Brief Report on Organic Farming Workshop at Puducherry: Feb 11-13, 2009.
tprmenon
Centre for Ecology & Rural Development
No.10, II Street, PR Gardens, Reddiarpalayam
Puducherry-605008.
Email: cer...@gmail.com
Brief Report about the Organic Farmers’ Workshop held at
Kalanjiyam, CERD Training Centre
at Bahoor, Puducherry.
Dates: 11th, 12th & 13th February 2009.
Venue: KALANJIYAM Training Centre, Bahoor, Puducherry.
Introduction.
A three day elaborate workshop was held at the CERD Training Centre, “Kalanjiyam”, Bahoor, Puducherry as an Introduction to the principles of Organic Farming. The workshop was organized jointly by the leading Tamil Agriculture Monthly Pasumai Vikatan and Dr.K.Nammalvar, a leading Organic Farmer along with CERD.
About 35 farmers from all over Tamilnadu had applied to Pasumai Vikatan for attending this workshop and they along with few farmers from Puducherry attended the three day residential workshop.
About the Workshop.
The workshop started with a brief introduction and Welcome address by Mr.Murugesan of Pasumai Vikatan and all the participants had a self introduction..
Later, Dr.K.Nammalvar, the chief resource person of the workshop invited Mr. R. Dhakshianmoorthy of Pondicherry Science forum (and one of the founder Trustees of CERD) to deliver an elaborate lecture on the scenario of present day Indian Agriculture and crisis it was undergoing and the reasons which have led to this crisis. Dr.Nammalvar mentioned about the notable book written by Mr.R.Dakshinamurthy “Indiya Vivasayam, Nettru, Indru, Nalai” (Indian Agriculture – Yesterday, today and tomorrow”. All the participants appreciated the elaborate presentation of Mr.R.Dakshinamurthy.
This was followed by a special discourse by Dr.K.Nammalvar “Iyarkai Vivasayam Yen Vendum?”
(Why we need organic/natural farming?) where he elaborated on the need for an alternate farming system as opposed to the input-oriented chemical farming.
Field Visits and On-field Exposure
The participants visited to the organic farms of Mr.Ramamoorthy, secretary PKOFA & Mr. Radhakrishnan , Vice president, PKOFA.. (See Box)
At the farms, Dr. Namalvar explained various components of the farm and why these components were carefully selected to make the farm a sustainable one. He mentioned the need for careful design of the farm and how design itself will improve the efficiency and functionality of the farm very much.
He also suggested various improvements to the existing farm. The participants were astonished to see the richness of the farm and also learned about vermiculture, use of biomanures like Panchakavya, Medicinal plant based Pest repellants etc. and their use.
The participants actively interacted with the resource persons and the resource farmers and learned about the various components of the farm and were satisfied with the on-farm mode of training compared to class room based workshops.
The participants also learnt about the value of many medicinal plants which hitherto they thought were only weeds and learnt how to convert weed problems as opportunities in an organic farm.
Other components.
There was a special lecuture on Bio Dynamics (BD) and its effect on growth of the crops, preparations etc. , Various sessions on honey bee rearing, Livestock management, demonstration on production and use of Azolla, preparations of Panchagavya, Lemon extracts, coconut milk extracts and various other preparations also were demonstrated by M/s. Magesh,. Josphine , Raj Daniel, Ms.Sobhana etc.
Farmers’ Field School (FFS) : The participants also learned how to identify pests and beneficial insects and the importance of maintaining a natural balance of insects in the farm.
Conclusion
The three days programme ended with screening of short films on PERMACULTURE and DO NOTHING FARMING- an eye opener to farmers facing shortage of man power in their agricultural operations.
The last session is wholly allotted for recapping what was learnt and for clarification of doubts and this session was led by Dr.Nammalvar on issues of farm management. Later participation certificates were distributed to the participants farmers by Dr.Nammalvar.
Arrangements
The logistics of this three day workshop was carried out by dedicated staff of CERD, Mr.P.Shobana, Mr.Angalan, Mr.Kumaran, Mr.Muniyan .
We at CERD feel proud and satisfied with this three days’ workshop and thank both Dr.Nammalvar and the team from Pasumai Vikatan for the fruitful collaboration.
Feedback.
Mr.Parthiban, a farmer from Bahoor said that he was immensely benefited from the workshop. He was able to learn a lot of new things and said he was committed to go completely organic in his future farming operations!.
Dated 20th February 2009.