SRI in Orissa - Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture ...

CHAPTER 9
Pravash Chandra Satpathy 26
Innovating into SRI
Pravash Satpathy is an organic farmer with an inquisitive
mind. He has been a full-time farmer since 1978 after
retiring as a laboratory assistant at the Maharaj Purna
Chanda College at Baripada. He gathers information on
agriculture from various sources such as the quarterly ‘CRRI
Newsletter’, and the journal ‘Indian Farming’ brought out
by ICAR. Ever since he started farming he has continuously
been experimenting, leading to several innovations.
In total he has 14 acres of land of which one acre is a fish
pond. It is situated in Belam in Mayurbhanj district, an area
where temperatures can reach up to 45°C in summer and
drop to 10°C in winter. His land receives 1200 to 1400 mm
of rainfall every year. His farm is known as Matiala farm
because the soil is mostly Matala – heavy clay. Most of the
area is medium land, and it is situated at the bank of river
Budhabalanga, a large river that meanders through northeast
Orissa.
Previously it was a drought prone area, but when in 1979
an electric line passed through the village and they installed
five LI (Lift Irrigation) points on the river bed, the situation
changed over night. This greatly improved the potential of
his land, and now he experiences a severe labour shortage
at peak times. The fact that most labourers are marginal to
medium-level cultivators complicates the matter, since they
complete their own work first. Satpathy uses an electric
pump to lift water to his land that is 45 feet higher than
the river bed.
Innovations in Ratoon Cultivation
Satpathy is a rare farmer innovator who is constantly on the
lookout for something different and willing to experiment
and learn. Starting out with rice cultivation because he did
not succeed in vegetable crop cultivation due to the heavy
clay soil which cracked under dry condition and waterlogged
when irrigated, he later changed to ratoon rice cultivation.
This cultivation technique is only sporadically used in
India and does not receive much scientific guidance and
backing. As Mr. Satpathy says, when there was published
anything at all then they often reported poor yields.
But the high quality, high density and variability of the
seeds is also mentioned, and Mr. Satpathy also observed
this himself. Realising that selection of variety, stage and
time of harvesting is important for ratoon cultivation,
he examined many different varieties and practices. To
satisfy his curiosity he has spent a lot of energy, time and
resources, and he thinks that sometimes he went in the
wrong direction. However, he is convinced that ratoon rice
cultivation can actually lead to high yields.
In the meanwhile he was also experimenting with a rice-fish
system of cultivation, finding out all the particularities that
play a role in maximizing the yields of both rice and fish.
He experienced problems ranging from water control and
preparation of the fields, to the control of rats, parakeets and
crabs, which all gave him incentives to find solutions and
modify his practices. 27 Whenever he was uncertain about
his capabilities after some bad experiences he courageously
persisted, believing that a person with a thirst for learning
can add a little to the body of knowledge and method of
doing it.
About 22 years back he found a solitary plant of a long
duration photosensitive desi variety called Haldigundi (see
box 9.1 for what Satpathy wrote about his special fancy for
photo sensitive varieties). The plant had grown along with
some weed plants in a shallow portion of a pond which
they call Bagachara – the grazing ground of cranes. This
solitary plant only had five panicles but to his surprise these
were extraordinarily long. The longest contained 850 grains,
26
Written by Koen Beumer based on interview with Satpathy and inputs from and Debasis Mohanty and C. Shambu Prasad
27
Information retrieved from two articles written by Mr. Satpathy in the CRRI bulletin:
- Pravash Chandra Satpathy (2001). Integrated rice-fish-ratoon rice cultivation for higher economic return. Odisame Atyadhik Dhan Utpadan- Saphal Kisano Ki
Jubani [Rice production in Orissa – Farmers success story]. November: 26-27.
- Pravash Chandra Satpathy (2001). Ratoon rice cropping. Odisame Atyadhik Dhan Utpadan- Saphal Kisano Ki Jubani. November: 26-27.
Innovating into SRI 57