 9(4) and found it really interesting.I expect information on more suchplants in future issues. I would like toshare my own experiences regardingthis plant. It is called Indian Liquoricein English. Its leaves can be used totreat gonorrhoea, cough and sore throat.For treating gonorrhoea, a cup of crushedleaves is kept in two cups of water for5 minutes and then strained. The dosageis one cup in the morning and eveningfor three days.

To treat cough, juice from a fistful ofleaves is prepared. Two or threeteaspoons are taken in the morning andevening for 3 days. To cure sore throat,four leaves are taken in the morning andevening till cured. The leaf juice is alsoused to ward off bacteria in paddyplant.

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(Thanks for sharing your experiences withus. Readers please continue givingfeedback on the medicinal plants column!:Ed.)

Books for children

Mary Ann Dasgupta277-A Jodhpur Park, Calcutta, West Bengal

Thank you for the packet of books andfor printing Khokon Mondol’s anti-ratideas. I can’t tell you how delighted hewas to see it in print!

Thanks too for your suggestion that weconsider writing booklets for children.With your charmingly detailedillustrations, it would be a pleasure. Ifyou send me the back issues of HoneyBee, I could go through them, cull outthe illustrated items that I think wouldmost appeal to children and re-writethem in simple language. I think itshould be aimed at the children offarmers and therefore be printed inHindi, Marathi, Bengali etc., and not inEnglish.

(We hope that our young readers willwrite to you about what they wouldparticularly look for in an illustratedbook of nature stories. :Ed.)

Bengali version

Raj GangulyRoom S-9, MANAGE, Rajendranagar,Hyderabad, AP

During my stay at MANAGE I had theopportunity to go through Honey Bee.I would like to subscribe to it and alsoget information on the other activitiesundertaken by SRISTI. Maybe I cancontribute in some way. I am highlymotivated by your cause. At presentthere is no Bengali version of HoneyBee. I request you to bring out a Bengaliedition. Maybe I can be of help in thisregard.

(We have been trying for a Bengali versionfor some time now, but haven’t succeeded.Once you form a small group of equallymotivated colleagues, we can try again!Write to us. :Ed.)

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We also had interesting letters fromArun K Agarwal, Bhanu Sanghani, ARavindra, D Selvam, G Nageshwar,Ajit Singh, Kamal Kant, L Kannan, VGandhimati, MP Lakshmipathy, AMariaraj and many others. Keep writingand giving us feedback! :Ed.

Organic farming

Shrawan and Surabhi Gupta1, Madhuvan, Govandi Stn. Road, Mumbai

We have been undertaking extensiveresearch in agriculture, horticulture andrelated activities to promote better qualityat lower cost through organic/naturalmethods of farming. Already we haveidentified a number of villages inMaharashtra with a scope for developinginexpensive means of highly nutritive,better produce from our earth. Wewould glad of help and information ofany kind specially that relating to otherpeople/organizations involved in organicfarming.

(Send us the findings of your research.Honey Bee readers would love to hearabout them. :Ed.)

Wind farm threatens JuniperPoint

Johnny JacksonCascade Klickitat Chief, Columbia RiverTribes and Bands, [email protected]

I am strongly concerned by what mayhappen on the Columbia River Hills andJuniper Point that is known by myelders as a traditional sacred visionquest site. These mountains are veryimportant to my people. Along theColumbia River is about one of the onlyplaces left untouched for some of ournative foods and medicines. All of theupper valley that was called UpperKlickitat, around the Goldendale andCenterville areas, has become farmland.These mountains are what we have left.

Enron and the Bonneville PowerAdministration are proposing to developa 15000 acre industrial wind farm onthe Columbia hills along the ColumbiaRiver Gorge. We are not against windpower but feel that respect for oursacred ground and food areas is just asimportant. Many elders rely on nativefood and gather them for sacredceremonies. A lot of our sacred burialsites are in these areas such as LylePoint and Cascade Locks. I hope that

people will understand that the NativePeople have a history of their ownwhich has been passed from generationto generation and must be preserved...

(Sure indeed but it will require blendingtheir own knowledge with that of others.We hope Honey Bee can help in forgingsuch links. :Ed.)

Statement about ownership and other particularsabout “Honey Bee”, required to be published underRule 8 of the Registration of Newspapers (Central)Rules, 1956.

FORM IV (See Rule 8)

1. Place of publishing : Ahmedabad

2. Periodicity of publication : Quarterly

3. Printer’s name : Kirit K Patel

Whether citizen of India : Yes

If foreigner, statecountry of origin : Does not apply

4. Publisher’s name : Kirit K Patel

Whether citizen of India : YesIf foreigner, statecountry of origin : Does not apply

Address : B/2 Sri KrishnaApts, Near Ladsociety, VastrapurAhmedabad-380015

5. Editor’s name : Prof Anil K Gupta

Whether citizen of India : YesIf foreigner, statecountry of origin : Does not apply

Address : 315, Indian Instituteof Management,VastrapurAhmedabad-380 015

6. Name and addresses : Sristi Innovationsof individuals who own B/2 Sri Krishna Aptsthe publication and Near Lad societypartners or shareholders Vastrapurholding more than Ahmedabad-380 015one per cent of thetotal capital

I, Kirit K Patel, hereby declare that the particularsgiven above are true to the best of my knowledgeand belief.

Sd/-Dated: March 1999 Kirit K Patel

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Category South Asia* International

Annual MembershipPatron Rs 2000 $500

or above or aboveSupporter Rs 500 $50Scientist/Professional Rs 150 $30Foreign aided NGOs Rs 500 $50Farmers/NGOs(without foreign aid)

�� Large Rs 150 $50�� Small Rs 50 $25

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Please send your contributions through bank draft/postal order/moneyorder in favour of A/c SRISTI Innovations at the editorial address;C/o Prof Anil K Gupta,Editor, Honey Bee, Indian Institute ofManagement, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380 015 India. Phone: 91-79-407241, Fax: 91-79-6427896 Email: [email protected] If u

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