Seed ball or cube revolution

Scientists at the Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, have come up with technology that can make seed balls more viable

The seed ball has become a phenomenon now with hundreds of them being dispersed by well-intentioned people. But sadly, very few seed balls survive. “This is because everything about them is wrong — from the shape to the kind of seeds used,” says R Umarani, Professor of Seed Science and Technology at the Forest College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Mettupalayam. There is a science to making viable seed balls and Umarani’s student R Jawahar has worked on it as part of his MSc thesis.

To start off with, Jawahar has come up with ‘seed cubes’ that retain the shape even after they are planted. “The soil, when in a spherical shape, tends to disintegrate faster if exposed to water, leaving the seed exposed,” says Umarani. This is a shame, for the seed is a living being. “But the cube anchors the seed firmly in place, equipping it better to root itself.”

At a laboratory in the tree-lined campus, Jawahar shows us a wooden frame he has made with the help of a carpenter. It looks like an ice-cube tray and Jawahar has made several batches of seed cubes with it.

To make the perfect seed cube, Umarani advises that we pick the right seeds. “Clean the seeds, remove any dead ones,” she explains. To identify seeds that are alive and kicking, she suggests germinating some samples inside a layer of soil. “Those that sprout are, of course, alive. Use seeds from the batch to make seed cubes,” she says, adding that bigger seeds, such as neem, tamarind, and pungam, are ideal for the process.

What is a seed ball?

• It consists of seeds enclosed in wet soil and compost, and dried. These are thrown or sown, especially in harsh environments. The technique was popularised by organic farming pioneer Masanobu Fukuoka who wrote the book The One-Straw Revolution
• 
  

Umarani says that seeds must be subject to treatments such as ‘seed coating’ and ‘seed priming’ so that they are able to sprout in all kinds of environmental conditions. Then comes the most important part — the media used to make the cubes. She says soil, vermicompost, saw dust, arbuscular mycorrhize (a micro-organism) and guar gum that serves as an adhesive, make for the best possible media.

If this goes over your head, get in touch with the scientists at the Institute. “Spend half a day here and we can teach you how it’s done,” says Umarani. “We can in fact make the cubes for you.” These make for thoughtful return gifts. “My student Jawahar, in, fact, makes seed cubes on order,” she adds.

Umarani and Jawahar lead us to the Institute’s nursery, where we plant four seed cubes — we place them in two columns inside a cardboard frame that they’ve fashioned for the process, cover them with coconut pith and some mulch, and water them. “That’s it,” smiles Umarani. “They’ll soon be saplings.” And one day, if all goes well, strapping trees.

For details, call 9489056727. The Forest College and Research Institute is located on Kotagiri Road, Mettupalayam.

Chocolate comes from cocoa pods of chennai

Nagappa and his team of three usually have their hands full with cocoa pods. It is the fag end of harvest season, after all. But today, their attention is elsewhere.

Heavy showers that were barely felt in Chennai city hit hard on the 30-acre farm 60 kilometres away along the Tirupati highway, felling a 20-year-old mango tree near its entrance. “The farm owner, Vijay Kumar sir, is on his way from the city,” he says. His visit is a rare occurrence, so Nagappa, Kamalakanni, Meghala and Panjo are now tackling the fallen tree, hacking its parts and clearing it away. Of the 249 mango trees here, this is one they will miss everyday. Under its shade, on a rare clear patch of land, is where they spend a significant part of their day, shelling (or hacking, more like) cocoa pods.
Once he has a minute to spare, Nagappa demonstrates: He takes a plucked pod and places it on an upturned metal basket. Holding the curved, rolling fruit still with one hand, he picks up a thick, heavy stick with the other, and gives it two sharp whacks. A crack appears along the shell and he prises it open, to reveal an interior vaguely similar to that of a custard apple. It’s larger, of course, and the beans  covered in sticky sweet, white pulp  stick together in a cluster much longer. He plucks out a single little bean to taste: bite into it, and you will see a bitter, deep purple substance. That is the cocoa the world worships.

Harvest time

The farm used to have 3,000 cocoa trees. “Vardah felled many of them: we now have about 2,500 left. But we will also be planting 500 saplings brought in from Andhra,” says Nagappa. Each tree produces about 50 pods a year, a majority of them between April and May. So another part of the team’s work involves visiting each tree as often as they can, to pluck the pods before they get overripe. And how can they tell when they are just right? “You have to know each variety like your child, or they might fool you with their appearance,” smiles Nagappa. Of the four varieties, some turn helpfully yellow when ripe for plucking. Others need their harsh surface scratched by nails before they show their true colours. Yet others don’t change colour at all, “and we pluck them anyway. Especially now, with just a few weeks left in the season, they’ll invariably turn out to be ripe,” says Nagappan confidently.

He should know: he is incharge of not only the farm’s cocoa trees, but also its 250 mango trees, 400 sapota trees, 700 coconut trees and even more gooseberry (amla) trees. Some of them grow in isolated patches while others help each other out. The cocoa, for instance, can only grow in shade, and hence is planted under dense clusters of coconut trees. Large leaves of both stay untouched on the ground when shed, to fertilise the soil together.

“We start working at 8 am and wrap up by 5 pm,” says Kamalakanni, who lives on the farm with her husband while the rest go home. “We water the young trees, check for diseases and bugs, and pluck whatever is ready.” It’s not easy, when you have thousands of trees.

Once the cocoa pads are shelled, they move to fermentation. Among other clients, the farm has tied up with bean-to-bar chocolate maker Cocoatrait, which has been giving them tips on identifying different varieties, how to pluck them so as to speed up the next batch of fruit, and how to ferment. “All these factors play a big role in the final flavour of the end chocolate, so we are happy to tie up and work with farms directly,” says Nitin Chordia, founder of Cocoatrait, who has also done consulting works for farms in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Inside a closed room, pungent with a sweet stench like that of cheap wine, stands a little wooden box lined with banana leaves. It is filled to 75% capacity with cocoa beans, left to heat and ferment by themselves. The box perforated with small holes to stick a thermometer in, and is unpacked regularly to shift the beans around, ensuring equal heat throughout.

But that process takes time. As the harsh afternoon sun teases them from behind wisps of cloud, the workers take a break where the shade of the mango tree once used to be: scraping coconut from its shell and popping it in their mouth. Behind them is strewn a carpet of brick red cocoa shells.

‘Lipstick seeds’ grown by tribals in A.P.

But lack of organised trade for the non-carcinogenic seed affects growers. Lipstick is an important item on the vanity table of every woman. Available in various hues, women take pride in wearing it and making a style statement. But do they ever give a thought to how a lipstick is made?

Well, chances are that the coloured cosmetic that they adorn on their lips may have been manufactured from the non-carcinogenic lipstick seed cultivated in the backyard of Adivasi habitations in Rampachodavaram, Chaparai, and Maredumilli in Andhra Pradesh.

Regular income

Matla Adi Reddy, a 55-year-old tribal farmer from Maredumilli Agency area, has no clue about how Annatto / lipstick seeds are used. But he grows the plants in his backyard as they give him a regular income thrice in a year. To feed his family, Mr. Reddy cultivates millets on his three-acre extent of land.

“Jabra seeds, as Annatto is referred to in local parlance, can be harvested three times in a year. We sell the seeds to either the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) or businessmen, or exchange them in shandies for clothes and other cosmetics,” Mr. Reddy told The Hindu.

The seeds have a huge demand across the world as they are natural colour agents and are considered to be non-carcinogenic.

Healing properties

The seeds reportedly have healing properties and used in treating digestive disorders, weak bones, headache, neural tube defects, eye ailments and respiratory problems.

Mr. Reddy is not alone in growing the plant with spiky red and brown pods. Almost all households have it in their backyard.

Besides wild turmeric and tobacco, Annatto is the most common backyard plant in Maredumilli, Rampachodavaram, and Chaparai Agency areas, and in many parts of the Eastern Ghats.

Besides lipstick, the plant’s seed extract is used as a natural colouring agent in cheese, food preparations, bakery products and sweets across the world.

However, these rare seeds have no fixed price as there is no organised trade in the tribal areas. “Earlier, we used to sell the produce to the GCC, but they have stopped procuring it for reasons unknown. A few agents from far-off places come and buy the seeds for ₹80 to ₹100 a kg,” said 50-year-old Rudra, a small farmer near Chaparai, who also cultivates wild turmeric and tobacco. The seeds command much higher value in the international market. According to sources, about 250 tonnes of Annatto is exported from India every year, and it is mainly grown and marketed in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Odisha and Karnataka.

Choose to grow organic

Farm-to-table or garden to table are concepts that may have seemed unattainable for city dwellers with busy lives till now, but Hari Mitti will make it possible for you. The New Town-based start-up grows over 40 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs and air purifying plants that you can plant in your own homes.

If you do not have a green thumb, do not worry. Hari Mitti provides soilfree mulch lined crates that are loaded with vermicompost and cocoa peat and only bring plants to you once they are “hardy enough to survive beyond the nursery.” “Most plants need a lot of care during the seedling stage. Our aim is to take away the hassle of urban gardening. All you need to do is water them,” says founder Surhid Chandra.

Maintenance of the plants is all natural and free of harmful chemicals. “You may even call it organic but we avoid the label since there is no accounting for acid rain or even groundwater,” says Chandra. What he can vouch for is the potency of the nutrient rich greens. “We have had clients who say they cannot stomach coriander and tomatoes from the vegetable seller after growing their own,” he says.

From your garden variety beans to “exotic vegetables like bell peppers broccoli and oyster mushrooms” they grow it all. “We have studied that if one opts for about 30 to 35 crates, then a family of three can sunstain on what they grow and need to only buy potatoes and onions,” says Chandra.

If you want to pass on the gift of growing to friends and family, Hari Mitti has also designed pinewood boxes of herbs. “These small pots already come packed with enough nutrients that they continue to grow without needing extra maintenance,” says Chandra. Price Rs 500 per crate or box plus installation cost Details harimitti.com

A date with prosperity

Surrounded by industries, this farm stands out in Vanjipalayam area, less than 10 km from the knitwear town of Tiruppur. Bunches of golden yellow fruits hang from the trees in the months of June, July and August.

K.G. Murugavel grows the Barhee variety of dates on his 2.5-acre plot. Switching over from turmeric, vegetables and cotton about a decade ago, Mr. Murugavel of K.G. Fresh Dates today exports fresh dates and supplies Barhee tissue culture plants to interested farmers across the country.

“I wanted to go for a change from the normal crops. Based on information that I gathered in the media, I decided to import tissue culture of the Barhee variety in 2009 and planted 180 plants. Each tree now yields 150 kg to 200 kg of dates a year,” he says. Mr. Murugavel, who sells in the wholesale and retail markets in India and also exports, says the trees flower in February-March and the fruits can be harvested in four months from then.

Door-to-door marketing

“In the first few years, my wife and I used to take the fresh dates to Tiruppur and do door-to-door marketing,” he says. These fresh dates have several health benefits and with increasing awareness, the demand has also grown. “We sell 40 tonnes to 50 tonnes a year now.” Awareness among farmers has picked up in the last five years. If climatic conditions are suitable, farmers can raise them on 1.5 to 2 acres.

Investment quite high

The Barhee variety grows only in specific weather conditions and the investments are quite high. The yield goes up gradually and the growers will start seeing profit in five years. The average life of a tree is about 35 years.“About 40 farmers in Tamil Nadu grow the Barhee dates now. We supply the tissue culture plants and guide them on how to grow. We encourage the farmers to market directly,” he says.

Since it is a perishable commodity and can be harvested only during three months a year, its availability in the market is restricted to that period.

Dates consumption is high in the country and a substantial quantity is imported, he adds. we studied the possibility of growing other varieties of dates here before deciding on the Barhee. “We studied it in detail. The other varieties are not commercially viable,” he said.

“The Barhee variety needs good land, plenty of water, and suitable weather conditions,” he adds.

“The night temperature during the winter months (December to February) is crucial for these dates. Even in Tamil Nadu, it cannot be raised in all places. It can grow well in Gujarat and Rajasthan. “I guide interested farmers on these details before they decide to go in the Barhee dates.”

The annual maintenance cost, including inputs and labour, works out to almost ₹1 lakh. This would be viable for farmers as the realisations are much higher, especially from the fifth year. They can also go in inter-cropping. Vegetables, greens, and groundnuts can be grown between the trees and the farmers can get additional income from these.