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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Jind farmers root for pesticide-free produce-Parvesh Sharma

Jind farmers root for pesticide-free produce-Parvesh Sharma

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published Published on Jun 10, 2014   modified Modified on Jun 10, 2014
-The Tribune
 

Jind: There's a novel experiment underway in an acre-and-a-half at Jind's Nidana village. A group of farmers, most of them illiterate, are out to prove a point to scientists and experts: agriculture is possible without pesticides and more profitable than with the use of pesticides.

Scientists of the Delhi-based National Centre for Integrated Pest Management New Delhi (NCIPM), with the help of the state Agriculture Department, have taken an acre-and-a-half on lease near the village bus stand, divided it into three parts and are growing cotton using different methods.

On one part, scientists have sown cotton as per their own technique, while on the second, farmers using pesticides are growing cotton. On the third part of land, the illiterate farmers of Nidani village are cultivating cotton to prove right their anti-pesticide stand right.

Farmers from Nidani, who shun the use of pesticides and have identified 204 insects (vegetarian and non-vegetarian), are out to prove that pesticides are not needed to keep insects away from crops. They have registered increase in produce ever since they shunned pesticide five years ago.

"We have repeatedly proved non-vegetarian insects eat the vegetarian ones and then leave the crop when they do not find their food. This way, there is no need for pesticide. NCIPM scientists say it's not possible, but we want to prove them wrong by getting more yield from our part of the land without using pesticide," said Ranbir Malik, a member of the Insect Literacy Mission (ILM).

The ‘Know Insects Before Killing Them' movement was launched in 2008 by former Nidani Agriculture Development Officer Surender Dalal, who died in 2013. Farmers have been organising camps and spreading awareness about insects and how to identify vegetarian and non-vegetarian insects on their own. A trained group of villagers can count insects on one acre in just three hours.

Several farmers of 14 villages, including Nidana, Nidani, Joura, Lalit Khera, Radana, Egra, Rajpura Bhain, Ital Kalan, Gulkani, Aleva, Mohangarh Chapda, Kharkram ji, Chabri and Lakhamajra, have stopped using pesticide in 2,200 acres. They have logged an increase of over 20 per cent in profit than their pesticide using counterparts in the last some years.

Agriculture Development Officer Dr Kamal Saini, who is coordinating the experiment, vouched for the Nidana farmers' claims. He said he had been in touch with them for nearly five years. Now, the scientists wanted to verify the veracity of their claims though this experiment.

Showing the way

 

Farmers from Nidani village, who shun the use of pesticides, have identified 204 insects (vegetarian and non-vegetarian) to keep pests away from the fields
 
They claim the non-vegetarian insects eat the vegetarian ones and then leave the crop when they do not find their food. This way, there is no need for pesticide

 


The Tribune, 9 June, 2014, http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140610/haryana.htm#16


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