Wednesday, August 22, 2018

https://scroll.in/magazine/887024/birds-fishes-and-butterflies-meet-the-eco-managers-of-west-bengals-paddy-fields
https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/2018/08/21/youth-drive-revival-of-traditional-rice-varieties-in-west-bengal/
https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/2018/08/21/youth-drive-revival-of-traditional-rice-varieties-in-west-bengal/
https://www.earthjournalism.net/stories/reviving-traditional-rice-varieties-in-west-bengal

Monday, August 13, 2018

                                                  Conservation of  FRV 2018 at ATC Fulia

ATC Fulia has been conserving Folk Rice Varieties for the last 17 years by collecting seed across the state and India. This year more than 400 FRVs have been transplanted by July and this has set record as we have been able to transplant it by July 2018.
All the seedlings of 15 days ( approx) were transplanted singly at a spacing on 12 x 10 inch keeping 3 feet gap around  each plot. It was maintained by following the principles of  flowering asynchrony as followed Dr Debal Deb, renowned folk rice conserver and Ecologist.  Further, to prevent cross pollination we fill the plots with short duration varieties like Shatia, JP 90, Pari etc and there by  more than 500 nos of plots have been established.
We do not use any outside organic matter cattle manure etc except floating azolla , released  22 days after  first intercultural operation. It grows  and multiplies in the fields having 1 inch of water . It gives N and other nutrients besides organic matter and suppressing of weed.
Analysis of soil microbial status shows that it has nearly 10 times higher microbial population than its counterpart that is chemical farms and soil organic carbon in nearly 0. 75%. This takes care of rice growth. After rice we grow a legume - lathyrus.
This year we had to apply external input like rice flour and molasses @ 15 kg each / ha. to boost up growth in some plots.   


  • First Phase 
                                                Seedlings in earthen trays
                                   
                                                       Single Plant  Transplanting


                                                           King Fisher in search of food



                                               Transplanting of 15 days old seedling
                                                          



D Mandalghat II , Belpukur of Shyampur II Block of Howrah district West Bengal, India  has a unique feature of fish (Prawn) cum paddy culture in low lying paddy fields of Patnai 23, a long grain rice selected by Sir Daniel Hamilton during early 1920s at Gosaba block of South 24 Parganas.  More than 100 acres are covered by this tall Indica variety having duration of 145 days. Prawn comes to rice fields via a canal linked to River Hoogly.  In this stretch of land , there are 30 MUGRIS , a kind of fish catching  bamboo made  device. It is made of  narrow splits of bamboo. Initially, they get 10 kg of prawn each day by giving evening labour of 1.5 hours and one hour in the morning by 12 people . On an average 300 kg prawn ( mainly) is being harvest earning about Rs 75000/ ( Rs. 250 a kg)  and in 4.5 months time it comes to around  Rs. 3.3 lakh. They use little bit of chemical fertilisers but no pesticide  but the waste dye  from nearby Anantapur  garment (banyan) factory pollutes the rice ecosystem and hampers growth of prawn jeopardising the livelihood of the farmers. They want  this natural rice ecosystem alive for their long term livelihood. Mr Ajit Mandal is one of the leading farmers of that area.





Monday, June 18, 2018

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=d1b60310e6&view=att&th=163f3bd725e9cd78&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_jiblmn9f0&safe=1&zw


Sakshi Telugu Daily. Coverage in Telugu Daily,  6th June 2018 
 by Rambabu P 

Sunday, April 8, 2018




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