A 60 years old farmer M S Subrahmanyam Raju is a Hyderabad-based farmer. He is a graduate student in the subject of Science . His approach towards looking for the newer and advanced agricultural methods of cultivation has made him a passionate agriculturist. He has been working in this field for about a decade. But it has been only few months from now that he has completely shifted his focus to Organic farming.
Talking with The Better India , he shares that he has been often called to share his ideas on the notion of organic farming. Sharing his views he elaborates on how to transform pH (potential of hydrogen) 8 or above (alkaline soil) into a fertile land. With his this approach he was successful in transforming several hundreds of acres of chowdu bhoomi (alkaline soil) taking just last few years of time.
Chowdu Bhoomi is a piece of land that does not absorb any water. The soil is hard and compact.It then becomes stiff since there is no penetration of water. Hence the flora growing here are running short of nutrients hence vulnerable to diseases. Thsi can result in low yields and dead plants. The alkaline soil abstains the seeds to germinate well. The state of Telangana is comprised of lakhs of acres of land as our country is a land of agriculture.
According to Raju, He says “Since the topsoil becomes hard, its infiltration capacity reduces substantially. This results in rainwater stagnating on the soil easily .During summers cultivation is hardly possible without ample irrigation water and good drainage.” As such soil is less soluble the chances of the soil absorbing nutrients which are essential for plant growth is terribly reduced. “We have many such farmers who despite having huge fields fail to grow anything since their lands are alkaline in nature,” he says.
He further explains stating- “For the land to be considered viable for agriculture it is essential to have a pH (potential of hydrogen) value of 7. Anything that falls below or above (pH below 6 and above 8) makes the soil unviable for a majority of crop cultivation. For example, a pH level below 6 is suitable for specific crops like tea, berries, etc. In my years of experimentation, I have successfully been able to convert land with a pH level of 4 to a pH level of 10 and neutralize the soil”
Till date, he is successful in converting more than 400 acres of alkaline land into a fertile land.
Talking over an interview he spoke about the investments he is in need of. He said that “The process by itself is not expensive. What one needs to ascertain is a good source of water supply and the initial information of soil pH level. ” Adding on talking about the data specifics he said on an average, it will cost Rs 2,000 to 6,000 per acre/ per season. This is totally dependent on the pH value that the soil requires to be converted. In case one wishes to create a change to last for two seasons then the cost will be a bit less.” He believes in working with tiny microbes , bacteria and organic compost. This can neutralise the soil and make a fertile land to work on. He regularly visits his farm and believes in carrying out the work by himself. He states that its important to mark his presence since the procedure is easy and could be explained to a fellow farmer.
The technique aids in transforming the land into a range of pH levels which is customized to the crop grown. He has developed an expertise in increasing and decreasing the pH levels substantially whenever needed. This solely depends on the crop in focus.