Organic Farming

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Project Description:
At the Redstone Learning Resource Centre - India, we are currently engaged in a project on organic farming. Though at present our main thrust is in the area of natural methods of pest control we would be pleased to collaborate with others in any aspect of ecological agriculture.

This is a plot of mixed organicly grown vegetables!

Our background:
We are based in a village in the Western hills of India at an altitude of 4500 ft above sea level. Our centre is located on a small organic farm. Ours is primarily a farming community and strawberries are one of the major cash crops here. Some of the other crops grown here are vegetables, millet, potatoes, sesame, wheat and rice. The 'Green Revolution' has led almost all other farmers to use pesticides and chemical fertilizers!

Here we are making compost!

In the last few years our farmers have started importing strawberry saplings from California. These are very delicate and need even higher chemical inputs. Farmers here are now facing serious pest problems like mites (which we have never had before). Mites often wipe out entire crops. The fear of loss of crop leads to an increasingly higher and regular dose of deadly pesticides ! You can imagine the impact on the ecosystem and the negative health effects for both the farmer and the consumer.

At Redstone we are experimenting on growing strawberries and other vegetables using natural inputs, making compost and other strategies to grow food organically.The farmer's children who use the GEMS Internet learning centre here are involved in the project.

We would welcome collaboration of any sort. Even a one time message, sharing tested and successful strategies of organic pest control and methods to boost crop yield.

Spraying an herbal mix on strawberry plants.

We would also be happy to have a discussion on any aspects of ecological/sustainable agriculture.

Looking forward

Warmly,

Mona
India
redstone@vsnl.com