SUCCESS STORY OF NATURAL FARMER - ISHA FPO - TREE BASED FARMING

[Music] in the outskirts of coimbatore city in tamil nadu is tandamutur village on either side of the road you see a farm spread across a few acres they are called as murudhavanam and sitavanam vanam in tamil means forest both these farms belong to dr manikaraj and mrs nagarathanam [Music] staying true to naming their farms as forest they have planted many trees in their farms this is a rainbow mean tree in fact is also the president of the farmer's producers organization or fpo as it is called which is an initiative of isha foundation i don't know what they are what is it that's also all these are kumi the earliest they had planted were teak and neem trees over which they have trailed pepper climbers which have started yielding now [Music] [Music] there's a mahogany [Music] not as tough as the initial irrigation requirement for the trees was met through rain and rainwater harvesting they had made many trenches across the flow of rainwater which helped in holding more of water post the reins that [Music] this is a pits meant for natural rainforest harvesting so they got about seven or eight pits in the border side as they are closer to the forest they have elephants walking through their farm which has its own disadvantages but the couple were highlighting only the benefits how they got their fodder grass seeds from the elephant dung and so on big delivery [Music] i think they all came from the hill and elephants brought them so when they put the dung you get this all through and now this is good enough for all our cows and foods [Music] they also have naturally growing forest trees in their land [Music] they also have an exclusive area where they have planted many of the mango varieties the last four rows are mangana and middle four rows are hima then the last four rows are alfonso so totally we have [Music] this is a clericidia which is planted in between two mango trees in a row and the roots fix nitrogen which is absorbed by the roots terminal roots of the adjacent mango trees [Music] their newly planted coconut group has papaya and other vegetable crops in between them chilean brinjal peacocks whatever peacocks they leave complete we spend a lot of money for deprecation two varieties one is uh very popular in kerala now people started liking kadali they removed about 50 ticks these and plenty of name trees more than 100 neem trees we have to remove otherwise they won't get sunlight they need sunlight [Music] they also had a few lemon trees which had come up on their own without even them planting it [Music] on the other side of the farm across the road they have a pond which is for water harvesting they have coffee plantation too now these are planted about 20 years back um it was actually not by choice because no every form rejected so these are planted and about 300 are planted the variety is uh for the other one when every other farmer had rejected that coffee won't grow in the plains they took it as a challenge and planted kaveri and robusta varieties now they have been harvesting for the last few years which is sufficient for their own consumption [Music] an important and integral part of an organic or natural farm is having native animals here they have chicken gourds cattle ducks in different areas of the farm this helps in getting the needed manure needed for the soil this is apart from being an alternative source of income to the farmer [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here they have set the goats and cows in such a way that their urine gets collected in a tank [Music] as you know cow's urine is the primary ingredient in making jivamrat [Music] they raised their own coconut saplings in the nursery and excess are also sold to those who asked [Music] in between the coconut trees they have ginger turmeric chilies and such crops [Music] [Applause] [Music] when there is insect attack they spray 3g mix which is a mixture of chillies garlic and ginger [Music] the neighbor has cleaned up thoroughly between the trees and that is not a good practice [Music] in between tall coconut trees we have lemon trees and in between short coconut trees we have cocoa one row is left as a pathway and in alternate rows a trench is made when irrigation is done in the trenches both the rows get benefited and the water also gets saved and in these trenches is where we apply the jivamrat [Music] we tie the cattle between the rows and they feed on the grass and beads this way we have a control over weed growth and they remain short this is our first native breed cow which is of kangayam breed that is the second generation and it is also pregnant now [Music] we also have other fruit trees in between the coconut groves egg fruit avocado jackfruit fig pomegranate guava [Music] once this is composted we spread it around the trees [Applause] [Music] they have an outlet in the farm itself which sells their farm fresh produce they also sell value added products like turmeric powder dried mango etc from their fresh mangoes without using preservatives they also make jams [Music] although 15 years back when the couple actively involved themselves in farming they faced lots of failures and challenges today they are completely happy that they took the step of becoming natural farmers [Music] such success stories is what promises us that organic and natural farming are not only sustainable but also profitable [Music]

Channel: ORG FARMS

Views: 16,420

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Id: R_wkI_AsdNk

Length: 11min 32sec (692 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 16 2022