SAM Farmers Cultivated Dhaincha to Revive Soil Fertility Through Green Manure

As part of the sustainable farm practices, Mukti is encouraging farmers to grow legume crops that can help revive soil fertility and reduce their input costs on chemical fertilizers. The strategy involved is to plough the crops into the soil giving it a treat of green manure.

Dhaincha, a legume is a green manure crop. The legumes draw their own nitrogen from the atmosphere and help rejuvenate soil with low nitrogen conditions adding substantially to the yield of the next crop. Mukti farmers are already familiar with the strategy that avoids the direct cost of chemical fertilizers. Once the plants are grown up to around two feet in height, farmers root them out and mix them with soil. The plants, that have pods and roots bearing nodules containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria, work wonders once they are mixed with soil. Most of the farmers cultivate it before the Kharif season in the district.

About 550 farmers of 8 villages of Nagendrapur and Kankandighi Gram Panchayat have been assisted with Dhaincha seeds under the supervision of Mukti Agriculture Department- SAM (Sustainable Agricultural Movement). Each of them has been provided with 2-3 Kg. Dhaincha seeds as per their cultivation land. They have spread the Dhaincha seeds on their own paddy fields for use as the main source of organic manure. After 40 to 45 days they will mix the Dhaincha plants into the soil with a power tiller or tractor from which they will get a lot of nitrogen fertilizer and green manure that is very suitable for paddy cultivation.