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Related: About this forumMiracle grow: Indian farmers smash crop yield records without GMOs
"What if the agricultural revolution has already happened and we didnt realize it? Essentially, thats the idea in this report from the Guardian about a group of poverty-stricken Indian rice and potato farmers who harvested confirmed world-record yields of rice and potatoes. Best of all: They did it completely sans-GMOs or even chemicals of any kind..."
"...What happened in Darveshpura has divided scientists and is exciting governments and development experts. Tests on the soil show it is particularly rich in silicon but the reason for the "super yields" is entirely down to a method of growing crops called System of Rice (or root) Intensification (SRI). It has dramatically increased yields with wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, yams, tomatoes, garlic, aubergine and many other crops and is being hailed as one of the most significant developments of the past 50 years for the world's 500 million small-scale farmers and the two billion people who depend on them.
Instead of planting three-week-old rice seedlings in clumps of three or four in waterlogged fields, as rice farmers around the world traditionally do, the Darveshpura farmers carefully nurture only half as many seeds, and then transplant the young plants into fields, one by one, when much younger. Additionally, they space them at 25cm intervals in a grid pattern, keep the soil much drier and carefully weed around the plants to allow air to their roots. The premise that "less is more" was taught by Rajiv Kumar, a young Bihar state government extension worker who had been trained in turn by Anil Verma of a small Indian NGO called Pran (Preservation and
proliferation of Rural Resources and Nature), which has introduced the SRI method to hundreds of villages in the past three years.
Instead of planting three-week-old rice seedlings in clumps of three or four in waterlogged fields, as rice farmers around the world traditionally do, the Darveshpura farmers carefully nurture only half as many seeds, and then transplant the young plants into fields, one by one, when much younger. Additionally, they space them at 25cm intervals in a grid pattern, keep the soil much drier and carefully weed around the plants to allow air to their roots. The premise that "less is more" was taught by Rajiv Kumar, a young Bihar state government extension worker who had been trained in turn by Anil Verma of a small Indian NGO called Pran (Preservation and
proliferation of Rural Resources and Nature), which has introduced the SRI method to hundreds of villages in the past three years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/feb/16/india-rice-farmers-revolution?CMP=twt_gu
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Miracle grow: Indian farmers smash crop yield records without GMOs (Original Post)
handmade34
Feb 2013
OP
Viva_La_Revolution
(28,791 posts)1. If I could get ahold of enough manure, I would do this
hoping to try it after we get chickens
Blanks
(4,835 posts)3. Be careful. Chicken manure is very rich and dense. Horse manure is much better. eom
Cha
(297,323 posts)2. No doubt it can be done without Evil Monopolizing Frankenseeds..
thanks handmade!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)4. This is great news. I hope the method will be used widely.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)5. K/R! (nt)
valerief
(53,235 posts)6. Well, now we know where to buy our rice and potatoes! nt
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)7. I believe Oxfam is teaching farmers this method if I'm not mistaken.
handmade34
(22,756 posts)8. Oxfam works with this system
they are not specifically mentioned in the article and I know that Oxfam does a lot in helping women in agriculture...
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/more-rice-for-people-more-water-for-the-planet/?searchterm=None