The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The One-Straw RevolutionAmong the young people who come to these mountain huts, there arethose, poor in body and spirit, who have given up all hope. I am only anold farmer who grieves that he cannot even provide them with a pair ofsandals - but there is still one-thing I can give them.One straw.I picked up some straw from in front of the hut and said, “From justthis one straw a revolution could begin.”“With the destruction of mankind at hand, you can still hope to clingto a straw?” one youth asked, with a touch of bitterness in his voice.This straw appears small and light, and most people do not knowhow really weighty it is. If people knew the true value of this straw ahuman revolution could occur which would become powerful enough tomove the country and the world.When I was a child there was a man who lived near Inuyose Pass.All he seemed to do was to pack charcoal on horseback two miles or soalong the road from the top of the mountain to the port of Gunchu. Andyet he became rich. If you ask how, people will tell you that on his triphomeward from the port he gathered the discarded straw horseshoes andthe manure by the side of the road and put them onto his178
field. His motto was: “Treat one strand of straw as important and nevertake a useless step.” It made him a wealthy man.“Even if you burned the straw, I don’t think it could kindle a spark tostart a revolution.”A gentle breeze rustled through the orchard trees, sunlight flickeringamong the green leaves. I began to talk about using straw in growingrice. It has been nearly forty years since I realized how important strawcould be in growing rice and barley.At that time, passing an old rice field in Kochi Prefecture which hadbeen left unused and uncultivated for many years, I saw healthy youngrice sprouting up through a tangle of weeds and straw which hadaccumulated on the field’s surface. After working on the implications ofthat for many years, I came out advocating a completely new method ofrice and barley growing.Believing that this was a natural and revolutionary way of farming, Iwrote about it in books and magazines, and spoke of it on television andradio dozens of times.It seems a very simple thing, but farmers are so set in their thinkingabout how straw should be used, that it is unlikely that they will acceptchange easily. Spreading fresh straw on a field can be risky because riceblast and stem rot are diseases always present in rice straw. In the past,these diseases have caused great damage, and this is one of the mainreasons that farmers have always turned the straw into compost beforeputting it back onto the field. Long ago, careful disposal of rice strawwas commonly practiced as a countermeasure against blast disease, andthere were times in Hokkaido when the wholesale burning of straw wasrequired by law.Stem borers also enter the straw to pass the winter. To prevent aninfestation of these insects,179
Page 1:
Extraido de ZEMOS98http://www.zemos
Page 4 and 5:
The One-Straw Revolutionby Masanobu
Page 6 and 7:
A Merciful Death for Barley ……
Page 8 and 9:
viii
Page 10 and 11:
Fortunately for us our printer frie
Page 12 and 13:
maximum per acre yields. But the ba
Page 14 and 15:
squashes and other vegetable by dib
Page 16 and 17:
all needed resources to grow plants
Page 18 and 19:
Invariably our peasant visitors wer
Page 20 and 21:
We would broadcast clover seed in a
Page 22 and 23:
stayed long enough at his farm to l
Page 24 and 25:
knack for appearing at times when t
Page 26 and 27:
are distributed over the field, whi
Page 28 and 29:
This yield is approximately the sam
Page 30 and 31:
ooks and magazines, and was intervi
Page 32 and 33:
hole in the soil with a stick or a
Page 34 and 35:
The Japanese, mikan, is translated
Page 36 and 37:
xxxvi
Page 38 and 39:
xxxviii
Page 43 and 44:
Look at this GrainI believe that a
Page 45 and 46:
In early November, the rice is harv
Page 47 and 48:
Since what I was thinking was a den
Page 49 and 50:
movie star!" Right away, I sent ten
Page 51 and 52:
and sparkling. I felt that this was
Page 53 and 54:
Returning to the CountryOn the day
Page 55 and 56:
whatsoever. I could only think of t
Page 57 and 58:
Toward a Do-Nothing FarmingFor thir
Page 59 and 60:
form, pruning and insect exterminat
Page 61 and 62:
Returning to the SourceLeaning agai
Page 63 and 64:
from nature, they spin out further
Page 65 and 66:
the sprayed fields. Then it dawned
Page 67 and 68:
Humanity Does Not Know NatureLately
Page 69 and 70:
It is impossible for specialized re
Page 71:
as it sometimes does, you might not
Page 76 and 77:
that the plow is essential for grow
Page 78 and 79:
the first place. The farmer also ha
Page 80 and 81:
Using straw, green manure, and a li
Page 82 and 83:
of their "remedy" If the situation
Page 84 and 85:
and rye can be successfully grown w
Page 86 and 87:
First the unhulled rice seed is soa
Page 88 and 89:
or lupine might prove a more suitab
Page 90 and 91:
next year and reported that the tes
Page 92 and 93:
Threshing the crop with the traditi
Page 94 and 95:
Straw Helps to Copewith Weeds and S
Page 96 and 97:
Rice plants grown in a dry field do
Page 98 and 99:
should and that it has the ideal sh
Page 100 and 101:
Orchard TreesI also grow several va
Page 102 and 103:
that, the problem will generally ta
Page 104 and 105:
90 pounds and more was a big job, b
Page 106 and 107:
cutting back the weeds [During the
Page 108 and 109:
animal manure and human waste, thin
Page 110 and 111:
Chinese leeks, once planted, will c
Page 112 and 113:
The Terms for Abandoning ChemicalsT
Page 114 and 115:
hundred plants, ten or twenty perce
Page 116 and 117:
Limits of the Scientific MethodBefo
Page 118:
You hear a lot of talk these days a
Page 122 and 123:
eaching action could be decided upo
Page 124 and 125:
A Modest Solutionto a Difficult Pro
Page 126 and 127:
uilt as well. When solutions develo
Page 128 and 129:
ten to twenty times higher than sea
Page 130 and 131:
that is not fresh can be sold becau
Page 132 and 133:
At this point the question arises a
Page 134 and 135:
Commercial Agriculture Will FailWhe
Page 136 and 137:
trees. Furthermore, the white legho
Page 138 and 139:
Research for Whose Benefit?When I f
Page 140 and 141:
No matter how hard people try, they
Page 142 and 143:
them, the taste was completely diff
Page 144 and 145:
eyond compare. Even moths, if you s
Page 146 and 147:
Each person should ponder seriously
Page 148 and 149:
nationwide by the government's agri
Page 150 and 151:
production is again being advocated
Page 152 and 153:
Simply Serve Nature and All Is Well
Page 154 and 155:
making money, expanding, developing
Page 156 and 157:
there will be enough food to eat, i
Page 158 and 159:
If you look across the country you
Page 160 and 161:
West takes as its point of departur
Page 162 and 163:
120
Page 164 and 165:
122
Page 166 and 167:
Japan originated with the teachings
Page 168 and 169:
When I had gone this far, the youth
Page 170 and 171: Farming, fishing, animal raising, t
Page 172 and 173: When the bamboo sends up its young
Page 174 and 175: Millet cakes are enjoyed at the aut
Page 176 and 177: The Culture of FoodWhen asked why w
Page 178 and 179: food's flavor may vary, depending o
Page 180 and 181: The best methods of food preparatio
Page 182 and 183: One might suppose that Western diet
Page 184 and 185: Summing Up DietIn this world there
Page 186 and 187: and consciously sustained. But if t
Page 188 and 189: mind. I hoped that the food mandala
Page 190 and 191: 148
Page 192 and 193: 150
Page 194 and 195: There are no modern conveniences. S
Page 196 and 197: People think that when they turn th
Page 198 and 199: Who Is the Fool?It is said that the
Page 200 and 201: “If you did nothing at all the wo
Page 202 and 203: I Was Born to Go to Nursery SchoolA
Page 204 and 205: that this rice, because it possesse
Page 206 and 207: Drifting Cloudsand the Illusion of
Page 208 and 209: active world of elementary particle
Page 210 and 211: structure is broken down, earthworm
Page 212 and 213: That night as we were finishing the
Page 214 and 215: A Village Without War and PeaceA sn
Page 216 and 217: “In nature, the world of relativi
Page 218 and 219: the hated enemy. For humans, the fi
Page 222 and 223: farmers used to compost the straw c
Page 224 and 225: 182
show all

The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?