Soil Management

·       The First Step Of Natueco Farming Is To Develop The Nursery Soil Using Neighborhood Resources. Nursery Soil Consists Of 50% Biomass And 50% Activated Mineral Topsoil By Volume. The Biomass Forms The Organic Part And The Topsoil Forms The Inorganic Part Of The Nursery Soil. The Nursery Soil Provides Support And Delivers Water And Nutrients To The Plant In The Most Efficient Manner. To Obtain High Quality Nursery Soil, It Is Most Important To Build Its Organic Part Through Biomass Addition. The Well Composted Organic Part Of The Nursery Soil Is Called Humus Which Contains Ligno Proteins. It Is A Black, Light, And Easily Friable Material That Can Be Broken Into Small Fragments Or Crumbs. It Has Very Good Water Holding Capacity, Twice Its Own Weight. Generally, The Weight Of Such Material Per Liter Of Its Volume In Fine Crumb Form Is About 400 Grams. It Has A Peculiar Black Luster & We Can See Layers Of Dead Colonies Of The Micro Flora Especially In Well Composted (Humified) Animal Dung.

Harvesting The Sun

·       It Is Well Known That The Entire Food Chain Is Directly Or Indirectly Depend Upon Sun Energy, Harvested By Green Plants Through A Process Known As Photosynthesis. Although One Square Meter Of Land Surface Usually Receive 14,400 K. Cal Energy Per Day During Bright Sunny Days, But Only A Small Fraction Of Direct, Total Solar Insolation Is Harvested By Plants. The Philosophy Of Natueco Culture Emphasize On Increasing The Sun Energy Harvesting Potential Of Plants, First By Understanding The Requirement Of Canopy Index Establishment, Secondly By Understanding The Principal, That Only The Mature Leaves Of The Plant Are Capable Of Doing Optimum Harvesting Of Sun And Third By Understanding The Requirement Of Matching Storage Organs.

·       What Is Canopy Index Number – Canopy Index Number Is Calculated By Accommodating Overlapping Leaves In Multiple Of 3 In One Sq.Ft. Area. For Example A Plant, Whose Up To 3 Overlapping Leaves Covers An Area Of 1 Sq.Ft., Assigned Index No.1, With Six Overlapping Leaves In 1 Sq.Ft., Assigned Index No.2, With 9 Overlapping Leaves In 1 Sq.Ft. Assigned Index No.3, With 12 Overlapping Leaves In 1 Sq.Ft., Assigned Index No.4 And So On. Different Plants Have Different Leaf Indices, Generally Between 5 And 10. Even The Same Plant Can Have Different Leaf Indices As Per Its Vigour.

Maximize Sun Harvesting – Critical Studies By Prayog Parivar Revealed Many New Findings, Summarized Below:

·       To Harvest Optimum Sunlight, The Plant Must Build A Canopy As Per The Index Number Of The Crop, Which Is Generally Between 5 To 10. Thus If A Plant’s Index Number Of Leaves Is 5, It Means That, To Harvest Maximum Sunlight From One Sq.Ft Of Area, This Plant Must Have A Canopy Of 5 Sq.Ft. Area.

·       Each Plant Needs Specific Area For Its Maximum Growth. By Multiplying This Area Required By The Plant, By The Index Number Of Leaves, We Can Calculate The Requirement Of Canopy Area E.G. If A Plant Needs About One Half Sq.Ft. Area For Its Full Spread And Its Leaf Index Is 5, Then For Optimum Sun Harvesting The Plant Must Have A Canopy Of 2.5 Sq.Ft. (0.5 X 5).

·       Each Plant Must Establish Its Optimum Canopy Spread At The Earliest Of Its Life Cycle.

·       As Only Mature Leaves Are Capable Of Doing Optimum Harvesting Of The Sun, The Young Emerging Leaves And Old Dying Leaves Should Be Excluded From The Point Of View Of Calculation.

·       There Should Be Matching Storage Organ Growth In Plants At The Time When Optimum Photosynthesis Is Taking Place In The Matured Leaves.

Recycling Process

·       For Optimum And Continued Growth Of Crops In The Fields Year After Year, It Is Very Much Essential That Recycling Process Caries On Effectively. Three Major Components Of This Recycling Process Are :

·       Aerial Component Such As Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen And Nitrogen

·       Mineral Elements From Soil

·       Water

For Optimum Availability Of All The Essential Nutrients, The Fertility Of The Soil Is Very Important. A Good Fertile Soil Maintains Its Fertility Structure, Only When The Mineral Part And The Composted Part Of The Soil Are Equal By Volume. In Prayog Parivar’s Term Such Soils Are Called Nursery Soils. Thus In One Cubic Foot Of Nursery Soil One Half Cubic Foot Soil Will Be Of Mineral Part And The Other One Half Of The Well Composted Part Of Dead Organic Matter. Decomposition Of Dead Organic Matter First Into Compost And Then Finally Into Mineral Matter And Gases Is The Last Part Of The Food Chain Of Our Ecosystem.

·       Among The Aerial Components, Although One Need Not Worry About Carbon Dioxide And Oxygen, Supply Of Nitrogen Is Partly Ensured By Good Population Of Nitrogen Fixing Bacterial In Fertile Soil And Partly Is Obtained From Decomposition Of Degrading Organic Matter.

·       Entire Quantity Of Mineral Elements, Need To Come From Soil Reserve. Due Care Is Needed To Keep A Balance In Demand And Supply Of These Nutrients By Recycling Partly The Same Crop Residue And If Needed From Neighborhood Resources. Most Of The Nutrients Absorbed By The Plants Are Conserved In Their Leaves And Twigs And Only A Small Fraction Goes In Fruits And Grains. To Maintain The Balance, The Entire Quantity Of Leaf And Twigs Etc. Need To Be Recycled Back And To Compensate The Loss Of A Small Fraction Of Nutrients Taken Away In Fruits And Grains Need To Be Compensated By Small Biomass /Compost From Other Sources Such As Animal Dung Etc.

·       The Water Cycle Is The Cycle Run By The Nature, Bringing Water From The Oceans To The Lands And The Mineral Contents From The Lands To The Oceans. The Evaporation Of One Litre Of Sea Water Requires 600 K Cal Of Sun Energy. The Clouds So Generated Are Transported To The Lands By Strong Winds Which Eventually Come Down As Rain. All Life Cycle On Land Depends On The Supply Of Rain Water And The Life Cycles In The Oceans Depend On The Supply Of Nutrients Carried Through The Water Returning Back To The Seas Or Oceans. The Natueco Culture Cautions That In Bringing One Litre Of Rain Water About 600 – 800 K Cal Of Sun Energy Is Involved, Therefore We Should Not Allow This Precious Water To Be Wasted As Run-Off, Before It Is Fully Utilized To Optimize Biomass Production At Every Place. As Per Prayog Parivar’s Estimate, The Water Required For Producing One Kg Biomass (On Dry Wt Basis) Is About 6000 Gms. Only This Much Water Is Used In The Production Of 1 Kg Carbohydrates. The Remaining Quantity Of Water Supplied To The Plant Is Used Only Temporarily And Released In The Environment, Creating Micro-Climate Of Moisture Conditions, Favourable For Its Growth, As Well As For The Growth Of The Ecosystem.

Energy Pool And Energy Chain

·       The Nature’s Food Chain Starts With Synthesis Of Carbohydrates In Green Plants, Runs Through Various Macro And Micro Consumers And Ultimately Ends Into Brown Mass Of Decomposed Organic Matter, Before Releasing Its Mineral Elements In Air And Soil. Although, This Process Is A Natural Process And Runs Without The Involvement Of Human But Man Has Accelerated The Process To His Advantage By Bringing More Land Under Cultivation, By Using Tools And The Energy Of Drought Animals. The Use Of Animals In This Sun Harvesting Is Very Important And Must Be Exploited To Its Best, Otherwise, It Will Be Just Wasted. The Use Of Man-Made Energy Tools Might Have Accelerated The Process, But Has Rendered The Animal Energy Useless Which Is Going Waste. In Prayog Parivar’s Vision All Natural Aspects, Which Can Be Incorporated In Accelerating The Biomass Production Need To Be Exploited To Its Optimum To Harvest Maximum Richness Of The Nature.

Natuco Summary

·       Prayog Parivar Members Conceived, Practiced And Mastered This New Concept Of Natueco Culture. In Their Words While Natural Farming Is Done By Trusting The Nature, Natueco Culture Is Done Through Understanding Nature More & More. In This Understanding Harvesting Of Sun Energy Was Given The Prime Importance, Coupled With Nursery Soil Build Up Through Whole Plant Use. In This Culture, If Appropriate Planning Is Done, Then One Family Of Five Members Can Meet Its Entire Requirements From Just 10 Gunthas Of Land (1000 M2). But For This One Need To Understand The Prayog Parivar’s Vision, His Own Initiatives, Continuous Innovations With Latest Scientific Knowledge And Once It Is Accomplished, This Cultures Promises “Plenty For All.