Ajit Panda

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

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&quot;We don’t use chemicals in our soil. The soil does not need poison
to kill pests. If the health of the soil is good, it takes care of everything,”
says Mahendra Nauri, whose farm is located around 1.5 kilometres to the east of
the Niyamgiri hills. “What you need is a mahua or a sahaj tree on the
field bund that provides shelter to the birds, lizards and frogs. They will
take care of the pests and insects that harm our crops.&quot;

Mahendra’s two-acre land is in Kerandiguda, a
village of around 100 people in Bishamakatak block of Rayagada district in southwest Odisha. Most of the families here
belong to the Kondh Adivasi community, though the Nauri family is from the Dora community.

On their land, 30-year-old Mahendra and his
father, 62-year-old Lokanath, cultivate 34 varieties of crop – and an
incredible 72 sub-varieties in total. They do this in rotation on different patches of their farm, and their harvests include little millets
(such as suan and sikra),
pulses (including arhar and
green gram), oilseeds (such as alsi,
sunflower and groundnut), tubers, turmeric, ginger, green vegetables, tomatoes,
brinjals and more. “We never
depend on the market for food,&quot; Mahendra says.

The villagers use water from streams flowing from the
Niyamgiri hill. They construct stone bunds to divert water to their fields. “The climate conditions
have been adverse here in the past four years,” says Lokanath, “but our crops
have sustained us through all adversities. I have never taken a loan from
anyone. It is only because of our traditional farming system.” The family is
sustained by their own harvests and they sell their surplus produce in the
weekly haats
at Muniguda and Bishamakatak.

“I have been a farmer for 50
years. I learnt from my father how to prepare the soil for sowing and planting,”
says Lokanath, whose father was a landless farm labourer, as was Lokanath for
several years. He started conserving seeds after receiving land from the government
when he was around 30.

“I am following those practices [learnt from my father] till now and
getting the same results,” he adds. “But I have seen the present generation
farmers cultivating cotton and destroying the soil. You will not see any
earthworms in that soil. They have made the soil hard. Farmers have started
replacing their seeds, applying fertilisers and pesticides in rice and
vegetables. The products are losing their taste. And they are not getting much
as they are spending more and more on fertilisers and pesticides.”

Only four families in Kerandiguda, including Lokanath’s, don’t use any
chemical fertilisers or pesticides at all, the Naruris say. These are now used even in the
remote tribal villages of this area, Mahandra adds, and some Adivasis families
have reportedly started leasing out their lands to traders for cotton and eucalyptus
cultivation, using high doses of
chemicals and herbicides. 

Lokanath and
Mahendra also cultivate four traditional varieties of paddy – bahurupi, bhanjibuta, bodhana and lalboro. Lokanath says bodhana was
cultivated in the region some 30 years ago, and though many farmers replaced it
with other varieties, he managed to conserve it. It is a short duration upland
paddy and can be cultivated three times a year. Mahendra collected the other
three paddy varieties from Dr. Debal Deb, a reputed rice conservationist, who has
lived in Kerandigua since 2011 on a 2.5 acre farm. He works with the Adivasis of this region to revive their
traditional knowledge of seeds and conservation. In addition to his own farming,
Mahendra works with Dr. Deb on seed conservation, and receives Rs. 3,000 a
month as honorarium.

He says his father Lokanath is his guide and teacher, who has farmed for
decades using traditional techniques such as the use of leaves of wild plants as
pest repellent for crop as well as seeds, occasional inter-cropping of
vegetables (such as onion) to repel some types of pests and retain soil
nitrogen, and mixed cropping (seasonal variations) in the cultivation of
millets. Mahendra and his brother and five sisters all work on the family’s
farm. “I learnt agriculture from my father and then developed clarity on
scientific things from Dr. Deb and Living Farms [an NGO that works with on
agriculture and livelihoods with Adivasis in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts],”
he says, about technicalities like pollination and documentation of growth
patterns of paddy plants. 

Mahendra studied through the National Institute for Open Schooling and got
a science degree from the Maa Markama College in Bissamcuttack. He then shifted to Ravenshaw
University, Cuttack, for a biotechnology degree. But his family’s financial
situation did not allow him to complete post-graduation, and he returned to Kerandiguda
to work with his father. 

Mahendra wants to conserve the biodiversity
of the soil and plants in his region. He has converted a small barren plot of revenue
department land into a dense natural forest. He started conserving the plants on
the plot in 2001. “It needed only protection, there was no need to plant more,”
he says. “It was an upland plot without bunding. Such land is usually left
fallow for a year or two to keep it fit for cultivation of small millets. I
decided to protect it for the growth of trees. We now collect [from this plot] wild
tubers, mushrooms, siali leaves [a creeper], mahua flowers,
chaar koli [a berry] and more. We are reaping the
benefits of this forest…”

‘The soil does not need poison to kill pests’

‘பூச்சிகளைக் கொல்வதற்கு மண்ணிற்கு தனியாக விஷம் தேவையில்லை’

'കീടങ്ങളെ കൊല്ലാൻ മണ്ണിന് വിഷം ആവശ്യമില്ല'

‘কীট-পতংগ মাৰিবলৈ মাটিত বিহ ঢালিব নালাগে’

‘বিষ প্রয়োগ করে মাটির কীটপতঙ্গ মারার প্রয়োজন নেই মোটেই!’

‘कीटों को मारने के लिए मिट्टी को ज़हर की ज़रूरत नहीं होती’

’کیڑوں کو مارنے کے لیے مٹی کو زہر کی ضرورت نہیں ہوتی‘

‘कीड मारण्यासाठी मातीला विषाची गरज नसते’

‘କୀଟ ମାରିବା ଲାଗି ମାଟି ଦରକାର କରେ ନାହିଁ ବିଷ’

Kerandiguda, Bishmakatak

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‘The soil does not need poison to kill pests’

In Kerandiguda village of Odisha, Lokanath Nauri and his son Mahendra don't use any chemical fertlisers or pesticides on their land, and harvest an incredible variety of crops through traditional farming methods

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