Nel Paadam, Nalla Paadam

The NSS unit of Govt. Model V&HSS Vellanad had selected Valiyara as the participating village for the academic year 2013-14.

While interacting with the people in the village, we realised that a huge area of land which was used for paddy cultivation in previous years, was now lying idle. We started analysing the possibilities of starting paddy cultivation in a small area therein. We were encouraged to start farming by a group of local enthusiasts who had formed a 'Padashekhara Samithy'.

It was they who suggested the Palekar Model of farming.

The energetic volunteers of NSS immediately started the farming activities by learning 'on the job', and named the programme ‘Nel Paadam, Nalla Paadam’.

Zero budget farming advocated by Subash Palekar from Maharashtra is popular in different states of India. This method basically talks about mulching using agriculture waste generated from farms, mixed cropping with importance on leguminous crops and also applying a set of preparations based on cow dung and urine of traditional Indian cow.

This is called as Zero budget farming since all the required things can be found in the farm itself; hence no inputs has to be brought from outside. The most popular preparation is 'Jeewamritha' which has cow dung, cow urine, pulse powder, jaggery and a handful of soil. Jeewamritha contains lots of microbes and hence decomposition of the mulch becomes faster and earth worm activity becomes more, thereby the land becomes fertile.

Thus the NSS unit of Govt. Model V&HSS and the Padashekhara Samithy jointly launched Palekar Model Farming in small plots amounting to about 50 cents of land, from October 2013.

The entire 100 students of the NSS unit took part in the preparation of the field, preparation of the bio-fertilizer, transplanting of the seedlings etc.

The students visit the paddy field after their daily class and during holidays. They have now developed a new respect for the food they eat and have grown an appreciation for the efforts put in by the farmers of our country.