A
group of villages in rural Andhra Pradesh show how natural
integrated pest management can transform cultivation
in a painless way.
We had barely sat back to listen to the experience,
when the next two groups of inquisitive travellers arrived.
One van-load was from a neighbouring mandal of Khammam
district; another bus full of people came all the way
from Warangal. Shri Hemla Nayak, Secretary of the Watershed
Committee of the village, smiled ruefully at us. He
would now have to start telling his story all over again.
But then, he has grown used to it. In the past months,
the once sleepy and unexceptional village of Pulukula,
in Palvancha mandal of Khammam district in Andhra Pradesh,
has become a pilgrimage site of sorts, for all those
interested in seeing first-hand how natural methods
of integrated pest management work in practice. Shri
Nayak now has to repeat his story at least four times
a day to new visitors; he says he has hardly any time
left for farming.
This is a small price to pay for what appears to be
one of the most successful attempts at using traditional
farming methods effectively and cheaply, and for the
immense good work of spreading this message to other
cultivators. The Agriculture Minister of Andhra Pradesh
has already expressed interest in extending this experience
to other areas, which is another positive sign.
In Andhra Pradesh, costs of cultivation for most crops
are among the highest in India, and one important reason
for this is the high dependence in the region upon pesticides
to control the various pests that routinely attack cash
crops such as cotton, chillies, tobacco and groundnut.
The high cost of inputs, as well as the proliferation
of spurious seeds and pesticides, have directly and
indirectly contributed to growing distress among cultivators,
which has in turn led to the increasing incidence of
farmers’ suicides.
Cotton cultivation was learned in this area in the early
1980s from the farmers who had migrated from Guntur
district, where heavy pesticide use is even more widespread.
The same pesticide companies who served the Guntur region
also made their way here, in the same way that they
have spread across the state. The dealers in pesticides
also supply seeds and fertilisers to the farmers, often
on credit at interest rates ranging from 2 to 4 per
cent per month.
Chemical pesticide prices are very high - in Pulukula,
for example, the farmers tell us they used to spend
around Rs. 6,000 for pesticides per acre of cotton cultivation
every crop season. Further, the pesticides became less
effective over time as pests quickly developed resistance
to them, and newer more expensive varieties had constantly
to be introduced. Avant and Tracer are the brands that
are currently popular across rural Andhra Pradesh, but
pests are already developing resistance to them in several
areas.
In addition to the costs and lack of effectiveness,
there are serious health risks associated with the use
of these pesticides, which are after all essentially
concentrated poisons. Those spraying the pesticides
frequently fell sick, from the knock-on effects and
from the spillages that came from carrying the containers
on their shoulders. Women who mixed the solution suffered
from nausea, vomiting and headaches. Poor eyesight and
itching were frequently reported, and in extreme cases
- which occurred at least once a season - people died
from excessive exposure. There was a thriving business
for autorickshaws, transporting sick people to the hospital
in nearby Kothagudem.
The heavy use of pesticides on the cotton crop even
affected the market for the output - farmers found that
they were getting lower prices because the traders claimed
that the garments made from their cotton caused itching
and discomfort on the hands and body.
Despite all these problems, the farmers persisted with
the use of pesticides because of the insecurity about
pest infestations affecting crop output, and there was
even competitive pressure to use more and more on their
own fields if their neighbours were doing so.
Shri Nayak describes how K. Venumadhav, who was associated
with the NGO SECURE that ran the watershed project in
the area, noticed these adverse health effects and suggested
that the villagers try more natural alternatives. At
first, he was greeted with cynicism from the villagers,
who felt that they had heard all this before many times
from the usual do-gooders who come to rural areas mainly
to benefit themselves. But he persisted and engaged
some local youth and women to collect neem seeds, so
as to demonstrate on one field how pests could be controlled
naturally.
When they saw the beneficial effects on both costs and
output, the local farmers were convinced, and started
adopting the same practices. Other NGOs such as Centre
for Sustainable Agriculture moved in with an integrated
programme using locally available materials, and the
programme increased from being used by about 20 farmers,
to covering the entire village the following year. Now
a group of five neighbouring villages are all using
the same methods, and the over 200 peasant households
in these areas have completely avoided buying any pesticides
for the last three years.
The cost reductions and other benefits have been dramatic.
From about Rs. 6,000 per care, the costs of the natural
pesticides (not counting the costs of household labour
used in preparation) amount to no more than Rs. 300-400
per acre of cotton cultivation. The human and animal
health problems associated with pesticide use have disappeared.
Remarkably, even the yields have improved - on rain-fed
plots the yields have increased from 5 quintals per
hectare to 8 quintals, on irrigated plots from 8 quintals
to 12 or as much as 15 quintals. Certainly, the fields
in October showed a lush and healthy crop, which also
reflected the good quality of the soil in the area.
How difficult is the new system of natural integrated
pest management that the villagers are practising? Their
own description makes it sound relatively easy, and
certainly something that can be implemented without
much difficulty in many other places. It consists of
a range of techniques applied successively to different
stages of the crop. While the dominant crop here is
cotton, the villagers have already extended this system
to other crops such as chillies, red gram, vegetables
and paddy, with minor variations.
In the case of cotton, the first step is some intercropping
- to ensure the planting of some ''trap crops'' that
attracts pests. These (such as castor and chrysanthemum)
attract pests who settle on the leaves, which can then
de removed and discarded during the egg-laying period
of the pests. The villagers also place some tree branches
with small containers of water, to attract birds, who
then rest there, and eat the pests and their larvae.
The purpose is to encourage the presence of ''beneficial''
insects and birds which eat the harmful ones and therefore
exert a natural control on undesirable pests. Of course
this is a more labour-intensive process, requiring frequent
checking of fields, but where rural underemployment
is so high, that is not really an issue. In any case,
the villagers point out that they are saving a lot of
time, as earlier they used to go to the pesticide shop!
When the cotton crop is young, it attracts white flies
and sucking pests, which generate leaf curl disease.
For these pests, a neem extract is sprayed on the crops.
This is prepared by the villagers themselves (who now
have their own grinding machine purchased by a local
women’s Self Help Group). The neem seeds are collected
in summer, soaked in water to allow them to expand and
dried. Then the seeds are ground into powder, mixed
with water and a very small quantity of detergent. Two
sprayings are usually required.
Since this spray tends to make the leaves brittle and
affects flowering, this is counteracted by a subsequent
spray of a combination of fermented cow dung and urine,
to which a small quantity of lime is added. This ensures
good flowering, which in turn attracts new pests such
as the infamous bollworm, for which the genetically-modified
BT cotton seed was developed. To guard against this,
a new concoction is prepared - this time of a large
quantity of chillies and a smaller amount of garlic
which are ground together, and mixed with some kerosene.
This spray has been found effective in controlling bollworm.
Another black variety of bollworm - a nocturnal pest
called spodoptera which comes in the last phases of
the cotton crop - is dealt with by placing little balls
of rice bran and jaggery in the fields. The pests die
on eating this. Finally, the jassids who also come in
this last phase are attracted to small sheets of iron
smeared with grease, placed in the fields. The insects
get stuck to it at night, and can be cleaned out in
the morning. In the fields we visited, cheerful bright
yellow squares could be seen dotting the fields of rich
crop.
Because of the increasing use of this method, local
production of these natural inputs has already proved
to be insufficient, and the local people are already
purchasing neem seeds, Despite this, the money outlays
on this are unbelievably low compared to the chemical
pesticides in the market, and the system is apparently
more effective in controlling pests and ensuring a healthy
and non-toxic crop.
Of course, some people are not happy about this - particularly
the pesticide companies. In the village bus stop, we
saw how the detailed instructions that had been provided
on the new pest management method had been completely
covered up by pesticide advertisements. The companies
are already aggressively campaigning against this natural
system.
Despite this, the benefits are so self-evident that
it is not surprising that word is spreading rapidly
across rural areas and so many people are flocking here
to learn about this method. In an agriculture ravaged
by the aggressive penetration of commercial inputs with
often dubious effects, this represents not only an important
alternative but perhaps a major way forward in redirecting
cultivation practices. This little village may be showing
a way forward not only for other farmers in Andhra Pradesh,
but for the whole country. |
