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Improves farm yield and nourishes soil with vermicompost
Indian farmer with only 25 acres farm holding surely is small-time farmer in the eyes of general public but he represents his country India in International conference to give a lecture on vermicompost. The farmer, Mr. N Gopalakrishnan has travelled to countries like Malaysia and Australia to provide his expertise on vermicompost. “Instead of farm yard manure I use vermicompost in my farm to enhance the farm yield and soil fertility. What we consider as waste is food for some other living organism!” he says. His farm is located at Panickampatti village, Karur district, Tamil Nadu.
Vermicompost mehods used at the farm are [1] Under Thatched Shed: Heap and tank method. [2] Under shadows of trees: Heap method. To get quality vermicompost the raw materials used are partially decomposed cow dung, farm waste, municipal waste, stalks of banana plants, small quantity of press mud, etc. He explains, “I use cow dung, leaves litter on riverside and sugar factory press mud (10-20%) for making the vermicompost bed. If 1ton sugarcane is crushed then 40kgs of waste (press mud) is obtained. I buy the same Rs. 100/ton. I buy 100-200 tonnes per year.”
Mr. Gopalakrishnan does live composting in his field. “In the sugarcane field I add trash directly on the land and leave the worms on the trash. I use brandling worm Eisenia Fetida, the African variety. The earthworms are allowed to grow and multiply in between rows of plants like sugarcane, banana, etc,” he elaborates. If anyone digs one square feet pit in his farm they could easily find a minimum of 10 to 15 live earthworms!
He produces vermicompost (pure granules) for the last 15-20years in large quantities which fulfils the local farmers need. It is sold at Rs. 7/kg. He also prepares panchagavya and sells it only to farmer friends at Rs. 125/litre.
Cow dung is the intrinsic element of vermicompost hence Mr. Gopalakrishnan has desi breeds of cow in his farm. These are 5 each of manaparai and kangayam breed cows. “I have cows only for its dung and urine. Besides being native breeds the milk yield is quite low, 1.5-2litres per cow. I feed paddy straw, rice husk and groundnut cake to the cows,” he informs.
Apart from the vermicompost soil fertility is enhanced with mulching. “In my farm mulching is done with sannaipatte garlic and takai garlic. It ensures to uphold the rain water in the farm. Good amount of biomass is used in the farm to increase the sugarcane farm yield,” he highlights.
Absolute no-chemicals are used in the farm. All the farming inputs are prepared at the farm itself namely vermicompost, panchagavya, lemon egg solution, waste fish solution, and jeevamrutham. “Sometimes I purchase neem cake and seeds to crush it into powder. It is used as pest repellent in case there is attack from pests like borers. Also gingelly, garlic, ginger solution, and beauveria bassiana are used as natural pesticides. I sometimes use asosphylum which fixes nitrogen, phosphor bacteria and potash mobilizing bacteria – all organic. For pest attack in sugarcane trichoderma, and Japanicum are used and 3% neem is used in case of severe attack,” he clarifies.
The farm is independent not only with respect to the farming inputs but also the seeds. Most of the seed requirement for the paddy is met from his own produce. “I properly collect the seeds after harvest, dry and store neatly with proper records viz name, date and place,” asserts Mr. Gopalakrishnan.
Crops grown in the farm are banana, turmeric, small onion, paddy, sugarcane, elephant yam and vegetables. All these are grown as intercrops. For example sugarcane is intercropped with small onions (70 days yield), legumes. Small onions and black castor plants (amanakku) are intercropped in turmeric field.
The sugarcane yield on average is 45-50 tonnes/acre. “I cultivate in 10-15 acres. The yield is 40-45bags of 50 kg bags.” Sugarcane is sold at INR 2300/ton to the sugar factory. “It is central government fixed price. It is much less to what we deserce!” he remarks.
“I cultivate paddy varieties white ponni and Andhra ponni since marketing is very easy and mill owners like this variety,” he claims. 50 kg bag of paddy is sold at INR 1000 or INR 1150. “It is the premium price. I sell it immediately after harvesting.” Turmeric yield is about 25quintals which is then boiled, dried, polished and then sold in Erode market. He cultivates two varieties; fingering turmeric which sells at INR 8000-8500/quintal and ball size which sells INR 500 lesser compared to fingering turmeric.
The yield of banana varieties is – karpooravalli: 20kg, Kadalli: 10-15kgs, Rasthalli: 10-15kgs per bunch. “Last year Kadalli I got INR 25/kg. Karpooravalli and Rasthalli INR 200-220/bunch. Only Kadali is sold as per kg. I sell it through brokers who will come to our field itself,” he briefly explains.
“My farm produce is rich in quality due to vermicompost. I recommend other farmers too to convert the waste into money spinning wheel,” signs off Mr. Gopalakrishnan.
Contact details:
Mr. N Gopalakrishnan
PO, Kulithalli Taluk,
Karur District – 639 107 Tamil Nadu
Mobile: 09443148224, 09942167789
Email: dngopal2003@gmail.com
Indian farmer with only 25 acres farm holding surely is small-time farmer in the eyes of general public but he represents his country India in International conference to give a lecture on vermicompost. The farmer, Mr. N Gopalakrishnan has travelled to countries like Malaysia and Australia to provide his expertise on vermicompost. “Instead of farm yard manure I use vermicompost in my farm to enhance the farm yield and soil fertility. What we consider as waste is food for some other living organism!” he says. His farm is located at Panickampatti village, Karur district, Tamil Nadu.
Vermicompost mehods used at the farm are [1] Under Thatched Shed: Heap and tank method. [2] Under shadows of trees: Heap method. To get quality vermicompost the raw materials used are partially decomposed cow dung, farm waste, municipal waste, stalks of banana plants, small quantity of press mud, etc. He explains, “I use cow dung, leaves litter on riverside and sugar factory press mud (10-20%) for making the vermicompost bed. If 1ton sugarcane is crushed then 40kgs of waste (press mud) is obtained. I buy the same Rs. 100/ton. I buy 100-200 tonnes per year.”
Mr. Gopalakrishnan does live composting in his field. “In the sugarcane field I add trash directly on the land and leave the worms on the trash. I use brandling worm Eisenia Fetida, the African variety. The earthworms are allowed to grow and multiply in between rows of plants like sugarcane, banana, etc,” he elaborates. If anyone digs one square feet pit in his farm they could easily find a minimum of 10 to 15 live earthworms!
He produces vermicompost (pure granules) for the last 15-20years in large quantities which fulfils the local farmers need. It is sold at Rs. 7/kg. He also prepares panchagavya and sells it only to farmer friends at Rs. 125/litre.
Cow dung is the intrinsic element of vermicompost hence Mr. Gopalakrishnan has desi breeds of cow in his farm. These are 5 each of manaparai and kangayam breed cows. “I have cows only for its dung and urine. Besides being native breeds the milk yield is quite low, 1.5-2litres per cow. I feed paddy straw, rice husk and groundnut cake to the cows,” he informs.
Apart from the vermicompost soil fertility is enhanced with mulching. “In my farm mulching is done with sannaipatte garlic and takai garlic. It ensures to uphold the rain water in the farm. Good amount of biomass is used in the farm to increase the sugarcane farm yield,” he highlights.
Absolute no-chemicals are used in the farm. All the farming inputs are prepared at the farm itself namely vermicompost, panchagavya, lemon egg solution, waste fish solution, and jeevamrutham. “Sometimes I purchase neem cake and seeds to crush it into powder. It is used as pest repellent in case there is attack from pests like borers. Also gingelly, garlic, ginger solution, and beauveria bassiana are used as natural pesticides. I sometimes use asosphylum which fixes nitrogen, phosphor bacteria and potash mobilizing bacteria – all organic. For pest attack in sugarcane trichoderma, and Japanicum are used and 3% neem is used in case of severe attack,” he clarifies.
The farm is independent not only with respect to the farming inputs but also the seeds. Most of the seed requirement for the paddy is met from his own produce. “I properly collect the seeds after harvest, dry and store neatly with proper records viz name, date and place,” asserts Mr. Gopalakrishnan.
Crops grown in the farm are banana, turmeric, small onion, paddy, sugarcane, elephant yam and vegetables. All these are grown as intercrops. For example sugarcane is intercropped with small onions (70 days yield), legumes. Small onions and black castor plants (amanakku) are intercropped in turmeric field.
The sugarcane yield on average is 45-50 tonnes/acre. “I cultivate in 10-15 acres. The yield is 40-45bags of 50 kg bags.” Sugarcane is sold at INR 2300/ton to the sugar factory. “It is central government fixed price. It is much less to what we deserce!” he remarks.
“I cultivate paddy varieties white ponni and Andhra ponni since marketing is very easy and mill owners like this variety,” he claims. 50 kg bag of paddy is sold at INR 1000 or INR 1150. “It is the premium price. I sell it immediately after harvesting.” Turmeric yield is about 25quintals which is then boiled, dried, polished and then sold in Erode market. He cultivates two varieties; fingering turmeric which sells at INR 8000-8500/quintal and ball size which sells INR 500 lesser compared to fingering turmeric.
The yield of banana varieties is – karpooravalli: 20kg, Kadalli: 10-15kgs, Rasthalli: 10-15kgs per bunch. “Last year Kadalli I got INR 25/kg. Karpooravalli and Rasthalli INR 200-220/bunch. Only Kadali is sold as per kg. I sell it through brokers who will come to our field itself,” he briefly explains.
“My farm produce is rich in quality due to vermicompost. I recommend other farmers too to convert the waste into money spinning wheel,” signs off Mr. Gopalakrishnan.
Contact details:
Mr. N Gopalakrishnan
PO, Kulithalli Taluk,
Karur District – 639 107 Tamil Nadu
Mobile: 09443148224, 09942167789
Email: dngopal2003@gmail.com