We completed harvesting the paddy crop on our Anandham Farm last week. Overall it was a very satisfying exercise for many reasons.
Higher Yield
We got 4.5 tonnes/hectare this season. So far, this is the highest yield for us. We usually get around 24 bags of paddy per acre (each bag is 60kg) - this time it was 30+.
Good Weather
Towards harvest season, we are usually very anxious about rain showers. A single downpour can cause significant damage to the well-grown crop - grains fall to the ground, crops get flattened, the less-expensive "tire machines" harvester cannot be used (when fields are wet, we have to use the "belt" machines, which are almost double as expensive as the alternative). This time there were no significant rains and we were able to utilize harvesters with tires.
Quick Harvest
Another major concern is the time taken from the start of the harvest to either selling the paddy or storing it in a secure location. This time, harvest was completed in two days - within those same two days, all the produce was bagged and sewn up. On the third day, we moved everything to the mill for conversion to rice.
Escaped BPH
There was an extended period of cloud cover during December 2014. This leads to pest infestations and there were severe infestations of BPH (Brown Plant Hopper, Pugayan in Tamil) all over the delta area. Many fields looked like this. However, we had chosen a hardier variety of paddy (CR1009 - naturally resistant to BPH), and also applied bio-pesticides (mainly neem oil cake, and my dad's concoction of indigenous herbs) in anticipation of pest infestation. We had a minor infestation of False Smut (nel pazham in Tamil), but contained it with the above mentioned natural means.
Some thoughts
The Marketing Model
Even though the yield for many farmers was very much less than average (due to the BPH infestation and other reasons), the procurement price set by merchants/middlemen was very low (lower than last year's prices). Price for a 60kg bag of paddy was quoted anywhere from INR800 to INR870. For reference, we sold our paddy last year at INR900/60kg bag.
One of the reasons was that the cultivated area, especially in the delta region was higher than in the previous few years. So, overall production expected to be more; price set less. The other reason is the chronic inavailability of affordable, and safe storage space. Additionally, many small and medium farmers depend on the proceeds of this crop to run their family for the next 4-6 months, and repay their loans. The merchants/middlemen make the most of these reasons and collude to set the price.
We had already decided to stock part of our crop for sales later in the year and direct marketing of rice. Given the poor prices, we worked out the economics and decided to store the entire crop. This is possible since we are not dependent on the sale of this crop for sustenance.
Role model?
Since we started Anandham Farms 4 years back, we've practiced the NPM model. This has been met with a strong dose of skepticism from the local farmers, which is partly due to the nature of the organic movement.
The organic farming movement advocates extreme practices for a crop to be termed "organic". This includes immediate and complete cessation of use of any chemical inputs. However, for small and medium farmers, a single crop failure often stands between financial bankruptcy and wellbeing. So, they just ignore the call to turn to organic farming.
My dad has been a staunch believer in the middle road of just abolishing the direct poisons (pesticides, weedicides, and fungicides) used in the field. We use green manure, manure, neem oil cake as base fertilizers. We augment this with natural preparations such as panchakavya, and agniastra. We watch the crops carefully and supplement them with fertilizers only when needed. We use less than a quarter of the agri department recommended levels for fertilizers.
Using these techniques, we have never lost our investment on any of the major crops since the beginning. Our higher yields this year, I hope, will encourage more farmers in the area to try our approach. A couple of medium farmers have already started experimenting on small sections of their fields.
