Organic rice farmer in India yields over 22 tons of crop

Organic rice farmer in India yields over 22 tons of crop on only two acres, proving the fraud of GMOs and Big Ag


(NaturalNews) Despite all the claims made by industry-funded hacks that
genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and other industrial agricultural
methods are necessary for the future of humanity, it is the traditional
growing methods that continue to shine through as the real sustainers of
life. As reported by Gaia Health, Indian rice farmers using
traditional, organic growing methods are achieving yields far higher
than farmers using more modern methods.

In the case of Sumant
Kumar, rice yields have surpassed the national average per hectare
(about 2.5 acres) nearly ten-fold. According to reports, Kumar is
currently yielding about 22.4 tons of rice per hectare, greatly
surpassing that of other rice farms currently outputting roughly 2.3
tons per hectare. His secret? A traditional crop management protocol
known as System of Root Intensification, or SRI.

Farmers adhering
to SRI techniques will typically plant about half the number of seeds
as farmers using more modern methods, and will space them out at
intervals of about 10 inches. They also plant their seeds much younger,
and keep the soil dryer, while paying much closer attention to weed
growth. By hand-removing weeds, SRI farmers are able to allow more water
and nutrients to feed their rice plants, which results in significantly
higher yields.

"Farmers use less seeds, less water and less
chemicals but they get more without having to invest more," says Dr.
Surendra Chaurassa, agriculture minister to the region where Kumar's farm is located, as quoted by The Observer.
"This is revolutionary. I did not believe it to start with, but now I
think it can potentially change the way everyone farms. I would want
every state to promote it. If we get 30 to 40 percent increase in yields, that is more than enough to recommend it."

System of Root Intensification methods could provide more than enough food to feed humanity

According to Gaia Health,
SRI methods originated in ancient Madagascar, and were passed on from
generation to generation among villagers. An agronomist by the name of
Henri de Laulanie observed the methods back in the 1980s, and brought
them back into use, teaching other farmers
how to utilize them with limited resources. And perhaps the greatest
aspect of SRI is that it is not tied to the biotechnology industry or
Big Ag.

"SRI offers millions of disadvantaged households far
better opportunities," Norman Uphoff, Director of the International
Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development at Cornell University is quoted as saying by The Observer. "Nobody is benefiting from this except the farmers; there are no patents, royalties or licensing fees."

This
is good news, as Monsanto and others in the
agriculture-for-obscene-profits industry are aggressively pursuing
market expansions in developing countries like India. If the truth about
the benefits of SRI can be widely disseminated, poor farmers across the
globe will be well-equipped to reject the lies of Big Ag and the GMO
industry.

"The farmers know SRI works, but help is needed to
train them," says Anil Verma, an agronomist from the small Indian
non-governmental organization (NGO) Pran, or Preservation and
Proliferation of Rural Resources and Nature, which has been
reintroducing SRI methods to villages all across the third-world for the
past three years. "We know it works differently in different soils but
the principles are solid. The biggest problem we have is that people
want to do it but we do not have enough trainers."

SRI methods can also be used to grow other crops like wheat, sugar cane, and teff. To learn more, visit: http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/039766_rice_farming_organic_agriculture_yields.html