DHNS

Mangalore, Jun 7: As many as 10,000 farmers are following ‘zero investment natural farming’ propagated by Subhash Palekar in the State, said agriculturist Swami Anand.

Speaking at a seminar on natural farming organized by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Naisargika Krishi Vedike here on Sunday June 4, he said that when the entire farm sector was passing through crises, ‘zero investment natural farming’ propagated by Palekar had emerged as a viable alternative.

Under this method, one are of land can be cultivated by using 10 kg of cow dung and 10 litre cow urine.  Compared chemical farming, the yield per acre is high in natural farming, he added.

Anand said that any plant depends on the land for 1.5 per cent of the nutrients. Remaining nutrients are available in the atmosphere itself. There is no scarcity of nutrients on earth. Nitrogen is available in plenty. But lack of awareness on the same has led the farmers to use more and more chemical fertilizers.

He said that 10 kg of cow dung from traditional breed of Indian cows had 30 crore microrgranisms in it. It multiplies every 20 minutes.

This helps in the growth of earth worms in the soil, he added.

Exploitation

Speaking after inaugurating the seminar, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha Suratkal zone president Rohithaksha Rai said that farmers were exploited in the name of modern farming.  Natural farming will put an end to all the exploitation, he added.

Fertility

The fertility of the land increases, if a farmer sprays Jeevamritha (made of cow dung and cow urine) once in a month, he said.

Dharmaraj, a farmer from Chitradurga, Ramanna from Mandya and Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha Dakshina Kannada unit president N S Varma, were present.