Allahabad :

After a hard work of three months, a group of women succeeded in carving a niche for themselves by yielding multi-layers vegetable and fruit production in Narwal Patti village of Muratganj block of Kaushambi.

The group of women led by Momi Dey, who sowed seeds of various crops in February this year through multi-layer organic farming technique, are now set to earn Rs 2.5 to 3 lakh annually.

Women used vermi-compost as fertilisers in around one beegha of land while sowing seeds. They yielded prodution of ginger, spinach (palak), bottle gourd (lauki), ridged gourd (torai), green potato (parwal), bitter gourd (karela), lady fingers (bhindi), papaya etc.

Momi Dey, who spearheaded the initiative and formed the group of 12 women told TOI, “We have been successful in growing different varieties of vegetables and fruit in four layer of organic farming”. She further added that, “We have produced crop of ginger in first layer, green potato, bottle guard, ridged gourd, and bitter gourd in second layer, papaya in third layer and spinach on ground level. The crop of bottle gourd, ridged gourd and green potato was produced through machan (platform) cultivation.

Dey further said, “We have used only vermi-compost to maintain the taste of vegetable and fruits. Multi-layer farming is the best way for utilisation of field to grow many crops in a limited space”.

Vandana Gautam, another volunteer said, “More and more women have come forward to learn the basics about multi-layer farming in Kaushambi and Allahabad villages.” She further added that this was the first time when local women in the district had used the multi-layer organic farming technique.

The women focussed on the quality of the crops and vegetables and for that, seeds were sown on different heights in the same field. Dey, meanwhile, said under multi-layer farming different crops of varying heights and rooting pattern are cultivated together. She has also been imparting training to other farmers of the block briefing them about advantages of the techniques.

Dey had learnt about multi-layer crop production while training agricultural-expert Akash Chaurasia in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. Chaurasia is one of the experts who is credited with introducing multi-layer farming in the country.

City based Agro experts, however, said, “The objective of multi-layer farming is to utilise the vertical, horizontal and underground space more effectively. In this method, the tallest components have foliage of strong light and high evaporative demand. The shorter components with foliage require lesser shade and or relatively high humidity.”

Currently, majority of farmers opt for multi-layer farming using only cow urine and dung as manure. More importantly, “The income of farmers have increased substantially. Besides, the multi-layer technique also ensured a steady supply of farm products throughout the year.’

Multi-layer farming helps maximise the use of land and all growing space is used as crops are planted together vertically, horizontally and underground,” said an agricultural official adding, that it also enriches the fertility of the soil and adds organic nutrients to soil.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Allahabad News / by Kapil Dixit / TNN / May 22nd, 2018