Experimentation has been done by 10 farmers on 12 acres of land in Attappallam, Palakkad District of Kerala. Mr. Vinod and Girish took the leadership in following up the Package of Practice being developed and shared by Caritas India. All the 10 farmers are now confident in this new package of practice in organic rice cultivation. These farmers were first trained in a virtual platform on the systematic process of rice cultivation, which was done through demonstrations of various stages like seed selection, bed preparation, transplantation, weeding, manure making and application, pest management etc. and later the field accompaniment was done by Caritas India personnel. The package of practice on the process was developed and shared with the farmers. The trained 10 farmers have started cultivating in around 1 acre (total 12 acres) of land and proved that this method is helping them.

This method has significantly reduced input costs and gave better yield. This method solved the problem of pest attacks to a great extent.  “Since the crop is organic, the grain does not pose any hazard to our health. The organic system of rice cultivation preserves the life of the land as well”, Mr. Vinod said.  Palakkad district in Kerala Palakkad, known as the rice bowl of Kerala, which accounts for the largest area under rice cultivation is losing its rice fields. As per the statistics of the Agriculture Department, Palakkad lost 63000 hectares of paddy fields in the last 30 years.   Whatever paddy cultivation that remained, is dependent on chemical farming. As time progressed less and fewer farmers cultivated paddy and more seriously, even a lesser number of farmers had confidence in the profitability of rice cultivation.

Caritas India stepped into this challenging scene with a bundle of simple solutions for increasing the profitability of rice cultivation and to help the farmers to regain the confidence they once had on paddy cultivation. 10 trained farmers had resolved to find a solution to the declining yield of paddy cultivation and decided to experiment with Organic Rice Cultivation. These farmers, assisted by PSSP, Palakkad– an implementing partner of Caritas India, started cultivating on 12 acres of land. And their experience of rice cultivation turned out to be an outstanding success!

Farmers traditionally select seeds by depositing the entire seeds into large water containers and collecting the seeds that settle down by removing the low-quality seeds that float or remain suspended in water. Seeds are collected very selectively for this method. The density of water by adding salt until an egg starts floating in the salt-thickened water. They drop the seeds in this solution and collects only those seeds that settle down at the bottom and discards the floating grains. Seeds selected with the help of this saltwater test are thoroughly washed and stored in a jute bag for three days. The small quantity of water is sprinkled at regular intervals for maintaining a constant moisture level that is required for germination. On the fourth day when seeds start germinating, they are transferred from the jute bag to the seedbed. Seedbed is prepared on a plastic sheet with an inch-thick mixture consisting of equal quantities of soil, sand and dry cow dung. After the seeds are spread on to the seedbed, another thin layer of the mixture is spread over the seeds so that they remain covered and protected. In the meantime, the field is ploughed and levelled for transplantation. The seeds are transplanted 15^th day after they were laid on the seedbed.  Weeding is done in the field on 15^th day of transplantation and is repeated twice more in the intervals of 15 days.

No chemical inputs are administered on these plants at any point of plant growth.Instead, organic manure and growth promoters are administered at regular intervals to increase the soil health and nutrient availability for the plants. Jeevamrutha, the first dose of organic growth promoter is applied after the first weeding i.e., 10 days after the transplantation. This is followed by the application of fish amino acid immediately after the second weeding in 20 days of transplantation. Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) is applied on the 30^th day. Jeevamrutha is again applied on the 40^th day of transplantation.

Seed selection: In order to select the best seeds, take a fresh egg and add it to the vessel containing plain water. Salt or salt solution to be added to the water till the egg comes up. Remove the egg and put the paddy seeds into the salt solution. Select the seed that settles down and discard the floating seeds.  The selected seeds should be rinsed well in fresh water and soak in a starter solution for one hour for better germination. Starter solution to be made with Cow dung (1 Kg), Cow’s urine (1 litres), Jaggery (200 gram), Turmeric powder (200 Gram) and water (5 litres). Mix all these well in a plastic container, cover the mouth with a cotton cloth and keep it for 24 hours. Add 10 litres of water and seeds can be kept for 30 minutes before keeping it for sprouting. The seeds required per acre is 10kg.

Bed Preparation: The bed will be made on the side of the field. Single bed or several small beds (say, 4 beds measuring 4×40 feet each) will be prepared. To prepare the bed, spread a polythene sheet on the bottom followed by the filling of Farmyard Manure/vermicompost and soil alternately in 4 layers. The bed on all sides will be made secure with wooden reapers/ planks.   Channels will be provided on all sides to drain excess water

Once the seedlings are grown in a healthy situation the transplantation is done on15^th day. 2 seedlings are planted per hill carefully in 30 Cm width and 30 Cm length. Wetting and drying will be practised in this method. Weeding is done twice in the field.  To improve the fertility of the soil and hence the growth of plants, growth promoters like jeevamruth, Fish Amino Acids (FAA), Lactic Acid Bacteria LAB) and Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ)  have been applied.  Jeevamrutha, a growth promoter, is made with 5 kg cow dung, 5 litre cow urine, 1 Kg jaggery, 1 Kg powdered horse gram, 2 Kg virgin soil and 50 litre water. All these components are thoroughly mixed in a container and kept in the shade for 7 days. The mixture is stirred once a day. Ten times more water is added to the mixture and the diluted mixture is applied on the field. It provides a congenial environment to micro-organisms that generate essential nutrients for plant growth like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Fish Amino Acid (FAA) is manure made from 5 kg fish and 5 kg Jaggar. Fish cut into small pieces is mixed with jaggery and stored for ten days in mud pot in shade. After ten days, 20 litres of water is added to the mixture and applied on the field. FAA is a very effective growth promoter since it contains abundant nutrients and various amino acids which are required for both plants and micro-organisms.

Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) to be made with 2 litres rice washed water, 5 litres of fresh milk. Wash the rice grains (organic) and collect the first rinses of cloudy water and fill in a glass bottle.  Cover the mouth of the jar with plain paper and keep it in shade for 3 days.  After 3 days, add 5 litres of fresh milk to it and keep it in shade for another 3 days. After 3 days, a semi-solid white layer will form on the top portion and a yellow-coloured liquid. The yellow-coloured liquid is LAB. Dilute this with 10 times water and apply to the rice field. Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ) to be made with 5 Kg Yellow coloured Fruits and 5 Kg Jaggery. These ingredients to be mixed well and keep it in a glass container for five days with its mouth covered with a cloth or plain paper. Dilute it with 10 times of water and apply it on the rice field.

Integrated Pest Management: Pest attack used to be a major issue in the past years. Hence special care has been done to control pest attack in the field.  Once the plants start flowering, a pest repellent solution constituted of garlic, green chili, tobacco leaves and seeds of Neem (Azadirachta Indica) is administered every fifth day. Pest management is also done by placing Trico cards in the field (4 Trico cards per acre). It is placed on 20^th days after transplantation.  and then placed solar light traps which have helped in controlling pest problem to a great extent. Mary gold is planted on the bund to reduce pest attack.