Village in India adopts organic farming, say no to GM crop.

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Chemical fertilisers are on their way out in KalasamppakkamTuesday November 7 2006 00:00 IST http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20061106115550 & Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu & rLink=0 TIRUVANNAMALAI: A handful of paddy farmers of Kalasamppakkam, a village near here, who have shifted to near extinct traditional seeds, leaving all the hybrid varieties, are relieved of the clutches of costly pesticides and chemical fertilizers.P T Rajendran, who works in the State Transport Corporation as a mechanic, first introduced ‘Thuyamalli’, an extinct traditional paddy variety by planting it in his lands.“Worried about economic, agrarian and health

consequences of using hybrid varieties and subsequently chemical fertilizers and pesticides, I have introduced the seed in my village, which I got from another traditional seed activist Venkatachalam of Chengam in 2000,” Rajendran said.“After seeing it in my land, my neighbour Meenakshisundaram, who shared my concerns relating to the indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides, opted to shift to this variety,” he added.“From then onward, both of us started using the varieties of such traditional seeds such as kichily samba, karpalai, mappillai samba, samba moosanam, perungar, madumuzhungi, vadan samba and so on. Change of seeds is not a matter just about seeds; it marked a change in agriculture itself. We never, even occasionally, went back to hybrid varieties in all these five years. Indeed, other farmers are slowly becoming attracted to our model of farming, said Meenakshisundaram.”Rajendran clarified, “When farmers of our nearby lands are

using volumes of fertilizers, we have never used any such thing except dung manure, that too in less quantity. But, those who are using hybrids and fertilizers are getting 20 to 25 bags (each 75 kg) of paddy per acre when we could get only 12 to 15 bags. That doesn’t matter when compared to the risk of investing big amounts in fertilizers”.“Vadan samba can be cultivated even in dry land as a rain fed crop. This will largely reduce enormous water needed for a typical paddy crop. There is no need to replant this variety, if the farmer sowed these seeds in rows,”.“In all these years of traditional farming, we have virtually not been using pesticides, because these varieties are extremely pest resistant. Even when we faced with pest problem several times, we managed it with a concoction made out of local herbs. Non-utilisation of chemical pesticides not only saved farmers’ money, but also ensured soil and human health. Now there are around 20 farmers in our

village, who have shifted to traditional seeds and got liberated from chemicals,” said Rajendran.When asked about the pricing of their produce and marketing pattern they said that, until now they were selling their produce mainly as seeds, as the number of farmers shifting to traditional farming was increasing. They were happy about it, as the trend ensured resurrection of their fond traditional varieties.When they come to market to sell their produce, it would be slightly costlier then other rice varieties, as the productivity of the traditional seeds was considerably less, they opined.“We propagate to keep up this practice and not to give up to the marauding hybrid and Genetically Modified seeds marketed by MNCs, they said. After all, they (the pro-vaccine lobbyists) say to themselves, you can't make an

omelette withoutbreaking eggs. But the eggs being broken are small, helpless, and innocent babies, while the omelette is being enjoyed by the pediatricians and vaccine manufacturers. - Harris L. Coulter, PhD

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