The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

We would broadcast clover seed in an uncultivated field inNovember. Clover will grow amidst any weeds if the ground is wet andweather cool. When the clover was six to eight inches high, we wouldcut the field clean. Clover likes to be cut and most other weeds don't.After the third cutting, all the other weeds would have gone, only cloverwould be remaining. In late April when the weather turned hot, theclover would quickly go to seed which could be gathered towards the endof May. Cut clover is excellent cattle feed and clover seed has a goodmarket.At Rasulia clover became our most lucrative crop. In the same fieldin which we used to plant rice in July, sometime in November, about twoweeks before rice harvesting time, we would plant clover in the standingpaddy. In some of our fields we carried out this rotation for 4 years. Ourcrops were excellent and our soil improved. We returned most of thestraw and the cowdung back to the soil.Tur too can be similarly used to clear a field of weeds. Tur seedsmay be dibbled manually, say, three feet apart. When the plants areeighteen to twenty inches high, cut and drop the weeds. Repeat this amonth or so later. By then tur is well established and able to shadeeverything else out.I must conclude with a word of caution. What worked at Rasulia mayor may not work elsewhere because soils and environments vary widely.Farmers everywhere must do their own research by closely watching andlistening to nature. Natural farming teaches us to become receptive tonature's wisdom which is generously offered to us all the time throughplants, animals and soil.Partap C. Aggarwalxx