Why NATURAL? How do a Plant/Tree grow...?

"THE GREAT AGRICULTURAL CHALLENGE"  was written by Bharat Mansata. The book was basically based on Bhaskar Save's "KALPAGA VIRUKSHA" - a multistage agricultural plantation.

Kalpa Viruksha

 It is located along the sea shore of Gujarat state, spread over 14 acres. Farm consists of many plantations like coconut, sapota, vegetables, paddy and so on, all grown under natural farming method - no chemical fertilizers are being used. Most importantly, the farm has a spectacular yield of 400 coconuts per tree and 300 kg sapota per tree per year.

 

When Masanobu Fukuoko visited the farm, he was in wonders. "This is the best farm in the World. The farm is way better than my farm that i maintain at Japan" was his wordings in the Visitor's book of Kalpa Viruksha farm.

Bhaskar Save, was typically from a farming family and a great follower of Gandhiji. He worked as a teacher for nearly a decade and after that he stepped into agriculture. He strongly believed the lines "Practice makes a man perfect" and initially he was in farming using chemicals. But in early 1960s, he realised that the chemical fertilizers are just boosting the initial cost of cultivation and blindly depletes the soil and its biological properties. Stop not, he started to explore about how much energy a plant is absorbing from soil for its growth.

In 17th century, John Stanurar, an European medical practitioner made a study on a shrub named "VILLA" (European Shrub). He planted it in a pot and before that he weighed the weight of soil in that pot. Watered the plant using rain water, and in 5 years it had grown as a small tree weighing 70.5 kgs. He uprooted the herb and weighed the soil. Miracle, the loss in soil was a meager 60 gms. Instead the soil was found with roots and many micro-organisms. Finally, he finished his research by saying "Plant doesn't take anything from the soil within the pot. Something outside the pot helps in growth of the plant."

On the basis of this research, Mr.Save planned to study the growth of plants. Planted a cucumber seed weighing 3-4 gms in a pot, the soil used was from his own farm. After 90 days, the plant had grown with 2 fruits weighing 5 kg and 3 kg each. He collected all the remainings of plant like leaves that weighed 600 gms, a total of 8Kg 600grams. But, there was no difference in the weight of soil.

Previously, a scientific study said a plant gains 94% of its weight from AIR and WATER. (44% oxygen + 44% carbon dioxide from AIR and 6% Hydrogen from WATER) Bhaskar Save's research also ascertained the same.

For a plant to produce starch (fruit/vegetable), it uses the sunlight. Meanwhile, water air and soil helps the plant to conveniently do the process of PHOTOSYNTHESIS. As a whole, the plant, the tree, the microbes, the worms, the insects, the animals all function as one single SOCIETY to produce various food products namely fruits/vegetables/ pulses/ cereals.

THE ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THIS WILL NEVER EVER THINK OF USING CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS IN FARMING ACTIVITIES...!!!