Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
had witnessed over the months since the board had launched its pilot
project. According to him, many of the fields had previously been left
fallow or had been filled with various cash crops. In contrast, after just
the first year of the pilot, the hundred acres produced enough organic
rice to feed the village's sixty-
six families, with excess that was sold to
local markets and in Thanal's organic bazaar in Thiruvananthapuram.10
In 2010, Padayeti's residents had also cultivated around nine metric tons
of organic vegetables in their home gardens and around the margins of
the paddy fields in 2010. They sold about 30 percent of these vegetables
in local markets as surplus, a new source of income for these families, for
a total profit of 85,000 rupees. Suresh noted that this amount was extra
cash for the families, who had not grown their own vegetables before the
start of the Biodiversity Board's project but had purchased the majority
of their food from markets.11
Between 2008 and 2011, the board also commissioned several scientists
from local universities to monitor the biodiversity and soil conditions in
the area. The initial results suggested that organic farming methods and
the application of vermicompost and panchagavayya enhanced the soil
ecology of the paddy fields and protected the biodiversity of the area. For
example, in preliminary research on soil chemistry and wetland fauna,
Dr. S. Bijoy Nandan at Cochin University of Science and Technology in
Kochi, Kerala, found the organic soils of the pilot area to be healthier
than nearby soils receiving chemical fertilizers.12 The soils of the pilot
paddy fields contained more organic carbon, for example, as well as more
bacteria, microorganisms important for soil metabolism and decom-
position.13 Another preliminary study by Dr. Sabu K. Thomas from St.
Joseph's College in Calicut, Kerala, discovered that the soil biodiversity
of arthropods (basically, insects, spiders, and crustaceans) was higher in
Padayeti compared to a nearby area cultivated with chemical inputs, an
important fact given that many of these are natural predators of crop-
eating insects.14 Additionally, Biodiversity Board researchers recorded an
increased numbers of bird species in the organic area and hypothesized
that their abundance was the result of the larger number of insects likely
present in organic fields.15 Similarly, farmers reported anecdotally that
local fish species had reappeared in their paddy fields.16
