INDIGENOUS TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE OF

ORGANIC FARMING

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

Prof.(Dr.) Thomas Abraham GROUP NO 9

Group no 9Rohit Smit 12BSCAG012

Mazanthei shaiza 12BSCAG045

Vidhe zhasa 12BSCAG048

Pradeep Patidar 12BSCAG066

Akansha Verma 12BSCAG067

Preeti Priya 12BSCAG075

Devendra Patel 12BSCAG077

Pawan Kumar 12BSCAG082

Jasobanta Pradhan 12BSCAG117

Prashant Kumar 12BSCAG139

What is ITK???

Indigenous technical/traditional knowledge in a community, local and rural in origin.

The source of ITK is our ancestors who learned techniques from their past experiences and experiments.

These varies from place to place, and knowledge spreads through folk songs, stories & scriptures etc.

Alley cropping

WHY ITK IN ORGANIC FARMING

Has great role and scope.

Avoidance of synthetic chemicals

& keep soil alive.

Stress on sustainability.

Offers potential to accomplish

organic agriculture.

ITK IN ORGANIC FARMING

There are many practices of ITK out of which some are discussed here :

– PRE-SOWING PRACTICES

– SOIL AND WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

– PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT

– POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT

ITK in Good Germination

Radish seeds are soaked overnight in butter milk

before sowing.

Cucurbits seeds are kept embedded in fresh cow

dung ‘ball 'which are then buried deep in soil for

better germination.

In desert areas ,chickpea is sown behind camel

drawn ploughs in sand dunes areas.

Cut end of sugarcane setts are plastered with a

mixture of honey, ghee, the fat of hogs and cow

dung.

Weed management by I.T.K

Apply the Neem seeds @ 40 kg / ac as basal to get more

yield as compared to the equal quantity of Neem cake.

to control weed growth.

Cultivation of sun hemp or daincha helps to control the

nut grass (Cyperus rotundus) weed.

Crop growth promoter 5% fermented coconut milk solution(1lit in 20lit of

water mix and use as Growth promoter

Goat dung- 5kg, Goat urine- 5lit , Goat milk- 2 lit , Goat

curd- 2 lit, (Cow)Ghee -1lit , Sugarcane juice- 2lit,

Banana -10 nos, Tender coconut water-2 lit , Toddy – 2

lit/ yeast -800g, Jaggery – 800g, water- 5 lit. Mix and use

after 20 days as growth promoter

Mulching

Tree leaves(karanj-pongamia ponnata) and paddy straw are used as mulch materials .This conservsthe soil moisture and simultaneously keeps the soil coolwhich provides favourableconditions

these mulches act as organic matter to enhance the crop

effective for weed mgmt

ITK IN RICE

Common salt is dissolved in water and sprayed in rice fields for controlling major weeds

To prevent lodging in rice crop at maturity in water logging conditions . The upper portion of the rice plants is cut with the help of sickle. After two months of transplanting ,excess growth of rice plant is checked due to pruning . Lower part of the plant become strong

BEUSHENING IN RICEPracticed in direct -seeded low land rice in odisha ,MP,bihar.WB,UP to control weeds optimize crop stand and provide soil aeration cross ploughing young crops 4 to 6 weeks after sowing with a light country plough in 5-10cm standing water once or twice depending upon the density of weeds and crop stand. if there are too many weeds it is followed by flanking.

Jhum cultivation/Slash & Burn

cultivation/Shifting cultivation.

well suited to the heavy rainfall areas of the

north east India.

the trees are slashed & burned and the

seeds are sown only after the 1st rainfall.

After cultivating for 2 - 3 years, fields go into

fallow. Then, the farmer moves on to the

next plot or forest area to protect the soil and

allow for build up of nutrients.

• soil erosion is controlled and fertility

maintained by constructing contour bunds

often May reduce the incidence of soil born diseases.

Terrace or Bund cultivation

• Practiced in valleys and foot hills.

• Bench terraces are made across

the slope.

• The vertical interval is not more

than 1m.

• This helps to maintain soil erosion

and retaining rain water in the

slopes and depositing runoff to

the foothills.

• Widely grown crops are rice and

turmeric.Jaintia hills, the small village of Nongbah, (Meghalaya) India

Irrigation practices- Bamboo drip irrigation

• Bamboos divert water from

perennial springs on hilltops to the

lower reaches by gravity.

• Used to irrigate the betel leaf or

black pepper crops.

• 18-20 litres of water entering the

bamboo pipe system per minute

gets transported over several

hundred meters and finally gets

reduced to 20-80 drops per minute

at the site of the plant.

• Used mostly in winter, as there

soil in Meghalaya has low water

holding capacity.

ITK and Soil Fertility Management!!!

In Madhya pradesh, soil fertility is renewed by using :

• made up of cow dung, sheep, goat, and camel feacal

pellets,

• wood ash,

• animal urine,

• growing nitrogen fixing leguminous crops intermixed/

intercropped with cereals/oilseeds,

• allowing certain local weeds and xerophytic plants viz.

bui (Kochia indica), fog (Calligonum polygonoids), kheinp

(Crotolaria burhia), bordi (Zizyphus manuritiana) to grow

undisturbed maintaining adequate khejri (Prosopis

cineraria) tree population in the field.

Continued…

• Ancient Tamil text widely quoted the use

of Calotropis gigantea, Morinda tinctoria,

Thespesia populnea, Jatropha

gossypifolia, Ipomoea spp. and Adhatoda

spp. to be used as green leaf manure.

• crop rotation and intercropping to

restore soil fertility.

• ants, earthworms and frogs were used

to improve soil physical properties.

• FYM was used to add nutrient into the

soil and to maintain the organic matter

content in soil.

Contd.

• Zai technique

• combine water harvesting

and targeted application of

organic amendments (

cattle manure, millet straw

etc.) by the use of small pits

dug into hardened soil.

• Increases water retention

capacity of soil and is

effective in restoring soil

fertility

• Practiced in Burkina Faso

and Sahel, Africa.

Indegenous practices for water harvesting

• PHOUR

• For house Water in the pond is

collected from the rainfall and

seepage. To prevent inflow dyke of

about a meter height is

constructed surrounding the phour.

Trees are planted along the bank

to stabilize the banks. Fish may

also be raised

CONT…

Cross-dam irrigation: Earthen cross-dam,4-6m wide and 2.5-5m

deep, is constructed across a perennial

creek between two hills.

The catchment area for the creek is 80-100

hectares.

People use stored water for fish culture and

raising ducklings.

A bamboo pipe of 5cm diameter that passes

through dam is used to maintain the water

level. The pipe is kept closed with a wooden

plug that can be removed to lower the water

level in the pond or provide irrigation.

Cross Dam irrigation in

Chittagong Hill tracts of

bangladesh

Pest & Disease Management in ITK

TULSI

Control the Blast of rice

Control of insect in sapota, guava

METHI

Control of insect of okra eg. Fruit borer

KAROSENE OIL

To control of ant in climber

To control of Termite

Cont…….

CASTOR OIL

Control of white fly in cotton

stored- grain pest control in pigeon pea

CHILLIESDry chilli smoke for rat control of

wheat

Cont…….

MADAR (Calotropis gigantia)Used to prevent attack of thrips in

paddy nursery

Control of insect pest in ginger, cotton

LEMONControl of hairy caterpillar

Aphid control in cotton

ONIONUse for pest & disease control in maize

Pest control in sugarcane

Cont…….

GUR OR SUGARControl of insect in cotton

Control of pod borer in pegionpea

SALTControl of wilt in pegionpea

Control of khaira disease in paddy

NEEMNeem cake use for termite control

Control of aphids in mustard

by neem twings

Cont…….

ASH

Used as insecticide

Control of root feeders and pests

DHATURA

Control of stem borer in rice

Control of insect pest in fruit crops

TOBACCO

Control of aphids white flies and

other Pests

ITK AND POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT

DRYING

It is the traditional method for reducing the moisture content of grain.

Method of sun drying are

1.Field drying

2.Panicle drying

3.Drying on mat

4.Pavement drying

THRESHING

• 1. By beating the grain using a

flail on a threshing floor

• 2. Making donkeys or oxen walk

in circles on the grain on a hard

surface

• 3. By using threshing board

Storage

• Traditional storage methods are

1. In gunny bag

a. Storage of red gram with common

salt in gunny bag

b.Storage of grain using camphor in

gunny bag

c Storage of ragi with neem leaf in

gunny bag

2. MUD BIN STORAGE

example. Storage of grain

3.WOODEN BOX STORAGE

Example. Storage of vegetable seeds

with cow dung

storage of paddy

Panchagavya

Composition:

Ghee, milk, curd, cow dung and

cow’s urine

Application:

3% i.e. 3 kg in 100 lit of

water is the best dose for

application. In acre of land

6 lit panchagavya will be

applied

provides nutrient to plant

gives resistance of plant to

insect pest

Low budget fish gunabajalam proves

effective for crops fish gunabajalam (extract in Tamil) or fish growth

hormone is a traditional method which is practised

by Mrs. Thangam and some farmers in

Kanyakumari district. They use this hormone for

growing their rose, chilli and paddy.

Along with Mrs Thangam,several farmers in the

village who use traditional methods vouch for its

efficiency in controlling pests and helping good

crop growth. If one has to use chemical sprays for

an acre then he has to spend nearly Rs. 1,500 -

Rs. 2,000 but they hardly spend 100 Rs.and get

equal benefit.

.

Cost effective: The

lady farmer Mrs.

Thangam

demonstrating how to

make the fish extract

Conclusion

It may be concluded that ITK based practices offers its potential to accomplish organic agriculture where biological methods are adopted for farming, keeping away off-farm inputs. Indigenous techniques used in different components of farming system are mostly organic, eco-friendly, sustainable, viable and cost effective.

ITK based practices will help to furthering the concept of biodynamics and natural farming where the soil-health-building process is left to the nature, as the inputs for ITK are drawn from the products of soil and are returned to the soil in the form of compost or manure or soil and plant health-protecting agents.

But, there is a need to explore, verify, modify, and scientifically validate these practices for their wider use and appliction.

References:

• I.C.A.R., New Delhi, Handbook of Agriculture, pg

1418,1420,1433.

• Rainwater_harvesting_CBSE.pdf

• Hand book of organic farming,A K Sharma

• http://www.niscair.res.in