Koottu-Mundakan - A unique paddy cultivation method

This is about Koottu-Mundakan method of paddy cultivation which is done in some areas of Kerala. The report about this came in Kerala Karshakan, June 2011 and March 2012.

In Kerala there are three seasons of paddy -

Virippu (1st crop)         -      April-May to Sept-Oct

Mundakan (2nd crop)   -      Sept-Oct to Dec-Jan

Puncha (3rd crop)        -      Dec-Jan to March-April

In some areas because of flooding, sowing of paddy in Mundakan is not possible. In those areas people follow this method, where in short-term-variety and long-term-variety of paddy seeds are sown in 60:40 or 70:30 ratio. Once the land is prepared for sowing, for the second crop there is no need to again spend money/time in land preparation. When 1st crop is harvested 2nd crop paddy also will be cut, but it will grow back and mature..found it amazing. As per the report - 1st harvesting is done in Aug-Sept and 2nd harvest in Dec-Jan.

Traditionally paddy varieties Kattamotan-Chettiadi, Chenkazhama-Chettiadi, Thavalakkannan-Chettiadi were used. Chettiadi when cultivated alone matures in 2nd crop season. It has the biological clock set in correctly so that even when sown during the first crop season, it matures in the 2nd crop season. It grows tall to a height of 5-6 feet. Another combination using HYVs - Samyuktha and Makaram. Samyuktha is red rice with 112-117 days, 125cm-130cm height and does not lodge. Makaram is taller than 'Samyuktha'' and lodges. Samyuktha gives 1.5-2 tons of paddy and 4 tons of straw per hectre. Makaram gives 5 tons of paddy and 5 tons of straw per hectre. These combinations are tried out in Pattambi, Palakkad.

Another combination is Thavalakkannan and Kuttadan varieties. Kuttadan is a traditional rice with 10 months duration. This is cultivated in some paddy fields where there will be always standing water, once the monsoon starts. This does not require any fertilizer, weeding, but still gives around 1.5 to 1.8 tons per acre. The rice seed has 2 inch long awn with it and rice is red rice and is very tasty. The porridge (kanji) with this rice tastes like 'Pal kanji' (Rice porridge with milk).  When cultivated in Koottu-Mundakan system thavalakannan will be harvested in September and during the harvesting, Kuttadan will be stamped, but after the harvest it comes back. This is particularly called as 'Chavittikuttadan'.' Chavitti' in malayalam means stamped.

Talked to Sreekumar who is a poojari in Vettikottu Nagaraja Swami temple who had done this type of cultivation. (http://www.vetticodenagarajatemple.com/) . He used 'Bhagya' paddy seed for the 1st crop and 'Dhanu' for the 2nd crop. Harvest details from 1 acre.

1st crop - 1000Kg paddy and 1500 kg straw

2nd crop - 1500Kg paddy and 2000Kg straw

Straw fetches 1000/- rupees per 100Kg and total cost of cultivation is 5000-6000/ rupees.

Later talked to one friend and he confirmed this is practiced in Vellinezhi, Palakkad.

Recently visited one farm where 'Chettiadi' is cultivated in Koottumundakan. Chettiadi coming up after the first harvest is over.

Suresh (9744482450) from Kannur district, Kuttiattor village, Kuruvottu moola does Koottu-Mundakan using Mundakan and Kayama variety. He got into this since there is labor shortage. Mundakan variety is 10 months duration and Kayama is 4 months duration. Using tiller land is tilled and seeds of Mundakan-Kayama is sown in 10:4 ratio, by April 2nd week. Seedlings of 40-45 days old is transplanted with 5-6 seedlings so that at least one Mundakan seedlings, at a distance of 15cms. After two weeks weeding is done and he also applies factomfose chemical fertilizer. Kayama will be harvested in September and Mundakan also gets cut during harvest, but it comes back fast. There will be 10-20 tillers in Mundakan.

Kayama gives a yield of 1300Kgs and Mundakan 1800Kgs per acre. Total expense per acre is 10,000/-

Few experiments with sun-hemp

I have been thinking about replacing the grass in my farm with some legume. Ferility in my farm was improving with just grass growing all around. Fukuoka san advises this in one straw revolution and he had clover in the mandarin orchard which made the land fertile quickly. Recently had gone through presentation by B.N.Nandish and he concludes that a few monocot grasses won't make land fertile and hence advises legumes.Organic farmer Manoj from Wayanad told in one conversation that if we keep mulching the plants may develop a yellowish color for some time and it will vanish by itself later. The yellowish color is because of the nitrogen deficiency which gets created on adding more carbon and microbes consumes nitrogen from soil. But they don't take it way, once they die, it again becomes available for plants.

Some information which I got from an article on looking for this specific information.



The amount of nitrogen available for plants is determined by the net balance between the rate of nitrogen mineralized from decomposing organic matter and the rate of nitrogen that is immobilized by growth of soil microbes.
Microbes are considered to be stronger competitors than plants for nitrogen . In soils where nitrogen is limited, microbes generally outcompete plants for nitrogen, resulting in plant nutrient deficiencies and decreased plant growth. In fertile soils, there may be enough nitrogen to adequately support both microbial and plant growth. 

So I thought of trying some legume, my earlier experiments with cow pea/black gram was not that successful. So thought of trying daincha or sun-hemp. Got 3 Kgs of these from coimbatore and since I read sun-hemp can grow in drought condition also, so broadcasted some in summer among grass, which didn't sprout. A few seeds were put in soil and watered it once and it sprouted well and grew up. It is growing really tall, not it is around 5.5 ft height. Made some raised bed for planting ginger, turmeric etc and broadcasted some seeds, this was done after rain had started. On three raised beds they are growing thick and green and no competition from grass and they produce enough mulching material. Typically turmeric and ginger is planted with hay or coconut husk as mulch which is brought from outside. If farmers can grow sun-hemp for two months and then plant ginger/turmeric this can be avoided. This is easily possible in permanent raised beds.

Recently on one paddy field I broadcasted sun-hemp and then cut and mulched the grass above this. This also has sprouted well and I am looking to grow rice on this place in the next season. There is a threat from cow grazing, if this doesn't happen I will be able to try paddy on sun-hemp legume.

I also have bought 10 Kgs of sun-hemp and planning to put in coconut orchard... will come up with this experience later.

Paddy experiment in Monsoon 2011

After failing two times, I thought of doing the paddy in small area. When my first experiment in monsoon 2010 failed, I thought it will be good that if I till the land it will become alright. After harvesting (just got 4Kgs) the paddy of monsoon 2010, I tilled the land using a tractor and broadcasted the seeds and allowed water to stand. But the next day, water was less and lot of the seeds were eaten by peacocks and seeds germinated in only some area. I wanted to try seed balls, but couldn't make it in large scale.Where there was more water, some came up and grew well and it was about to mature it was eaten by goats which some one let free for grazing. My tilling experiment also failed so thought of trying no-till on small area.


Below is  my experiment in Monsoon 2011


In the January had made some raised beds and kept it mulched. The reason for going for this was since I thought small area means I can manage it all alone and also will have sufficient mulching material. If it is successful can replicate it to more area. My paddy field size is about 0.7 acres and I just used around 4 cents (0.04 acre) for this experiment. Also I wanted to see if paddy grows well on the mulched beds and to check if mulching controls the weeds sufficient for growing paddy. On some beds I transplanted paddy seedlings of around 13 days old, but planting on the raised bed was difficult because of mulch. So had to keep the top mulch on one side and then plant. Worked for a day and could complete only couple of beds and it was very tedious job. On another 4 beds sown the seeds and cut and mulched the grass around.

On some beds I am growing sun hemp so that in the next season I can grow paddy. Sun-hemp is growing well and no grass is seen on these beds. Generally I feel, if there is enough mulching done and do not till the land, growth of weeds is less and paddy can be grown. Also there is some minimal grass, cutting and mulching that is much easier. I will keep all posted about the development and will share some photos soon.

Correct mulching method for weed control - Bhaskar Save's way of farming

I am reading Vision of Natural farming by Bharat Mansata about Bhaskar Save's way of farming. Mulching method followed by Bhaskar Save..

**** Begin ****

Weeds cut from a plot of 100 sq.ft will never provide a thick enough layer to fully cover entire 100 sq. ft. It may be adequate for 40 sq. ft or for 25 sq ft or perhaps just 10 sq.ft, depending on density of weed growth.If sunlight penetrates through a layer of mulch that is too thin (less than 3 inches), weeds may grow back vigorously again.More over, with light mulching, cut weeds will not come in close, direct contact with the soil, to enable the soil organisms to do their work of decomposition.In such condition weeds will just dry up in air,without getting integrated in the soil as humus (My opinion about this statement is that it will happen, but may take more time??)

Thus, if 25 sqft is the area that can be adequately mulched, at least 3 to 4 inches thick, with the weeds from 100 sqft that is what the farmer should stick to, unless additional biomass can be obtained from an external source.The fresh weed growth from balance 75 sqft would again need to be mulched on a quarter of that area.....

********* end **********

This made sense to me, since in my paddy field the mulching was not sufficient and weeds growth were more. If I had focussed on a smaller area from grass from other areas and slowly convert the whole area, it would have been much better.

Recently I made some raised beds and kept on mulching them with weeds from nearby places, walkways and they are building up nicely. If everything goes well, I may plant paddy on these raised beds.

Making friends with dogs

This is not exactly farming related..but some experience in dealing with dogs on the way to my farm. It has been 3 years since I bought the farm, but since last year after moving to Palakkad,Kerala my visits are more frequent, at least 2-3 days in a week. Earlier it was once in 2/3 months and that time I used to take my sister's car and never realised the issues with dog.

On the first day I got down from the bus and started walking towards the farm and had a big-shopper (kind of a bag made out of cloth) with me with my lunch/water. A pomeranian came barking at me and it was really ferocious, I some how defended with my bag and I came to know that I got some extra courage to deal with the situation. This house had 3 pomeranians and two were tied but one was roaming around freely, there was no one at the house and they had no gates, but there is a fencing for the compound. I was really angry that they don't tie the dogs, but there was no one to shout at. On the way back, I carried a stick to defend the dogs. The same dog again came barking at me and but since I had the stick, it didn't come that close. The owner of the dog were there, I complained to him about the dog and he said, it does not bite,just barks. I had a heated argument with him and he asked me, even if he ties the dog, there are more on the road, so it is not useful. But strongly argued to him he should take care of his dogs.

Later I realised that there are more dogs on the way. There is one black dog which is very old but will bark at me and he does not come out of his boundary so I was not much bothered at him. Then I found another two dogs one black and white pomeranian another local variety and both come out of their boundary and comes directly at me barking. Then there is one more old dog which also does not come out of his house, even though there is no gate for that compound also. All this made my life miserable and I carry a stick and some day they come barking at me and I defend them with sticks. The white pomeranian comes running at me and I  became very scared. I also heard that the same dog had bitten one person a month back. 

But with the stick I was able to defend them nicely. 6-7 months passed and still dogs didn't get familiar with me or since I carry the stick they were always in the hostile mood. I again had some arguments with the owner of the white pomeranian and once with his wife. Some people started making fun of me, seeing me carrying the stick.

Later a friend told me he used to throw bread pieces to calm down the stray dogs which comes attacking. I thought of trying this and bought one packet of  'Sun Feast' brand biscuit which comes at 3 rupees. I gave one biscuit to the black old dog and it ate that, next day onwards it stopped barking at me. It started coming to me wagging his tail for biscuits. White pomeranian also got adjusted to my biscuits now they don't even bark at me. There is one reddish colour dog which now comes running on seeing me and some time water drips from its mouth on seeing me at thought of biscuits. Finally I have some good friends and some time some escort me to the bus stop. But still carry the biscuits and give them one each and even if I find some new dogs I throw some biscuits and my mind has calmed down a lot while walking to my farm. The owner of the pomeranian started smiling again at me which he had stopped after I had the argument with him.

Farmers are aware of issues with pesticides/herbicides !!!!

Had a chat with the driver of the tractor who had come for ploughing my field. He may be around 25 years old and has completed his ITI degree in Mehcanical branch. He is also a farmer and has around 4 acres of paddy field. He mentioned to me if I am going to plant without puddling, then weeds may be more and herbicides may have to be used. Just out of curiosity I asked him if they uses herbicides. He uses herbicides but there is one portion they keep it for their own use and there they don't apply herbicides and apply only cow dung as manure. I was shocked to hear this and had heard about such stories but didn't know it happens in palakkad,kerala.

I just told him so you are taking care of your health and your families health and not worried about others health, he was just smiling and didn't answer my question. Once the peak season is over, he does not have job for the rest of the year. His house is to be rennovated and need money for his sister's marriage. So it looks like when there is pressure for them, they don't think about the society.

Or what could be the reason why people are not bothered about other's health and how this attitude can be changed?

Controlling weeds - Soorya Narayana's style

Soorya Narayanan is a natural farmer from Ottapalam,Palakkad,Kerala. He has 15 acres of land and grows coconut,banana,paddy and recently rubber. He does not irrigate his farm and also does not apply any animal manure. He had applied some chicken manure earlier, but not now a days. Couple of years back, he had received Kerala government's 'Kera Kesari' award for the best coconut farmer.

He does not grow any legumes between the coconut trees and just allows the grass to grow naturally. Instead of cutting the grass, he thrashes it with a long stick, he says this is more effective/easy than cutting the weeds. This is how he became a natural farmer..

He was a chemical farmer earlier and his own observations made him to a natural farmer. He found that using chemicals yield was not sufficient, land fertility was reducing and also he was under loss. So he left the land without doing anything and he was doing some other job to make a living. After two years, grass was growing tall after the rains. He wanted to cut and clean the grass, but getting labour was difficult he just thought of thrashing it with a stick. He found this useful and grass was not growing back since rain had stopped and summer was approaching. Next summer was a severe one and while the trees in the nearby farms were affected, his trees were still green. The thrashed grass retained moisture well and it was helping the trees. He really understood the importance of mulching and for him this thrashing was quite an easy task. He also left all the coconut leaves in the farm and trees started yielding well and he was chosen as the best coconut farmer for that year.