Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Agriculture | IIT leads the way to a 'green revolution' -Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey

IIT leads the way to a 'green revolution' -Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Apr 11, 2015   modified Modified on Apr 11, 2015
-The Times of India

KHARAGPUR: A patch of 14 acres in Kenthia village of Kharagpur-II block, which was written off by everyone, has suddenly turned lush green. Go closer and you will see paddy, soybean, groundnuts, sweet corn and sesame plants there.

The Kenthia experiment started with three departments of IIT-Kharagpur - agriculture and food technology, biotechnology and industrial engineering - about six months ago.

The challenge was to turn a barren patch green with the help of institute-bred technology and then transfer it to farmers.

The even bigger challenge was to get the farmers of Kenthia to partner the experiment and hand over the land for cultivation to the institute.

It needed a bit of convincing, but the fact that farmers could not grow any crop on the barren land for the past eight years helped the cause. Though initially apprehensive, they finally decided to trust the professors.

The first challenge was to prepare the soil and make it fertile. The second was to minimize the use of chemical fertilizers and water and the third was to do away with pesticides as far as possible.

"A long period of disuse had done a lot of damage to the land," said Pratap Bhadoria, an IIT-Kharagpur faculty member, who spearheaded the project along with 29 other teachers.

A special low-cost vermicompost was prepared by rotting water hyacinth and mixing it with "eisenia foedida", a special species of earthworm. The formula, which is indigenous to IIT-Kharagpur, has now been given to the farmers.

"The soil testing made it easier for us to ascertain the quantity of fertilizer needed. This helped us reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and maximize the percentage of vermicompost. Farmers randomly use chemical fertilizers which destroys land fertility. But, the 15 farmers who have partnered with us in the project have now been trained in the do's and don'ts like importance of soil testing etc," said Bhadoria.

The 14 acre patch looks like a green island amid a sea of grey barrenness all around. There is a bumper paddy crop that will be harvested in the next two months, interspersed with crops like til, groundnut, sweet corn and soya bean.

"While in any fertile one acre land, farmers are able to grow 800 kilos of rice, we have been able to produce two tonnes per acre. We have been able to double the production of the other crops also, which the farmers had no experience of growing," said another faculty member involved in the prokect, Dilip Swain.

Farmers are very happy about the project. "I have cultivated land for more than 50 years, but have never seen such a healthy crop in my life," said 62-year-old Badal Das.

"We neither knew the right ratio of fertilizers for the soil nor the advanced planting techniques," said another farmer, Bimal Bhuniya.

The union human resource development ministry has lauded the experiment. It has also awarded the institute a grant of Rs 26 crores to replicate the experiment in nine other villages.

The experiment has also been a made a part of the Narendra Modi government's Unnat Bharat Abhiyan.

The other villages that have been adopted by IIT for replicating the experiment are - Paparara-I and II, Changual, Sankua, Lachamapur, Kaliara-1 and 2, Polisa and Chakmakarampur.

Director of IIT-Kharagpur P P Chakraborty said, "We are the only IIT to have an agriculture department and related food technology schools. Our location is also unique because we are surrounded by villages where agriculture is the mainstay but the land is infertile. We are happy that years of research in our agriculture laboratories can now be transferred to the fields."

The Times of India, 10 April, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/IIT-leads-
the-way-to-a-green-revolution/articleshow/46869459.cms


The Times of India, 10 April, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/IIT-leads-the-way-to-a-green-revolution/articleshow/46869459.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close