Namaskaram!
Recently, I was introduced to Mr Abraham Varkey, an organic farmer at Udumbanchola. He raises cardamom without using any kind of pesticide or chemical fertilizer. And he gets a good price for his product. He follows some of the practices propagated by a scientist named Dr Christine John. One of the key principles of this method is to allow weeds to grow because they play the important role of enriching the soil with liquid carbon. The argument is that weeds are essential for the maintenance of soil fertility.
Anyone who has a Miyawaki forest – be it in a 10-cent or a 5-cent plot – should try organic farming. It plays a big role in improving the quality of the soil. Our problem is the high cost. I am sitting in front of a Miyawaki forest I planted merely eight months back and it shows an amazing rate of growth. It has become a thick forest. Of course, expenditure on it was high because I did it according to what Prof. Miyawaki taught us. I did not put up a fence around it. Nor have I done any irrigation. Yet it cost me nearly Rs 1.4 lakhs per cent. We need to think of ways to reduce the cost.
If we grow a forest in our domestic plot, we will get ample benefits. The quality of the organic products we make will increase hugely.
Do you have any ideas about bringing down the cost? If you feel that the adoption of any particular method will reduce investment cost, please let us know before February 2023. I am planning to undertake the experiment, based on the ideas you suggest for a cost-effective Miyawaki forest. If we plant the forest in February, we will get the results by July or August. That will be very convenient for making an accurate assessment of the growth rate. If we get good growth, that will be a great success indeed. Therefore, whatever be you idea, please share it with us. Let us work together to create small budget Miyawaki forests.