Research Proves Success for Rushi-Krushi technique for Natural Farming

Research Proves Success for Rushi-Krushi technique
for Natural Farming
This is a success story to prove yet again that the Rushi-Krushi technique does eliminate the need to use expensive and harmful chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides in farming.  Mr Rajendra Prahlad Sambare has demonstrated that the late Mr Mohan Shankar Deshpande was right to evolve and propagate the technique based on the ancient Sanskrit scriptures of Hindu sages.

The late Mr Deshpande evolved the technique in the early 1990s. He used scriptures of Parashar, Pantanjali, Charak, Chanakya, Dnyaneshwari, Ramdas, Bhagvadgeeta, and Ishopnishad to formulate his technique. He was not a formally trained farm scientist. He used the wisdom of such sages and the of common sense of Maharashtra farmers to compile the  technique into a Marathi book, first published in 1996. Five editions of the book and its Hindi and English have since been brought out. The union government has distributed the Hindi version across the country. has been

His disciple agriculture graduate, Rajendra Prahlad Sambare, carried forward his work and collected the data published in a conference paper atAshwi budruk, He carried near Sangamner town, in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district in western India. He is a graduate of agriculture and dairy science. He has to his credit success stories of successive crops spanning over more than 30 years.
His research, conducted at his own farm, demonstrated that sugarcane farming can be profitable even without the use of  expensive and harmful chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides. Following is the data collected between 2012-2017 at his farm at village Ashwi budruk, near Sangamner town, in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district in western India:

Table 1: Increase in Ph of Soil

(As per reports of laboratory)

Year	Ph of soil	Organic carbon in %	Available Nutrients
2012-13	8.2	0.69	NPK Nutrients and micronutrients nutrients increased in the soils
2013-14	8.1	0.73
2014-15	8.0	0.90
2015-16	7.9	1.30
2016-17	7.9	1.72

Table 2. Production of sugarcane during the last five years: Adsali Sugar cane

Year	Sugarcane production in tonnes per acre	Sugarcane crop variety
2012-13	52	CO-86032
2013-14	55	CO-86032
2014-15	63	Phule-265
2015-16	68	Phule-265
2016-17	72	Phule-265

Table 3. Sugarcane Production per acre expenditure & cost of production

Sr No.	Particulars of Work	Cost in Rupees
1.	Pre-filling	2400
2.	Compost and FYM labour	15000
3.	Farrow making by tractor	1200
4.	bunding	1000
5.	Sugarcane seeds	4500
6.	Plantation of seeds labour	5000
7.	Weeding three times	10000
8.	Amrutpaani Making labour	5000
9.	Gomutra spraying charges 12 times	2400
10.	Inter cultivation two times	2500
11.	Irrigation labour 22 times	5000
12.	Electricity charges	5000
13.	total	59000

Thus the total cost of production was Rs. 59,000.00

Total Sugarcane production 72 tonnes per acre

Total income  @ Rs 2500 per tone 1,80,00 less Cost Rs 59,000= profit per acre= Rs 121000

The focus of Mr Deshpande’s technique is not to use chemical fertilizers that was introduced by the commercial corporate houses of the West. These fertilizers had initially yielded profits for the farmers in the 1960’s but had led to the farms becoming to the infertile and deteriorating health of consumers. The late Mr Deshpande was among the few concerned farm experts who initiated campaigns to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers.

The same success is experienced where the farmers grow other crops in the region.

Basis of the Rushi-Krushi technique

Mr Sambare had joined the late Mr Deshpande in educating the farmers about the ill-effects of the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides and in promoting natural farming.
The  Rushi-Krushi farming technique is based on the use of

1. Angara (soil collected from the base of a banyan tree,),
2. amrutpaani (‘nectar–water’ prepared from ghee of cow’s milk), honey and fresh cow dung) 
3. mulching (seed dressing (आच्छादन) on the ground by organic matter. 

They demonstrated during their campaigns in Maharashtra and outside that this combination worked wonders to grow any crop without using costly chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides. These chemicals harmed the farms and the consumers of grains, vegetables, fruits and other farm produce. The farmers initially were very sceptic. They did not believe that the chemicals can altogether be eliminated from the farming practices as these were supported and subsidized by the governments and universities. The fertilizer companies had launched massive marketing campaigns to promote their products without bothering about their ill-effects. Mr Deshpande and Mr Sambare spent more than 30 years to convince the farmers with their lectures and practical demonstration. After the demise of Mr Deshpande, Mr Sambare has set up Rushi-Krushi Pratishthan, an NGO, at his village Ashwi Budruk, an Organic Farming Study group in Pune and Maharashtra Organic Farming Federation. A large number of farmers groups have been set up in the state, which have been now converted into a registered company named ‘Baliraja Farmers Producer Company, with 500 members. The members produce, process, package, and distribute the products in Maharashtra and several states these as certified organic products. Mr Sambare maintain that the farmers in Ahmednagar and neighbouring districts have been leading a happy life because of the natural farming using the Rushi-Krushi technique. There are no incidents of farmers’ suicides as experienced in other regions that have not been following Rushi-Krushi technique.  

Prof Dr Kiran Thakur

MGM University Center For
Communication For Development