The First Crop, Some numbers and what it means....

As explained in the previous post, we were a little late in completing the acquisition formalities. So we were catching up in terms of the timeline that was broadly followed in that area. As mentioned before we decided to go for the standard paddy hybrid variety that is commonly used for the first crop before we go for the native varieties. We decided on IR 38. No significant thought process behind selecting this other than the fact that it is the predominant variety in that area.

The rains were yet to start but the beauty of the river cultivation in the delta via canals meant that I had water flowing next to my land. I decided to jump start by using Diesel pump for the initial watering(I know that is bad news for the folks who were hoping for more ecologically sensible way). But believe me that was just an exercise (POC) in the making so I wont be repeating it.

We prepared the field bed for the seeds. We treated the seeds with Half KG of Azospirrilum, Phospho bacter and Psedomonas with rice gruel and dried it. We then distributed the seeds. 10 days later we sprayed Amirtha Karaisal. (10% spray).

We were supposed to transplant in 15 days as we were also trying for SRI planting. Logistics prevented that and we had to do it between 18 and 20 days.  Folks who were helping me were not convinced about SRI. They thought that we were wasting space by planting wide:-). In particular one person said that, it does not work well for that area! (More on this later as there is some truth in it).

We prepared Panchagavyam (Approx 5KG of Cow Dung, 5 L of Cow urine, 2-3 L of Milk, Curd and 1L of Ghee, with a 3 L jaggery+water, 2-3 L of tender coconut water and 1 dozen bananas. allowed to ferment for 20 days). We sprayed a 3% solution thrice on the crops approx 25-30 days, 50-55 days, 75-80 days. In addition we sprayed neem oil with Khadi soap water twice one week after the second and third panchagavyam spray.

Finally when the initial flowering started, we did 10% spray of butter milk+tender coconut water to boost flowering and Uniformity.

We finally harvested in the 1st week of Feb.

We got about 16 large bags of paddy per acre with approx 70-80 kgs per bag. For one thing, it surprised a lot of folks NOT because it was more than other yields, but because they expected nothing. Right from the lady who was part of the planting labor group to the guy who helped in harvest, everyone thought and said "How can it grow without Marundhu (meaning chemical)?". Were they surprised?

Now for the comparitive yield with the chemical/fertilizer based farming. I realized that the numbers you hear has a lot of flavours. Some underplay the number to reduce the labor expense as it is proportional to the harvest:-). Some give a higher number (as one of acquaintance put it) because they do not want me to make fun of them as their chemical based number is potentially less than mine (by their estimates!). I had to tell them that, if at all I have learnt something in this endeavour, it is that agriculture is no laughing matter whether it is chemical based or otherwise. (First time in my life, I would be lying awake thinking what will happen when the monsoon was pouring down in the night. This is when I had nothing to loose. Think of the poor farmer who is in the same boat but with a large loan with interest!!)

So the numbers I got was between 20 bags per acre to 25 bags for chemical yield. The 25 bags seems to the case when they did not suffer a lot from the excess rains and water logging etc and was considered a good crop. If i use that as the reference then I have made 65% at the least or 80% at the max depending upon who you hear it from. My gut feel is that 60-65% is a realistic number as some of the folks lost it out because my land had better drainage to survive the flooding than theirs.

So I am now holding approx 3.5 tonnes of paddy grown without the use of any chemicals.

Few comments to close the post.

(1) I believe I can better this yield going forward due to two reasons. One, the yield gets better as the land gets used to the original way. Two, there are a few things that I can tweak to get better results.

(2) The Semi SRI that I tried actually resulted in me loosing 5-6 additional bags of paddy (approx 400-500 kgs). I did a little bit of a search/study around this. For SRI to work, the key factor is irrigation (water) control. Since this is the monsoon season, for most of the time my crops were standing in water. Though that is usually fine for paddy, it does not help SRI. The boost in SRI apparently comes when the land dries/develops cracks to let air and sunlight to the core of the crop. We then water it in the evening/night to maintain moisture. By no way, I am an expert in this. But If I am going to try this again, it will be when I have my bore well ready and during summer or post monsoon.

(3) Financing seems to be the biggest issue for the folks . One comment by a fellow farmer. "Sir - If you had been doing your organic stuff by taking finance I am sure you would have been influnced by the yield and gone chemical!! Clearly the interest burden and the need to close of loan pushes them to look the increased yield. Of course I had to tell them you do spend less as they do not need to really use even panchagavyam as the cheaper Amirtha karaisal does the job as well.

(4) Distribution -  All of them have limited choice other than go to the standard govt procurement where they get Rs 11/kg of paddy irrespective of whether it was organic or not!!

PS: My son was visualizing me sitting in our house in the village surrounded by bags of rice and holding a scale :-). I had to tell him that I am not going retail.