Organic Tulsi -
A New Revolution In Farming

Indian Express Newsline,
Jan 28, 2003

In the early hours on August 10, last year, our jeep heading for the Kamhenpur village on the border of the district. Five people sat in the jeep, which included two Indians, one German and two Israelis They were all fellow travelers attracted towards Azamgargh. Kamhenpur is like any ordinary village of Uttar Pradesh. Men wear 'lungis' half wrapped up to their hips, undershirt covering the upper part of body, while the women are clad in traditional saree-blouse and salwar- kurta combinations.

There was nothing special about the village except there was no evidence of modem farming. No modern farming machines, tractors or harvesters could be seen running there. But there were enough hints of a new revolution in farming unfolding in the village in the green- shrubby farms of Kamhenpur village unlike other villages of the area. We were greeted with the traditional "Namaste, Namaste", as we reached the front courtyard of a Haveli owned by Surendra Singh, an influential farmer of the area. Kamhenpur village is situated on the other side of the Tamsa River. The total population is 200. The total area under cultivation is 1200 acres which is sub-divided before into small holdings. Most peasants are Thakurs. But what attracts visitors to this unknown, desolate hamlet. Immediately after crossing the haveli of Singh brothers, a landscape gradually emerges before the eyes full of aromatic breeze and saintly shrubs. The village has adapted to Tulsi farming growing for last three years in a big way due to the untiring efforts of Dr. Narendra Singh, a strong supporter of Ayurvedic way of life. Singh has spent more than three decades on research on Tulsi. It is the first step towards organic farming, and each farmer is earning around Rs. 20,000 per season, almost three times more than the income a peasant had been earning before. Organic farming is not a new concept among Indian farmers. They have been familiar with it for more than 40 centuries now. Sir Albert Howard in his book "An Agricultural Testament", has writ ten about the oriental farming in the following words. "What is happening today in the small fields of India and China was happening many centuries ago. There is no need to study history records or to pay a visit to the remains of the megalithic fanning of the Andes.

The agricultural practices of the orient have passed the supreme test - they are almost as permanent as those of the primeval forest, of the prairie or of the ocean"

These are not just sentiments about eastern agricultural system, the time has proved it to be the most natural and sustainable. It is the modern agricultural, mostly western agricultural way that has hurt the earth and food, animals and birds equally. The rebirth qualities of soil have been frozen and we are killing insects by chemi cals. Fungicides and pesticides on the one hand are killing the productive capability of the soil, in every scientific agricultural action on it. The 80-year-old, Japanese farmer, Masanobu Fukuoka, who has established natural farming worldwide, says, "The irony is that science has served only to show how small human knowledge is" (pp. 28-29, the One Straw Revolution). Kamhenpur village and its inhabitants want to go back to nature after a span of almost three decades of practicing modem farming, by adopting organic farming in their fields under the guidance of the ORGANIC INDIA Move ment. They are growing Rama Tulsi, Krishna Tulsi and Van Tulsi on the 165 acres land. Tulsi cultivation has been increasing every year. "Modern farming failed me and there was no way out for me but to fall back on Organic farming which saved me and my family," says Kailash Singh, a villager. "Now I am happy. Tulsi is sacred medicinal plant worshipped by every Indian. Mother Tulsi has be stowed upon me a sustainable future". Other fellow farmers support this experience.