Folk rice conservation at Falta, South 24 Parganas,

Bhattadighi FRV

Organic Farming and Folk Rice Gangarampur WB

Folk Rice Conservation at Susinia, Bankura part II

Folk Rice Conservation Effort at Susunia Part 1

Biodiversity Conservation Farm of Agricultural Training Centre: Fulia: Nadia: West Bengal : India at Glance

Agricultural Training Centre: Fulia: Nadia: WB

• Established in 1952 having 15 acres of land, 86 km north of Kolkata
• Imparts training for field level workers of the department and farmers.
• The attached demonstration farm has an orchard of Mango, Litchi, Coconut, Jackfruit, folk rice varieties, vegetables and cattle
• Declared Biodiversity Conservation Farm under the aegis of Biodiversity ACT, Govt of India-2002 by the Directorate of Agriculture, WB in 2006
• Among the 150 nos state run farms, it is the state’s only organic farm
• Organic farming started in 2001 with 5 folk rice varieties by Dr Anupam Paul
• Folk rice varieties were collected from VRIHI( www.cintdis.org), different farmers, DRCSC (WB) different states like Odisha ( Sambhab, and Living Farms), UP (J P Singh of Benaras),Kerala (Thanal, Save Our Rice Campaign),Karnataka (Sahaja Samrudha), Jharkhand( PRADAN, Soumik Banerjee), Maharastra, Assam and Nagaland and exchanged seed with them.
• Out of 300 folk varieties transplanted in 2013 kharif, 39 varieties scented, 31 deep water, 25 short duration, 23 high yielding and 22 are medium to fine grained varieties. It has some special rice – red and black rice, double grained, seeds with an extension of empty glume, deep water, salt tolerant varieties.
• Number of tillers vary from 8-65 and it is also dependent on many factors.
• Morphological studies are conducted, university research scholars are studying.
• It is grown organically by applying cattle and liquid manure produced in the farm
• Single Plant Transplanting ( SPT) method is followed for folk rice (spacing10 x 10 inch), ball method ( after J P Singh) of seedling raising is recently introduced
• A four yearlong study conducted here shows that organically grown folk rice Kerala Sundari (a selection from Purulia district of WB) can compete with modern HYVs with organic matter only, yielding 4.5 t/ha. Some other varieties can give grain yield of 5-6 t / ha.
• The sandy loam farm soil has low Phosphate ( 48kg) and Potassium ( 90kg/ha) but the soil microbes (Colony forming units) and saprozoic nematodes are very high, a key to organic farming, it gives good growth and disease-pest free yield.
• Fifteen seed centres are active in the farmers’ fields of West Bengal from the folk seeds taken from the centre. One centre in Sundarban maintains 280 varieties.
• Seeds of 126 folk rice varieties were received by the farmers in 2013 who give due regard to the intrinsic value of seed. This has set a new record in the history of Govt farms India.

Distribution of Folk Rice seed and Seedlings (last 6 years)

Year of Production	Year of Distribution	No of  varieties distributed	No of recipients farmers
2009	2010	50	56
2010	2011	Year of severe drought	Only panicles were collected
2011	2012	74	121
2012	2013	126	80
2013	2014	100	40
2014	2015	80	66
2015	2016	170	70

                                  Dr Anupam Paul, WBAS, Assistant Director of Agriculture

Agricultural Training Centre: Fulia: Nadia: WB

anupampaul99@gmail.com

Artificial Pollination of Pointed Gourds in West Bengal

On behalf of Muskaan Jaivik SHG, Village Pangna, Teh Karsog, Himachal Pradesh  Ashsih Gupta took the lead role for arranging  a meeting  on Organic Folk Rice Cultivation Techniques and SRI from 6th 8th May 2016 . It was a successful event. 

The programme. 

Day 1 – 6 May 2016  0900-1000 – Registration 10-1015 – Welcome Note – Ashish Gupta/Som Krishan/Nek Ram Sharma 1015-1045 – Introduction on Rice W o r k s h o p – S R I – T o o l s Presentation – Introduction of trainers - Ashish Gupta 1045-1115 – Lecture and display of Traditional Rice farming in Karsog Area – Field Preparation – Tools – Measures – Harvest - Som Krishan and Nek Ram Sharma 1115-1145 – Tea Break 1145-1215 – Hill Rice Varieties – Water Conservation - Pest Control and Organic Mixed Cultivation in Uttarakhand - Baranaja – Vijay Jardhari 1215-1230 – Q&A 1230-1400 – Lunch 1415-1445 – Folk Rice Seed Morphology - Identification – Mu l ti pl ic a ti o n a n d S a v i n g techniques and Qualities – Variety display and quality details - Anupam Paul 1445-1500 – Q&A 1500-1530 – Crop Cutting Experiment for Yeilds Estimation - Theory – Anupam Paul and Soumik Banerjee 1530-1630 – Crop Cutting Experiment – Demonstration - Anupam Paul and Soumik Banerjee 1630-1700 – Tea 1715-1745 – SRI Introduction and Tools to be used Demonstration Lecture – Jacob Nellithanam 1900 – Films for children. 

Day 2 – 7 May 2016  0900 – 1200 – (1115-1145 – Tea Break) Demonstration - SRI Field Preparation – Marking – Transplanting – Tool Identification Usage and Adjustments, repair and maintenance – Jacob Nellithanam/Soumik Banerjee 1300-1400 – Lunch 1415-1445 – Green Manuring – Biomass Management – Pest Control - Hill Cultivation in Jharkhand - SCI Intervention in various other crops – Lecture – Soumik Banerjee 1445-1500 Q&A 1500-1600 – Demonstration - Intercropping Rice with Millets and other vegetables – Jacob Nellithanam 1615-1630 – Tea 1630-1730 – Demonstration - Mixed cropping systems in Uttarakhand – Baranaja – Vijay Jardhari 1900 – Film Screening for Children in the nearby Villages

Day 3 – 8 May 2016  0900-1100 – Open Discussion on Medicinal varieties, nutritional information and Post Harvest Storage Processing and Marketing – Panel of all trainers – moderated by Ashish Gupta 1100-1200 – Visit/Interaction by School Children to Organic farm visit and film screening – Q&A 1200 – 1230 – Thank you note and felicitation of trainers – Ashish Gupta/Som Krishan/Nek Ram 1300 – Lunch and See Off

                                                                 Ashish Gupta

                                               Practicals BARAOANAJ by Bijoy Jhardhari

                                                                Soumik Banerjee

                                                           Land Preparation - Ashish and Somu

                                                 Single Plant Transplanting = SRI

                                                      Single Plant Transplanting = SRI

                                                            Bijoy Jhardhari

                                                  Women Seed Savers of Kangra Valley

                                                               Agril Implement

                                                                       Film show

                                                               School children

                                                         Jecob Nellithanam 

Folk Rice Conservation in Chattisgarh

Folk Rice Conservation in Chattisgarh

Folk Rice Conservation in Chattisgarh

Aditya is speaking on millet and its diversity in Kandhamal of Odisha In...

       Paschim Sridhrakathi Janakalyan Sanghya of  Jogeshgunj, Hingalgunj Block , North 24 Parganas , WB , India has organized a  fair on 18th March to 21st March 2016 at Jogeshgunj at the remotest corner of West Bengal in Sundarban to showcase folk rice seeds, folk vegetables and items made from rice. There were enthusiasm among the farmers of that area, women  SHG group were very keen to participate in the programme. I have not seen such a spontaneous participation from people. Though the capacity of the organization is small but their sincere effort made it a successful one.
     There were 159 rice products. Rice flour was used to fry different edible leafy vegetables and sweets. Farmers were asked to bring at least three folk rice seeds; but on an average each farmer showed more than 20 folk rice seeds and 121 farmers displayed their seeds.
 There were more than 78 types of  seeds  of different vegetables along with live exhibits.

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