Organic Farming Association elects dryland organicfarmer as new President

D.D. Bharamagoudra, new President of OFAI, on his organic farm

In fresh elections held on 17 November 2005, theNational Steering Committee of the Organic Farm-ing Association of India elected D.D.Bharamagoudra, a dryland organic farmer hailingfrom Karnataka to head the organisation.

Bharamagoudra will lead a Managing Commit-tee comprising of Claude Alvares (Secretary),Jayant Barve (Treasurer) and nine executive mem-bers. The OFAI has decided that out of theeleven members of the Managing Committee, aminimum of four will always be practising organicfarmers and a minimum of three will always bewomen.

D.D. Bharamagoudra brings to his new positionboth a deep and extensive understanding of thesevere restraints imposed by nature on organicfarming in dryland areas. Once a chemical farmer,Bharamagoudra switched to organic farming sev-eral years ago and has remained steadfast to thismethod of farming ever since. He speaks out atseveral forums and workshops and is widely re-spected and consulted in the region. Earlier he waselected as convenor of the Karnataka State Steer-ing Committee of OFAI, a post he will soon relin-quish.

The new Managing Committee of OFAI willmeet oftener in place of the much larger NationalSteering Committee which will now meet once ayear. The next meeting of the Managing Commit-tee is fixed in Goa for end February 2006.

OFAI today is the only organization of grassrootsorganic farmers. The Association makes special ef-forts to concentrate on the problems and needs ofsmall and marginal farmers.

OFAI also collaborates with the FAO in main-taining an authentic record of organic farmers inIndia. Data supplied by OFAI is fed into the FAOwebsite exclusively devoted to organic farming inIndia. OFAI is also a member of IFOAM.

In 2005, OFAI concentrated on organizing alarge number of training schools from UttarPradesh to Kerala. At these farmer training schoolsinvariably between 20-40 farmers who wish toconvert from chemical to organic farming are ex-posed to two days of very practical discussionswith a faculty comprising exclusively of organicfarmers. These workshops, as of date, havebenefitted a total number of farmers in the statesof Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and TamilNadu.

In the year 2006, OFAI is expected to conductseveral additional training programmes with a fac-ulty of teachers sourced from the organic farmingcommunity nationwide.

OFAI conducted a major farm auditors’ trainingcourse in Goa on 18-19 November 2006. Therewas a huge demand for participation in the courseand many requests had to be turned down as thefacilities could not accommodate more than 40organic farmers.

The NSC of OFAI has taken a well-appreciateddecision at the outset to base its entire farm auditscheme only on the expertise of long standing or-ganic farmers. In other words, under OFAI, no per-son other than an organic farmer will be permit-ted to audit organic farms for purposes of certifi-cation. Farm certification under OFAI is based ona labelling scheme, which will enable Indian or-ganic farmers to market their produce domesti-cally.

Ashok Kumar, a recognized farm certifier and anorganic farmer himself, was commissioned byOFAI to draw up the labelling scheme. His reporthas been received and is now under circulationwith the NSC members.

The farm auditing course in Goa was con-ducted in English and therefore only those organicfarmers who could fill out an audit questionnaire

Dr Alexander Daniel No More

Dr Alexander Daniel who took a great deal ofinitiatives to organise and promote organicagriculture in India is no more.

Dr. Daniel, President of the Institute for Inte-grated Rural Development (IIRD) died on 21December in Mumbai of leukemia.

At the time of his death, Dr Daniel was workinghard on the standards document for organicfarming for the Government of India.

Dr Daniel received the SARD Prize forexemplary work in the field of sustainableagriculture and rural development. The Prizeis instituted by IFOAM.

Dr Daniel held a post-doctorate degree inagricultural economics and policy. He was aFormer General Secretary of IFOAM-ASIA (theAsia wing of the International Federation forOrganic Agriculture Movements).

He is survived by his wife, Ms Evelyn Daniel.The Organic Farming Association of Indiaexpresses its deepest regrets on his passing.

Dr. Daniel had 30 years’ experience exploringand applying methods and ideas of how tobring beneficial change to the oppressed. Hisapproach was decidedly experimental andwas constantly evolving. Essentially, hebelieved that if we want to be fully human, wemust understand and acknowledge thehuman qualities we all share; help others tofully express their dreams, aspirations, andideas; and work together to realize them.

For Daniel this meant a commitment to whathe cal led people-based sustainabledevelopment. Valuing people beforeproduction and profit; preserving the capabilityof our resources to provide for futuregenerations; listening to what the people wantrather than telling them what they need; areall elements of what he saw as an alternativeform of development which would becontinued by the people even ifdevelopment workers moved on.

His death is a great loss to theorganic farming movement inIndia.

in English were permitted to attend. OFAI is nownegotiating with its associates in the differentstates to conduct further training programmes forfarm auditors for those farmers who wish to jointhe auditing staff of OFAI but seek to conducttheir surveys and farm visits in their own mother-tongue.

(For Private Circulation)

OFAI NewsletterJanuary 2006

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NATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE (OFAI)Andhra Pradesh

P.V. Satheesh,Goa

Claude AlvaresGujarat

Kapil ShahVijay Shah

Arvind DesaiDr. Induben Patel

KeralaRony Joseph

Madhya PradeshShalini Titus

MaharashtraMona PatraoJayant Barve

Manohar ParchureKarnataka

Julie CariappaBabu P.

Rajasekhar G. SindhurD.D. Bharamagoudra

TamilnaduMadhu Ramakrishnan,

Mrs. T. Rajareega,R. JayachandranUttar Pradesh

Bharatendu PrakashWest Bengal

Ardhendu Chatterjee

OFAI MANAGING COMMITTEE

D.D. Bharamagoudra, PresidentClaude Alvares, SecretaryJayant Barwe, Treasurer

Executive MembersP. Babu, BangaloreKapil Shah, GujaratRevathi, Tamil Nadu

Niranjana Maru, MaharashtraArdhendu Chatterjee, West Bengal

Juli Cariappa, Karnataka

ADVISERS

Bernard Declercq,organic farmer, Auroville

Narayan Reddy,organic farmer, Bangalore

P K Thampan, horticulture expertS R Sundararaman,

organic farmer, SatyamangalamG Nammalvar,

organic farming leader, TamilnaduBhaskar Save,

organic farmer, Gujarat

TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS

N. Gopalakrishnan, Tamil NaduPreeti Joshi, Maharashtra

Dr. Tarak Kate, Maharashtra.Sultan A. Ismail, Tamil Nadu

Ashok Kumar, Karnataka

(OFAI) TECHNICAL RESOURCE CENTRES

Chetna Vikas, WardhaTamil Nadu Organic Farmers’

Technology Association, Satyamangalam, EcoscienceResearch Foundation,

Chennai

OFAI CENTRAL SECRETARIAT

Claude Alvares, Co-ordinatorReshma PednekarGautham Sarang

Sumeeksha

GUJARAT STATE OFAI COORDINATING OFFICE

Kapil Shah (contact person)Jatan, Vinoba Ashram GotriVadodara, Gujarat 390-021

KERALA STATE OFAI COORDINATING OFFICE

Rony Joseph (Contact person)INFACT - Information for Action

Kizhathadiyoor P. O. Palai,Kottayam District - 686574, Kerala

TAMILNADU STATE OFAI COORDINATING OFFICE

Revathi (Contact person)79, Elancheran NagarNambiar Nagar Road

Nagapattinam - 611 001, Tamil Nadu

ANDHRA PRADESH STATE OFAI COORDINATING OFFICE

P.V. Satheesh (Contact person)Deccan Development Society

101, Kishan Residency,Road No. 5, Begumpet,

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500-016

KARNATAKA STATE OFAI COORDINATING OFFICE

Babu P. (contact person)ICRA, No. 22 ’Samskruthi’

Michael Palya, NTP,Bangalore 560-075

OFAI NEWSTraining School on Organic Farming (TOT)

A training school for trainers of organic farmerswas conducted by Tamil Nadu Organic FarmersTrust (TNOFT) in collaboration with OFAI from 7to 11 February, 2005 at the Organic FarmingResearch Centre, Okkur, Shivagangai dist.,Tamil Nadu. Twenty farmers with organic farmingback ground participated in the trainingprogramme.

Organic farming schools organized byTamil Nadu Organic Farmers’ TechnologyAssociation, Satyamangalam with assistancefrom OFAI.

The Tamil Nadu Organic Farmers’ TechnologyAssociation led by S.R. Sunderaramanorganised a series of small training workshopsto introduce chemical farmers to organicmethods. These were held at:

1 Ammappettai from 11-12 Dec. ‘042 Sathyamangalam from 22-23 Jan. ‘053 Vadippattai from 26-27 Feb. ‘054 Vadippattai from 16-17 April ‘055 Namakkal from 7-8 May ’056 Pollachi from 25-26 May ‘057 Sathyamangalam from 6-7 Aug. ‘058 Sathyamangalam from 17-18 Sept.059 Vadipatty from 24-25 Sept. 0510 Coimbatore from 12-13 Nov. 05

One of the unique aspects of these schools wasthe sharing of the techniques on producingorganic nutrients and pest and diseasemanagement developed by Sunderaraman andhis team. These techniques are easy to practiseand could be adopted by farmers who wouldlike to turn to organic farming.

Banda Organic Farming School

Vigyan Shiksha Kendra (VSK) andDr. Bharatendu Prakash represent the best ofvoluntary action in Uttar Pradesh. BharatenduPrakash is one of the founding members of theorganic farming movement in India. He is alsoan NSC member. OFAI and VSK jointly organizeda three day organic farming school in Bandabetween 14-16 Feb, 2005 at Kisan VigyanKendra campus, Banda, U.P.

The participants were drawn from 4 districts inUP and two districts in MP. The participantscomprised of farmers, agriculture students,researchers and scientists. The resourcepersons included, among others, Shoor VeerSingh, and Dr. U.P Singh, a scientist who hasreleased many pulse varieties with a pro-farmercommitment. They were ably assisted by Smt.Shobana, Bhauram, Prem Singh andRamakrishna .

Shahdol Organic Farming School

Vigyan Shiksha Kendra and Sahjeevanorganized an organic farming school at Shahdol.The workshop was held from 10-14 May, 2005.Dr. Arun Kumar Sharma, Dr. BharatenduPrakash, Dr. U. P. Singh andShri. Sarishchandra were theresource persons for theprogramme.

We here at the Central Secretariat of the Or-ganic Farming Association of India are look-ing for people who can help us with our ad-ministration. We need persons (men/women)who are interested in farming and who arewilling to give us one or two or three years oftheir life in this cause. Of course, we do paysalaries!

Ideally we would like to have persons be-tween 25-35, preferably from organic farm-ing families, persons who can work in an of-fice, travel to organic farming meetings, help

Want to work for the Organic Farming Association?in documentation of organic farmers, workon literature for the organic farming move-ment and many more. But we are not verystrict about the age.

If you think you fit the bill, give us a call at0832-2255913. You could also send us yourbiodata and references by post or email at:admin@ofai.org.

The best part of the job is that you get achance to live in Goa! It’s a great and excit-ing opportunity. A similar chance may notcome your way ever!

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There is a network of groups that have beenworking for the last 20 years for spreading organicfarming in Gujarat. They made a decision in 1999to conduct a mela every two years to spread sajivsandesh (‘message of organic living’). Since then,the melas have taken place religiously every twoyears. The last one was in 2003 at Lok Bharti.

The mela concept however had a smalldisadvantage. It was conducted only in one placewithin the state and so it was not possible for a largenumber of farmers to participate in it. “Nothing isenough for this type of a campaign,” said Kapil Shah,who played a key role in the organisation of theseevents. This year the group decided that the melawould go to the people instead. So the mela wasturned into a series of events like a ‘yatra’. Usually ayatra will have a procession, banners and slogans.But this ‘yatra’ one had none of these. The groupconcentrated more on meetings where they couldinteract with people more effectively. To allowmaximum participation, the ‘yatra’ was organizedin three different places within the state. Local fieldcoordination committees handled the organisationand the logistics including arranging food,accommodation and venues.

The series of events started on the 2nd of May2005. The first event was near ‘Umiya Mata’Temple, Vandhai in Kachchh district. This wasorganized for the benefit of the farmers in northwestern Gujarat and was inaugurated by VasantraoBombatkar, an experimenter in organic farming andan activist from Maharashtra. There were alsofarmers from Punkula village in Andhra Pradeshwho came to interact with the villagers and to tellthem of their success in banning the use of pesticidesin cotton cultivation through a unanimousresolution in the village.

The one day programme was filled with songs,film shows, group discussions, exhibition stalls andtheatre in the evening. Since the group discussionswere based on the local issues, the villagers wereable to participate. It was estimated that about 850people attended here.

The next halt was on the 4th and 5th of May atAnera, in Sabarkantha district. This was organizedfor the farmers in eastern and north eastern part ofGujarat. Here also different exhibition stalls wereput up by the Centre for Environment Education,Jatan and Yantra Vidyala.

Jatan had books, CDs and cassettes on organicfarming and organic life-styles in Gujarati andHindi. Lilichham Dharti (Green Earth) was thename of the CD and cassette which had ‘sajivsandesh’ songs. They were new songs written andcomposed by a few friends in the group. These songsechoed throughout the three different villages andsurroundings on the days of the meets. The theatrein the evening focused on the safeguarding oftradition and traditional seeds.

Gujarat Organic Agriculture Sammelan and Yatra

The next item was field visit. Tractors werearranged for going to the fields. There were othervehicles also. Three farms were visited. Three ofthem were sugar cane fields. The village the groupvisited there were about ten organic farmers whocultivate sugar cane. Experts like Mohan ShankarDeshpande, Mahindra Bhatt and Sarvdaman Patelexplained the aspects of organic cultivation,mulching and irrigation methods to the participants.

The indoor session followed by this was led bythe pioneer and thinker Gangaprasad Agarwal. Hehad a long talk of the significance of organic farmingand its role in the current context of globalisation.This followed by a question answer session in whichpeople participated with enthusiasm.

The group discussions in the afternoon were onthe cultivation methods and problems of differentcrops. The groups were divided into six accordingto crops. Sarvadaman Patel led the group thatdiscussed vegetable cultivation. Manhar Bhai ledthe group for sugar cane. Problematic soil was thesubject of the group led by Raju Jenthraniya. Bananacultivation and orchard were discussed in twogroups under the leadership of Chottu Bhai andBhaskar Bhai respectively. Kapil Shah concentratedon the tribal groups and their cultivation methods.Everyone participated in these discussions.Afterwards the farmers reflected on the groupdiscussions.

There was a video show about the impacts ofchemical farming. The film discussed the variousdangers caused by chemicals and the traditionalorganic alternatives to chemicals. This was followedby a drama. In the play, the character becomes slowlycrazy because his loans. He even becomes immuneto poisons and wails that his efforts to commitsuicide by drinking pesticides went in vain.

By evening the winding up sessions started. Inhis concluding talk, Kapil Shah spoke about theethics in organic farming. This was followed by BadriBhai’s poem on ‘Sajiv Matha’. This concluded the8 days’ yatra.

The Yatra is just one facet of the whole organicmovement in Gujarat. Though ‘Jatan’ took theinitiative for it, it organized it under the name of‘Akhil Gujarat Sajiv Kheti Samaj’ which is a partof OFAI. The magazine named ‘Jatan’ is madeavailable for the farmers who take membership inOFAI for free. So things are moving in Gujarat.More people are attracted to the movement. Andthe people behind the scene see a bright future fororganic farming in this soil. Let us hope thetraditional seeds of healthy food and ethicalpractices will grow and prosper to save the futuregenerations from the global giants.

About 450 people participated in the meet atAnera. Mahendra Bhatt, Dhirendra Soneji,Rajnibhai Patel, Rajni Dave, Dr. RajendraKhimani, Vinay Mahajan, Bhaskarbhai Save,Sarvadaman Patel, and Hirjibhai Bhingradia werethere to lead the sessions and discussions.

The last events in the series were at Bhattgam,Surat on the 7 th and 8th of May and they were forthe farmers of southern Gujarat. Bhattgam wasinaugurated in an interesting way. The ceremonyconsisted of taking a handful of hand-pounded ricefrom a plate and putting it into a copper pot. Thiswas done by the speakers, some of the participantsand the others who had come as spectators. “Wewanted to jump directly into the issues rather thanto waste time on the unimportant ceremonies.”

As this was an area of sugar cane and sugarfactories, the local committee had invited peoplefrom the sugar industry who came. Here, thespeakers were the pioneers in organic farming likeSri. Badribhai Joshi, Sri Naveenbhai Patel, Sri.Mahindra Bhatt, Sri Mohan Shankar Deshpande,from Maharashtra and Sri. Sarvdaman Patel. Thelong sessions of speeches and question-answers wereinterspersed with the soothing flute of Sri. Bhaskarwho played Gandhiji’s favorite song (vaishnavajanatho).

As the days were very hot, the demonstration oncompost preparation by Sarvdaman Patel startedeven before the sun came out of his blanket. It wason the second day of the Yatra in Bhattgam. Thedemonstration was a systematic one. He arrangedevery item that could be used for making compostand the other ingredients on the ground. The openair ‘class room’ gradually became hot with the raysof the very hot sun but as everyone was absorbedby the magical words of Sri. Sarvdaman Patel, itseemed as if they didn’t realize it.

Play on the safeguarding of traditional seeds

Jatan success: Large numbers attended the jatha to know about organic farming

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The Natural Farming Institute (NFI)

The Natural Farming Institute is a virtual

centre for the promotion of organic farmingin India. It proposes to look closely into

every aspect of research on organic farm-

ing, particularly knowledge of the soils andplants. In intends to maintain an on-line li-

brary of materials for organic farmers, di-

rectories of websites, and training coursesfor farmers presently using chemicals who

wish to convert to organic methods.

A major focus of the Institute is the educa-

tion of children of organic farmers whose

future on the land is generally sabotagedby the existing educational system which

has been designed exclusively for persons

from non-rural, non-agricultural back-grounds.

Touched by the demand of organic farmersthat something be done about this alarming

situation, the NFI has initiated a workgroup

of organic farmers led by persons who havethemselves kept their children out of school.

The workgroup has been asked to create a

curriculum of studies that will not only gen-erate intense love for the land and agricul-

ture, but also enable the children to deal

successfully with the modern world and itsdemands including certification at the high

school and graduate levels, when required

or desired by the student concerned. Thosefollowing the curriculum will not have to go

to school.

The workgroup on curriculum design for ru-

ral children is constituted as under:

• Gopalkrishnan and Vijayaleksmi Sarang,Kerala (coordinators)

• Ms Mona Patrao, Redstone Farm,Maharashtra

• Ms Juli Cariappa, Karnataka

• Raghu Babu, Andhra Pradesh

• K.B.Jinan, Kerala

• Dhirendra Soneji, Gujarat

• Ali Manikfan, Tamilnadu

• Ms M Revati, Tamilnadu

• Ms Meenakshi, Tamilnadu

• Ms L.S. Saraswati, Chennai, Tamilnadu

• Shivaji Kaganikar, Belgaum, Karnataka

• Arvind Gupta, Maharashtra

NFI hopes to be a dynamic constituent of

the Organic Farming Association of India.

The website can be accessed through

www.multiworld.org/

A group of farmers, media persons and representa-tives of the Consumers Association of Penang vis-ited a number of organic farms in Tamil Nadufrom 20-26 September 2005. The visit was hostedby Shri. N. Gopalakrishnan, one of the pioneeringfigures in the organic farming movement in TamilNadu, an excellent vermiculturist and an advisorto OFAI.

The group from Malaysia consisted of 39 peo-ple. Two of them were from the Consumers Asso-ciation of Penang (CAP). There were three pressreporters but the farmers were the majority. Thethree reporters represented three different languagepapers published in Malay, English and Chinese.Among the farmers, there were Tamil speakingpeople who were Malaysian-Indians. All others,except a native of Malaysia, were Chinese.

None of them were organic farmers. But theywanted to convert to organic farming. The visitincluded several lectures by organic farmers. Thegroup hired a bus in Chennai and visited severalorganic farms. They utilized all the six days for thispurpose.On the 20 of September, 2005 they started their

quest by visiting the farm of Shri. S. R.Sundararaman, Sathyamangalam. Therethey got a wonderful exposure to organicfarming by watching the demonstrationplots of this pioneering farmer.Maintaining biodiversity in cultivationand the appropriate preparations of bio-fertilizers were the main focus of the firstday.

The next day they visited the farm ofN. Gopalakrishnan at Panikkampatti.There they attended two sessionsconducted respectively by Shri. ClaudeAlvares, Shri. G. Nammalwar and Shri.

Malaysian group visits organic farms in south India

N. Gopalakrishnan himself. On that day the subjectswere preparation of vermi-compost, cultivationusing effective microorganisms, panchagavya, andpreparation of herbal pest repellents. That eveningthey went to a sugar factory in Vettavaithalai. On22 September they visited a group farm run underthe ‘Saraswathi Kisan Vikas Kendra’. It was aGovernment project. Here they saw organic methodsof rearing cattle.

Tarry High Tech Nursery, Thanjavur,Sidhivinayagar Farms near Chennai were the otherfarms they visited. ‘Sidhivinayagar Farms’ is a semiorganic farm which grows vanilla in green houses.They also visited an NGO in Dindigul run by PaulBhaskar. A priest who is working as part of the sameset-up demonstrated various methods of waterharvesting.

In the final days of the visit they attended twolectures. One was by Prof. S. Punyamoorthy and theother by Dr. Sultan Ismail. Prof. S. Punyamoorthydescribed herbal veterinary medicines and Dr.Ismailgave them a practical talk on earthworms with thehelp of slides. The visit concluded on the 26 ofSeptember and they returned to Malaysia the samenight.

The result of the farm visit was thatsome of the farmers who visited theorganic farms realized the possibilitiesof organic farming and have started thebasic work of converting to organicfarming. The number of farmers whotook the tour seriously was small, but ourhost farmers think that eventually theothers also will come to the organic path,seeing the light of healthy food andhealthy soil.

N. Gopalkrishnan shows Malaysian farmers around his organic farm near Trichy

Malaysian farmer (above) inspectsPanchagavya solution

5

MOFF has been working with the idea of organicfarming schools. The inauguration of the firstorganic farming school in the fields of Shri TukaramShitole, Nhavi Sandas, Tal. Haveli, Dist. Pune, tookplace on 2nd October 2004 (Gandhi Jayanti) at theauspicious hands of Hon Shri Balasaheb Bharde,the great Gandhian. On the same day, another 21schools were inaugurated in other parts of the State.MOFF plans to have at least three to five suchorganic schools in each taluka of Maharashtra.

Organic farming schools have opened newopportunities for farmers for learning on-farmtechniques of organic farming. Every Thursday, aminimum of between 18 to 22 farmers meet in everyorganic school and fruitful discussions take placeduring these meetings.

Farmers are keen that their organic farm producemust fetch a good market price. However, this ispossible only if the produce is properly certified.Local level standardization and certification agencyis being developed accordingly under thesupervision of MOFF. In view of this, local levelworkshops where conducted in Vidarbha,Marathawada, Eastern and Northern Maharashtra.Farmers will be benefited in availing organiccertification at very low cost. MOFF plans to takethe help of the national level certification agencyfor this purpose.

MOFF also intends to develop the market fororganic produce. As a beginning, MOFF conductedan Organic Rice Festival with the help of theMaharashtra Agriculture Department and theAgriculture Produce Marketing Department alongwith the Pune Municipal Corporation from 28-30January 2005. In this festival, 32 farmers and fivewomen SHGs participated. The festival generateda good turnover of Rs.25 lakhs in just three days.

Acceptance of GATT has led to changes ingovernment policies concerning agriculture.Farmers have been compelled to accept these

changes. However, MOFF will never allow anychanges that are against the interest of farmingcommunity and in particular, resource-poor farmers.Accordingly, MOFF has taken a strong stand againstthe 2004 Seed Bill and organized public meetingson 17 February 2005. Smt. Vandana Shiva addressedthe gathering on the issue of terminator seeds andthe hazardous effects of chemical fertilizers. Therewas a good response of from the public includinggovernment officials and scientists from agricultureuniversities.

Thereafter, a four member panel from MOFFpresented the farmers’ views and action planregarding the Seed Bill during the meeting organizedby Navdanya from 1-3 March 2005 in Delhi.

MOFF organised a national workshop on organicfarming at Nagpur from 12-13 April 2005 inassociation with NCOF. The workshop wasinaugurated by Sudhirkumar Goyal, Commissioner,Agriculture, Maharashtra State, who is an ardentpromoter of organic farming..

In addition to this, a capacity-building workshopfor Directors of Organic Farming Schools wasorganized by MOFF from 25-27 May 2005 atYASHODA, Pune. The workshop was inauguratedby the Hon. Minister Shri Ajitdada Pawar in thepresence of Hon. Agriculture Minister ShriBalasaheb Thorat. Technical experts from variousfields provided the necessary guidance.

FAO, India organized a workshop from 18-19July 2005 at Ghaziabad, New Delhi on organicfarming. The President of MOFF along with otherfour representative presented a concept note onorganic farming at the meeting. MOFF has beenselected by FAO to develop the organic package ofpractices for four important crops viz. sugarcane,cotton, wheat and paddy.

As part of its activities to promote organicfarming, MOFF organized a fund raising program“JEEVAN YANNA KALALE HO” at Pune in which

Maharashtra Organic Farming Federation (MOFF)

famous actor Shri Nana Patekar presented his lifehistory. In addition to fund raising, the concept ofMOFF on organic farming was propagated to urbansociety and received proper branding. MOFFawarded three organic farming school directors witha cash award of Rs.10,000 each for their remarkablework. Two farming groups from Maval Taluka werealso awarded cash prizes of Rs.25,000 each by the VB Foundation at the auspicious hands of Shri NanaPatekar.

MOFF’s apex body meeting held on 24th July2005 passed a resolution for membership of MOFF.Participants opined that MOFF should take the leadin creating a platform for marketing organicproduce. Accordingly, MOFF has started workingwith USAID GMED to develop a marketing chainfor organic produce.

A special issue of the daily Rashtratej waspublished and 1.5 lakh copies circulated to MOFFmembers, Grampanchayats, Zilla Parishads andvarious government officials to promote theconcept of organic farming in entire state. Articlespublish in Rashtratej discussed organic farming, seedpolicy, agro-biotechnology etc..

The President of MOFF along with othermembers visited South India from 16-22 September2005 to promote the MOFF concept of organicfarming in other states. The tour was planned tostrengthen the organic movement by taking help ofother eminent organizations including theFoundation for Revitalisation of Local HealthTraditions (FRLHT) for medicinal intercroppingor ethno veterinary health care and the KarnatakState Farming Association (KSFA) Bangalore.Fruitful discussions were held with Shri DarshanShankar (FRLHT) and Advocate Jayram (KSFA)who suggested forming a nationwide pressure groupled by MOFF.

– From ‘Shashwat’, MOFF journal

The Tsunami that hit the eastern coast of TamilNadu on the 26th of December 2004, among others,deprived several farming communities along thecoast of their only livelihood. The salination ofthe agricultural land rendered it uncultivable tothe normal crops that the farmers were accustomed.The normal process of reviving the land usingconventional means is estimated to take up to fiveyears. However, that is too long a period for theimpoverished and tragedy-struck farmers. Hence,an alternate approach was urgently needed.

The Tamilnadu Organic Farmers Movement ledby Nammalwar proposed to use a combination oforganic farming methods that had borne fruits inseveral saline soils sites elsewhere to revive theagricultural land, while keeping the farmers activeand self-reliant. The following techniques haveproven to be successful in other locations alongthe coastal Tamilnadu over the past few years:

1. Digging trenches in fields at regular intervalsand burying course material like bamboo, prosopistree pieces.

2. Sowing thakai seeds (common name:dainchaa; botanical name: sesbania rostrata, anotherspe: sesbania cannabina) (Rs.20 per kg), growingthem in the saline fields, and incorporating thematured plants into the soil after 45 days. Thisincreases the humus content of the soil and reducesthe salinity to a great extent.

3. Applying gypsum to the soil (the conventionalremedy) was not applicable to these tsunami-affected villages as there are no fresh water sourcesto wash away the salinity from the fields. Further,the agricultural department’s soil testing reportshave shown that the pH of the soil in many fieldshas not increased much, only its EC(electroconductivity). So the application of gypsumis not at all necessary for many of the fields. Ourregular practice is mulching the soil upto one footheight and spraying amirtha solution on the mulch(amirtha solution is a fermented mixture of cowdung, cow urine and jaggery). This method ofadding animal and plant waste mixture has provento be a good remedy for reducing salinity faster.

4. Over and above all these, the most importantmethod of removing salinity from the soil is throughthe application of biotechnology i.e. using themicroorganisms. We have several bio solutionswhich improve the soil fertility dramatically,namely, vermiwash, panchagavya, attutam, farmer’scytocyme solution, farmer’s EM solution,gunapasalam, etc. These have been tested inthousands of acres of farming lands and theireffectiveness has been proved successfully.

5. Raising rows of fodder trees on both easternand western sides and in between these rowsploughing the land and farming it using only organicmethods. This alley cropping method helps toreduce the evaporation rate and therefore the

Organic farmers rise to tsunami challengescapillary rise of the salts from underground to thefield surface is avoided.

6. Another important technique is sowingmultiple seeds, i.e., 4 types of oil seeds, 4 types ofgrains, 4 types of pulses, 4 types of manure seeds, 4types of spice seeds, in all around 20 kg of seeds peracre. This method also has been proven to be verysuccessful by large number of organic farmers inremoving salinity and improving soil fertility.

7. The next stage is the cultivation of foddercrops like CO-3 grass, kozhukattai grass, cholam,kampu etc. This practice not only provides fodderfor cattle, but also improves the soil fertility to agreat extent by addition of carbon rich biomass tothe soil (as the non consumed parts of these plantsare returned to the soil following the ‘law of returnto nature’).

8. After a period of six months with thesetechniques, we can switch over to paddy cultivation.We have so many traditional paddy varieties thatare saline resistant and can give good yields even insaline soils e.g., pokkali rice, uvar mundane,kuzhiyadichan, kalar samba, etc.

During this period of saline removal, parallelactivities of training farmers to prepare compost,vermiculture, production of vermicastings andvermiwash etc., are carried out. Also the producethat is cultivated will provide the farmers with ameans for survival during the rehabilitation period.

– M Revati

6

Womanpreparingpanchagavya

Claude Alvares: Where did you first get theidea of Panchagavya?

N: In the year 1998 I got your Organic Farm-ing Sourcebook when I was at Bangalore. Whilegoing through this book, there was an article by aFrench scientist who mentioned that he used cowdung and cow urine in equal proportion alongwith jaggery for fermentation and to keep it for 20days until methane gas was released. After that heused 2% of the solution with water and sprayed ongrape vineyards. After spraying once in 15 days,he noticed the growth of the leaves and of thefruits was very good. He noticed that the fruit wasvery good, and also the taste and the aroma.

After reading that article, I also got an idea ofusing the same thing in my garden. While I wasthinking of preparing the same solution, theMahashivratri festival took place in myKudumbiri temple. Panchagavya was given asprasad. At that time I thought panchagavya i smade of five ingredients from the cow – cowdung, cow’s urine, milk, curd and ghee. TheFrench gentleman used two ingredients but Ithought, why not use all the 5 ingredients. I madean attempt by putting all the 5 ingredients and toimprove the fermentation of panchagavya I addedjaggery. This man said if you use fresh cow dungyou have to keep it for 20 days. So initially I

used gobar-gas slurry (because it has already fer-mented and the methane gas is released) alongwith cow dung, cow’s urine, milk, curd and gheeand also jaggery. Within seven days the manurewas ready.

First, I used 3% solution on a drumstick tree.We sprayed this tree every 15 days and the growthwas very good, the flowering was excellent and itbore more fruits.

CA: Did you spray the tree or the leaves?

N: The leaves sir. More leaves and more denseflowering developed and the drumstick pods alsoimproved. The pods were longer and bigger in sizeand they could be kept for a longer period thanordinary drumsticks. This tree was giving very fewpods normally but on seeing so many pods, so af-ter seeing this, many farmers wanted to use thispanchagavya for their own use. So we gave it tothem and they used it on paddy, turmeric, onionsand vegetable crops, on mango, guava and otherfruit crops. After putting this, the result was verygood.

After some time we added tender coconut wa-ter, banana fruit and toddy for more fermentation.Previously, the smell was very bad but after add-ing these things, the smell was tolerable. Then thecontents had all minerals and growth-promotingfactors were also there which increased the po-tency of the panchagavya. The banana fruitshelped fermentation and also toddy improves

enormously the fermentation process. Once we addtoddy, the liquid comes up by 2 ft. in the drum.Thus the fermentation was good.

We then noticed there was a layer of ghee onthe surface which was very difficult to dissolve.To overcome this, we experimented and mixedpressed cow dung with ghee for 3 days. This weintroduced twice daily. From the 4th day, we ex-perimented in another way. We took the things Ihad mentioned earlier - cow’s urine, curd, milk,ghee, tender coconut water, banana fruits, toddyand jaggery. So instead of 5 things, it has become9 ingredients. We added 4 more things and modi-fied the variety of panchagavya. Now the gheedoes not float on the surface and we use less gheeonly. Previously, for producing 20 litres ofpanchagavya we were using 1 kg. ghee but nowwe use only 500 gms of ghee. So it saves on thecost. When we spray, to plough also it is very easy.

CA: How much time did you spend on the ba-sic recipe before you became confident?

N: To make the basic recipe it took 1 month.Then we added the other ingredients one by oneso it took 6 months.

CA: If somebody does not have the book orthe recipe in front on him, could you give, inbrief, the essential steps he must take to make, notpanchagavya now but navgavya now.

N: For making approx. 20 litres of panchagavyawe need the following ingredients:

5 kgs. of fresh cow dung,fresh cow’s urine – 3 litres,cow’s milk – 2 litres,cow’s curd – 2 litres,cow’s ghee – 500 gms,jaggery – 500 gms,plus 3 litres of water, otherwise 3 litres of

sugarcane juice is sufficient1 bunch (12 nos.) – ripe banana fruit,Tender coconut water – 3 litrestoddy – 2 litres (If toddy is not available, we

can ferment 3 litres of tender coconut water bykeeping it in a pot for 1 week. That will becometoddy. That can also be used instead of toddy.)

Method of preparation for 20 litres ofpanchagavya:

Take 5 kgs of fresh cow dung and mix it thor-oughly with 500 gms of cow’s ghee and keep it ina plastic drum or a mud pot. It should not be keptin a metal container because it will corrode andreact with the metal. Keep the ghee and the cowdung mixed for 3 days, mixing it twice a day. Onthe 4th day you can add cow’s urine, cow’s milk(cow’s milk can be boiled, cooled and thenadded) and cow’s curd, then jaggery with water or

Panchagavya: Interview with Dr K Natarajan

PANCHAGAVYA: A MANUALK. NatarajanPp. 32 (2003) Rs 25An almost miraculous brew made from five

products of the cow (dung,urine, ghee, curd and milk).

Panchagavya is revolutionisingthe practice of organic farmingin Tamilnadu. A fusion oftraditional wisdom andpainstaking experimentation,Panchagavya is a gift that eve-ryone concerned with organicfarming should know about.This handy booklet has beenprepared by its inventor,

a medical practi-tioner, as a manual

so that every-one can makePanchagavyain her ownhome or field.

sugarcane juice and banana fruit (which has to bemashed and mixed thoroughly.) Then toddy orfermented tender coconut water has to be added.By the 3rd or 4th day, you should have added allthe things and then you have to wait for another15 days, stirring twice daily. On the 18th day thepanchagavya solution will be ready. The solutionmust be kept under a net, i.e. it must be coveredwith a muslin or fine cloth so that the common flycannot sit on it and lay eggs and the liquid willdevelop maggots/worms. To prevent this, you mustcover the solution. On the 18th day, you can useit.

CA: After the 18th day, do you have to keepstirring it or you can use it?

N: As long as you keep it, at least once a dayyou have to stir it so that it gets air. The more airit gets, it will get better otherwise it will developmaggots.

CA: Can this be used as a dilution in water oras a folio spray?

N: The water in panchgavya solution containsall the major nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus,potash, all the micro- acids like folic acid, .. Itcontains essential vitamins and enzymes. It con-tains everything.

CA: Have you done a laboratory analysis? Whathave you found?

N: Yes, we have done .. a laboratory analysis. Itcontains all these elements. It has everything. Wehave the reports.

The mode of usage is: It has to be made as a 3%solution with water i.e. 3% of panchgavya with97% of water can be used as a folio spray. It canbe used for root irrigation, in irrigation water. Itcan be used for seed treatment and also for ...These are all the uses.

Periodicity of use: Once in 15 days, it can beused for all crops. In winter crops, 1.5-2% usage issufficient but for all other crops 3% should beused.

CA: You were saying that Tamil Nadu Agricul-tural University has done some work on this. Whatare their results?

N: They have got very good results for allcrops. What they say is that it improves the immu-nity of the crops. It improves the growth of theplants, yield also increases and the shelf-life keep-ing of the crops goes up and the quality of theproduce is excellent.

7

The Kerala Jaiva Karshaka Samithi (OrganicFarmers’ Association of Kerala) is the principalorganization of organic farmers in the State. Thereare both farmers and non-farmers who support or-ganic farming within the association.

The movement the Samithi represents startedafter people began to realize the negative impactsof chemicals and the failure of modern medicinein certain diseases. This stimulated them to thinkabout new ways to maintain good health. Thesearch went until someone found naturopathy.Though the search is not yet complete and peopleare still continuing it, a group of them decided toget involved in naturopathy as a way of life.

This group recognised the need for organicfood, as the materials they got from the marketwere literally dipped in chemicals and pesticides.Some of them were farmers and they started theenquiry of farming without chemicals or organicfarming. Or to be more precise, they turned backto their old, traditional farming practices keepingin mind modern ‘organic thinking’.

Later this message of organic farming andnaturopathy spread throughout Kerala and gradu-ally like-minded groups were formed. Some ofthem bloomed, some of them merged and a fewothers just vanished. The Kerala Jaiva KarshakaSamiti is one of the survivors and it is today oneof the leading organic farming and naturopathygroups in Kerala. It is always a wonderful feelingto be in their midst.

The thirteenth meeting of the Samiti was heldfrom 13-15 of May, 2005 at the Puthenchira Gov-ernment L.P. School in Trishoor District. A localcommittee was formed earlier for the smooth con-duct of the programme. Most of the members inthe organizing committee were from an informalenvironmental group named the ChalakkudiPuzha Samrakshana Samiti (Association for Pro-tecting the Chalakkudi river). The group has alsobeen involved in various other struggles related toenvironmental issues.

Maybe the most important and interesting partabout this group must be the fact that the major-ity of them are either daily wage workers or farm-ers. One of the leading personalities in the group,Mr. Karim, is a construction worker. These peopledo all the struggle and campaigns while they tryhard to survive with their nominal income.

The local committee members wanted themeeting to be a memorable event for the partici-pants and more importantly for the Puthanchiravillagers. They observed that usually the commonman always looks down on the get-togethers ofsuch alternative groups. One reason for this is ig-norance of such subjects. The second reason is thelack of communication between such groups andlocal people. This committee wanted the messageof the meeting to reach the common villager.

To achieve this, they printed notices, wroteabout the meeting and printed slogans related toorganic farming on all possible walls in the villagewithin a two kilometre radius. They took some oftheir banners even to the nearby towns. To ensurethe participation of local people, they campaignedthrough each and every house in the village, gavenotice and explained about organic farming andthe significance of the get together. The peoplewere invited for the meeting. They were requestedto listen to the speeches by experts and clear theirdoubts on various issues related to organic farm-ing. The organisers also requested the farmers andmerchants of the area to make donations to themeeting in the form of food articles.

All this hard preparatory work bore fruit. Peo-ple not only came to participate in the meeting,they provided rice, coconut, banana, tapioca,milk, curd, etc. for the common kitchen that wasorganized all the three days.

Altermedia arranged a little exhibition in oneof the classrooms where it exhibited books, or-ganic food products, wooden toys, areca plates,etc. This attracted the farmers who came from faraway places as well as the public.

The first major item on the first day was thetalk by K.V.Dayal. He talked about the basics oforganic farming. Though the committee had donea good job at inviting people, they hardly ex-pected the crowd that turned up on the first day.The local people participated in the interactionsession that followed Dayal’s lecture. The sessionin fact had to be extended because of requestsfrom the audience. This is something rare.

After this session people gathered here andthere or talked with the farmers who had come infrom other parts of Kerala. They exchanged seedsand thoughts and visited the exhibition stalls. Thelocal people came and went in between.

Afterwards Claude Alvares spoke about the ‘im-pacts of globalisation on the farming sector of In-dia’. His talk was translated by Mohan Kumar.

B. Radhakrishnan from Alappuzha was the nextspeaker. He talked about his tiny farm of 10 cents.He told the audience that he had almost all thevegetables and tubers that he needed grown in hissmall patch of land around his home. The talkgave some insights towards making use of everyavailable piece of land in a properly planned way.

As evening gave way to night, the small schoolhall had filled with people from other parts ofKerala.

After a tasty dinner of ‘Kanji’ ‘Kappa’, every-one gathered under a tree in the open air and hadan informal ‘talk and share’ session. Gautham re-lated his experiences with the Gujarat organicfarmers’ meetings and jatha near Surat. Farmersheard this with interest. Later the farmers briefedClaude Alvares about the organic farming move-ment in Kerala.

The accommodation for women was at a housein the village. The men stayed in the school andin a near lodge. Everyone went to sleep with tiredbodies and charged minds.

On the second day, the programme started withClaude Alvares’ talk on ‘The Living Soil’. Alvarestalked about the activities of microorganisms,biomass and the relation between the naturalpopulations of microflora and fauna. Though the

talk was difficult, the translator did a fine job inrendering a translation.

Adv. Joseph Philip (the previous President ofthe Madappili Panchayath) talked about the en-vironmental works in Madappilli BlockPanchayath. He described the work he and his col-leagues had done to protect and preserve the en-vironment of the block panchayath.

Sri. A. Mohan Kumar talked on ‘organic farm-ing and struggle against colonisation’. He de-scribed the multinational companies and their‘black agendas’ to snatch away the rights and seedsof poor farmers.

In between these talks, there were some otherinteresting activities going on outside. Santhosh, aveterinary surgeon from Kozhikode, did a demon-stration on hand made paper while an engineerwith the Kerala State Electricity Board discussed asmall dynamo fitted with turbine which could pro-duce energy by small streams.

The afternoon session was occupied with thepresentations of three women who are very muchactive in social issues. One was Dr. Latha, the sec-ond Dr. Elizabeth Joseph and the third, Dr.Salikkutty Joseph. Dr. Latha described the struggleto preserve the Chalakkudi river while Dr. Eliza-beth shared titbits of folklore in preserving food

articles and seeds. She invited the participants toshare their folklore as well. Farmers came forwardto share their knowledge and this became an ac-tive session. Dr. Salikkutty Joseph talked aboutpest control in vegetable cultivation.

After a break, Tony Thomas talked about thedecreasing forest and the dying rivers of Kerala.After dinner, K.V. Shivaprasad talked about the‘Traps in farming and suicides’. The major focusof his talk was on the increasing expense in farm-ing and the decreasing output from the farms. Headvised the farmers to adopt farming practices thatrequired less inputs.

V.K.Sridharan, P.K.Dharmaraj and party sangfolk songs in the night and gave the meeting acolour of music. This went on late into the night.

The morning session on the third day com-menced with the talk of Dr. Paul Neelankaavil.The topic was ‘Popular Health’. It covered areaslike the bad sides of modern medicine and thepossibilities of naturopathy and other branches ofmedicine. Healthy and poison free food came ineventually in his talk and thus he connected itwith organic farming. The next speaker on the lastday of the meeting was K. Govindan from Kannur.He talked about the One Earth One Life maga-zine, its history, milestones and present status.Visalakshan Master moderated an active discussionbefore the meeting concluded.

– Gautham Sarang

Jaiva Karshaka Samithi Meet in Kerala

8

REGENERATING THE SOILClaude BourguignonPp. 200 (2005) Rs.250In this new and revolutionary book, ClaudeBourguignon explains the natural basis of or-ganic agriculture.

Following in the footsteps of Albert Howard whowrote similarly more than sixty years ago,Bourguignon begins with the forest and how itpractices the most efficient form of organic farm-ing known ever. He then describes his experi-ments in following the forest model of using thesoil – and the organisms in the soil for – for pro-ducing food.

Bourguignon shows how 97% of the nutrition ofthe plants comes from the atmosphere. However,because we do not cultivate the microorganismsof the soil, we forfeit their capacity to transformnatural nutritional sources in a form readily avail-able to plants.

THE ECOLOGICAL VILLAGEM G JacksonPp. 196 (2005) Rs.200Jackson argues that individual organic farmshere and there may not provide any genuineand permanent relief to the destruction of oursoils by chemicals and pesticides. According tohim, it is necessary to consider the whole villageas an organic unit (as this was done in the past),if we wish the organic farming movement to suc-ceed.

Jackson covers major ground in this remarkablebook: slash-and-burn agriculture, organic farm-ing, education for organic farming. Jackson’s tes-tament on the organic village is drawn from hislong association with first green revolution andthen with organic farming. He therefore knowsthe profound inadequacies of chemical-basedfarming from within.

THE EARTHWORM BOOKSultan IsmailPp. 120 (2005) Rs.150This first rate book on earthworms tells you eve-rything you need to know about them, from oneof India’s foremost experts on the subject.

The book first deals with the science, particularlythe biology of earthworms, then examines theirlife cycles. Being a practical minded scientist,Ismail concentrates on the culture of indigenousearthworms, how to bring them out of the groundand utilise them for various purposes includingcomposting and garbage reprocessing. He hasa separate chapter on the use of earthworms inorganic agriculture.

AN AGRICULTURAL TESTAMENTAlbert HowardPp. 262 (2004) Rs. 250The first truly organic farming book ever writtenin modern times. Albert Howard invented theIndore method of composting. His organicallygrown plants were so healthy, he would inten-tionally release insects on them to show peoplehow resistant they were. Howard argues bril-liantly that Nature is the best possible farmerthere is, and we should do nothing more thanfollow her ways.

THE ORGANIC FARMING READERClaude Alvares and othersPp. 298 (2002) Rs. 225The best collection of pieces yet on organicfarming written by its pioneers. Includes writingsof Fukuoka, Wendel Berry, Sultan Ismail, RVijayalaksmi, Bernard deClercq and others.Covers the philosophy and ethics of organicfarming; actual practices; economics; biodiversityissues and ecological pest control.SILENT SPRINGRachel CarsonPp. 244 (2001) Rs. 175

Rachel Carson’s landmark classic painstakinglyshowed that the use of toxic chemicals was dis-turbing nature and its complex processes inways little understood by humankind. Despitethe passage of the years, the book has lost noneof its topicality.

ONE STRAW REVOLUTIONMasanobu FukuokaPp. 181 (2004) Rs. 90Eleventh OIP reprint! The classic account of theprinciples and practice of natural farming by oneof the greatest exponents of the art, this book re-tains all its vibrancy and immediacy. The demandfor the book appears insatiable-a testimony to itsenduring relevance. Also available in Marathi(Rs.60) and Hindi.

ORGANIC FARMINGA.K. Yadav and Sarita MowadePp. 104 (2004) Rs.125Closely linked with the Maharashtra Organic Farm-ing Federation led by Vikram Boke, the authors pro-vide details o different aspects of how to do organicfarming.ORGANIC FARMING WRT. COSMIC ENERGYMohan Shankar DespandePp 236 (2003) Rs.250

A manual of the Deshpande farming technique. Cropwill thrive without chemicals and pesticides since theytap cosmic energy. Deshpande has influenced thou-sands of organic farmers.THE NATURAL WAY OF FARMINGMasanobu FukuokaPp 284 (2003) Rs 300

The secrets of Fukuoka’s approach to farming. Pho-tographs, diagrams and tables in abundance.

THE ROAD BACK TO NATUREMasanobu FukuokaPp 377 (2004) Rs 300A collection of Fukuoka’s writings and lectures record-ing priceless impressions and observations of farmsoutside Japan.

A HANDBOOK OF ORGANIC FARMINGArun K. SharmaPp 628 (2004) Rs 850An encyclopaedic work on the issue of organic farm-ing, this book covers most aspects of this vast subject.ORGANIC FARMINGA.K. DahamaPp 276 (2003) Rs 595

Written from the perspective of an agricultural scien-tist.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL SEMINAR ONNATURAL FARMINGSomani, Totawat & BaserPp 578 (1992) (HB) Rs 200

For those interested in “scientific” comparisons be-tween organic and chemical-based farming systems.

PLENTY FOR ALLShripad A. DabholkarPp 272 (2001) Rs 400Deals with organic farming innovations including thePrayog Parivar methodology.CITY FARMINGR.T. DoshiPp 27 (1998) Rs 50

Practical guide by an amazing city farmer who growspractically anything on the terrace of his flat atMumbai, using locally available garbage.BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE AND HOMEOPATHYLucas DengelPp 28 (2002) Rs.25

Explores the links between two streams of thoughtthat rely on natural forces.

EARTHWORM VERMI CULTURE AND VERMICOMPOSTINGR.K. Bhatnagar & R.K. PaltaPp 116 (2003) Rs 75

A lucid guide to vermicomposting.CUBA IS ORGANIC BY DEFAULT, INDIA CAN BEORGANIC BY DESIGNManohar ParchurePp. 53 (2002) Rs.20EARTHWORM: CINDERELLA OF ORGANICFARMINGRadha D KalePp 88 (1998) Rs 120

The humble earthworm can transform your gardenor farm.

COMPOST MAKINGDominic BaraPp 18 (1996) Rs 15A manual on how to prepare good compost.

ON COMPOSTINGBy VenkatPp 31 (2004) Rs.15A small booklet on how to recycle organic wastes.

LIVING WITH THE FLUID GENOMEMae-Wan HoPp 197 Rs. 250The whole biotech enterprise – from GM crops togene drugs and human cloning – is a phenomenalwaste of public finance and scientific imagination. Arivetting story of the fluid genome from a scientist whohas consistently been warning that genetic engineer-ing is both dangerous and futile.SEEDS OF PLENTY, SEEDS OF HOPEK. Vijayalakshmi et alPp 136 (2004) Rs.200

This book records the efforts of several grass rootNGOs in Asia for on-farm conservation of indigenousgenetic resources.

THE CASE FOR A GM-FREE SUSTAINABLE WORLDThird World NetworkPp 115 (2003) Rs. 150

The Independent Science Panel based in London hascompiled this complete dossier of evidence on theknown problems and hazards of GM crops as well asthe manifold benefits of sustainable agriculture.

GREEN HEALTH CARE FOR LIVE STOCKDr. V. GanapathiPp 40 (2000) Rs.25How to make medicines from plants for dealing withthe ailments of livestock.KARTOLI: SPINE GOURDV.K. Mohan, S.D. NarnavarPp 96 (2003) Rs.100

Kartoli is a natural herb that provides food rich in fi-bre, protein and vitamins and is available during theseason when there is scarcity of vegetables in themarket. The book attempts to discover the hiddenwealth of this natural product and its sustainable uti-lisation. The Marathi version costs Rs.90NEEM: A USER’S GUIDESubhashini Sridhar, K. VijayalakshmiPp 50 (2002) Rs.50

Aimed at rejuvenating local, low cost use of neem inagriculture and health care. Meant to serve as a us-er’s manual for farmers and sustainable agriculturealternatives.

VRKSHYAYURVEDA: AYURVEDA FOR PLANTSS. Sridhar, S. Arumugasamy, K. Vijayalakshmi, A.V.BalasubramanianPp 47 (2001) Rs 30

A user’s manual on the subject of Vrkshayurveda, anancient Indian science dealing with all aspects ofplant life. Lists important farming practices and con-tains many recipes for treatment of diseases.

ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES IN TROPICALCOUNTRIESA T DudaniPp 360 (1999) Rs 150

Written by one of the pioneers in the field.BIO-PESTICIDE AND INTEGRATED PESTMANAGEMENTG K GhoshPp 286 (2000) Rs 600Suggests many alternative bio-pesticides which canincrease food production without environmentaldamage.

• GARLIC AND ONION• PERSIAN LILACK Vijayalakshmi et alPp 40 each (1999) Rs 30 each

Booklets on how extracts from these plants are pre-pared for controlling pests.

GENETIC ENGINEERING: DREAM OR NIGHTMARE?Dr Mae-Wan HoPp 317 (1998) Rs 150A first rate scientific investigation of the brave newworld of bio-engineering.BRAVE NEW SEEDSRobert Ali, Brac De La Perriere & Franck SeuretPp 147 (2000) Rs 300As farmers around the world are being pressured byhalf-a-dozen giant corporations to grow geneticallyengineered crops, this book places the issue in per-spective, illustrates the downside of GM crops, andhighlights the urgent need to bring this profit-moti-vated deployment of scientific power under demo-cratic control.

THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GARDENING IN INDIAMeera UberoiPp 246 (2002) Rs 295Provides advice on everything from planning a gar-den to reaping its rewards, from selecting the rightsoil and using the right fertiliser to watering tech-niques and how to guard against pests. An essentialreference for every gardener.

GARDENING IN THE CITY: A BEGINNER’S GUIDENimret HandaPp 184 (1999) Rs 250INDOOR GARDENINGVishnu SwarupPp 94 (1996) Rs 75

Basic primer on indoor plants.

Organic Matter from Other India Bookstore

Published by:

Central Secretariat,The Organic Farming Association of India

G-8, St. Britto’s Apartment, Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa – 403507

Tel.: 91-832-2255913

email: admin@ofai.org; website: http://www.ofai.org

MUSHROOM SPAWN PRODUCTION MANUALFOR SMALL SIZE PRIMARY UNITAction Research InstitutePp 8 (1995) Rs 10Covers the basics of setting up a small unit forthe production of mushroom spawn.MUSHROOM GROWINGS.C. DeyPp 92 (2000) Rs 75

Mushrooms are growing in importance as ameans of feeding our hungry planet. This com-prehensive guide to mushroom growing dealswith every aspect of the subject.

MUSHROOMS FOR LIVELIHOODVijaya KhanderPp 64 (1993) Rs 40Information on growing, preserving and cookingmushrooms.BEE-KEEPING: PLEASURE AND PROFITM. NaimPp 58 (1997) Rs 50

Basic information on beekeeping.

ORGANIC METHODS OF PEST & DISEASEMANAGEMENTK. Vijayalakshmi et alPp 20 (2003) (LF) Rs.100

The book is designed in a manner such that thepages when separated can also be used indi-vidually as posters. There are a total of 9 post-ers which identify important pests of vegetablesand their control measures, important diseasesand their control and general non-chemicalmethods of pest control for a variety of crops.ORGANIC PADDY CULTIVATIONK. Vijayalakshmi et alPp 102 (2004) Rs.120

This book provides detailed information on seedselection, seed treatment, pests and diseasesaffecting paddy and how to control them with or-ganic measures. Important indigenous varietieswith their special characteristics are also de-scribed in this book.INDIGENOUS RICE VARIETIESS. Arumugasamy, et alVol 1 Pp 74 each (2001) Rs.60Vol 2 Pp 100 (2002) Rs.60Vol 1 has detailed information on 34 indigenousrice varieties and Vol 2 on 47 varieties.SOIL CONSERVATION IN ORGANIC FARMINGM. Jayashankar, et alPp 30 (2002) Rs.20

All about green manure and bio-fertilizers.THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTSBy Peter Tompkins & Christopher BirdPp 402 (2004) Rs.295

A fascinating account of the physical, emotionaland spiritual relations between plants and man.First published in 1973 this book continues toprovide a wealth of information about the myriadways in which plants speak to us, if only wewould listen. Fascinating information about theability of plants to respond to human emotions,to music, their ability to create and to communi-cate, their curative powers and their value asecological sentinels. A must read book.

SECRETS OF THE SOILBy Peter Tompkins & Christopher BirdPp 444 (2004) Rs.395This companion book tells the story of the inno-vative, non-traditional, often surprising thingsthat certain scientists, mystics, farmers are doingto prevent the slow degradation of the soil, to re-vitalize depleted soils and to reverse thereby thedegradation of agriculture that must surely comeif we allow our soils to die as has already hap-pened in many places where excessive chemi-cals and fertilizers have ruined this most basicnatural element of the planet.

Books listed above can be ordered from:Other India Bookstore, Next to NewMapusa Clinic, Mapusa 403 507 Goa.Phone: 0832-2263306