Organic farming tripled her profits

“Organic farming appealed to me because it involved searching for and discovering nature’s pathways, as opposed to the formulaic approach of chemical farming. The appeal of organic farming is boundless; this mountain has no top, this river has no end.”

- Eliot Coleman

Twenty years of hard work and devotion has made Kalaivani from Vellitiruppur, Tamil Nadu, a celebrity of sorts in the organic farming circles in Erode district and beyond. Kalaivani, a single mother of three, took to farming after the loss of her husband almost two decades ago. Since then, she has grown all the crops on her farm without using chemical or synthetic pesticides or fertilisers. Over the last few years, she has focused her time and energy on growing organic cotton.

People often associate cotton crops with parched lands and farmer suicides but Kalaivani insists that cotton can be profitable when grown organically. Organic inputs like panchagavya and jeevamritham, both of which contain cow dung as their main ingredient, not only improve the crop yield but also enrich the soil. Organic pesticides and growth promoters can be made at no extra costs. Farm and cattle leftovers can be effectively used to conjure up a host of different potions to boost plant growth and immunity.

Cotton is a six-month crop. Flowers bloom when the crop is a month and a half old, and the unripe fruit grows at the end of two months. During the first three months, the farmers concentrate on providing overall nourishment to the plant. Once the flowers appear, the field is flooded with water mixed with organic input like jeevamritham and amrithakaraisal. As a result, the soil is thoroughly nourished and there is improved earthworm activity. A potion made from leaves called arappelaicharu is added to the soil and organic pest repellents are sprayed. In an acre of land, pots filled with neem seed concentrate are placed at five or six places. This takes care of the insects that frequent fields during the night. The insects are attracted by the smell but when they land on the neem solution, they die. The pod doesn’t burst until the fourth month. At the end of four months, the fruits slowly dry up and dehisce, or split open. Cotton picking commences a few days after the first burst. The first three months pass in anticipation of a fruitful, pest-free harvest.

"In her spare time, Kalaivani travels to villages in the vicinity, to spread the word, encouraging farmers to switch to organic farming"

In conventional farming, even if a single insect is spotted, the field is bombarded by chemical pesticides. What most farmers fail to understand is that when they spray insecticides, they destroy insects that benefit plants along with the pests.

On an average, a farmer invests around Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000 for an acre of organic cotton. This includes the cost of seeds, preparation of land, and wages. Organic cotton is sold at a higher rate compared to those grown using chemical fertilisers and pesticides. When chemicals are used, the crop lasts around six months and cotton can be picked three times at the most. When purely organic input is used, the crop stands for more than six months, which also means that it can be picked more than three times. More cotton means more money. In addition, over time, the quality and texture of the soil improves and the amount of water required for the crop’s sustenance substantially reduces.

In conventional farming, by spending about Rs.20,000 on cleaning the field, ploughing, spraying pesticides, labour charges etc., a farmer makes a profit of about Rs.15,000 per acre. In the case of organic farming, the yield increases to about 13 to 15 quintals of cotton per acre by using a variety called MCU 5. After deducting the input cost of around Rs.10,000, the net profit is around Rs.80,000 per acre.

Wouldn’t it be wise to triple profits without the use of pesticides and weedicides by going the organic way? Moving away from chemical farming has proved to have lasting effects on the soil as well as on the yield per acre, says Kalaivani. In her spare time, Kalaivani travels to villages in the vicinity, to spread the word, encouraging farmers to switch to organic farming.