B Vishwanath s dream come true?
Traditional farming practices, once regarded primitive, have suddenly gained acceptance among the scientific community. And not without reason: (1) Traditional practices exploit the full range of micro-environments within a field or a region; (2) They maintain closed cycles of materials and wastes through effective recycling practices; (3) They rely on local resources and human and animal energy, thus requiring low technology inputs; and (4) They rely on local varieties of crops and incorporate the use of wild plants and animals.
Indian farmers know of a wide variety of techniques: using nutrient-rich tank silt, penning livestock in the cultivated field, or using weeds or water hyacinths for manuring.
Just as soils are unique to agro-ecological regions, so are practices location-specific. Khadin cultivation, known to farmers in western Rajasthan for generations, makes use of shallow, gravelly and rocky uplands for grazing as well as for harvesting run-off water. Once the water settles, farmers grow crops on these uplands which are made fertile by the fine and fertile sediment that is brought along. Being moist for long, microbial activities get activated, helping the soil to be more fertile than the rest of the desert soils.
Such practices are often great problem-solvers. In Assam, rice crop grown on acid soils suffer from iron-toxicity. The acidic nature of the soil makes ferrous iron soluble in water. As a result, the paddy leaves turn yellow. Farmers there, however, have an inventive solution for this problem