Facing fertiliser shortage and a growing realisation that prolonged use of chemical manure affected the fertility of the soil, farmers in two districts of Tamil Nadu are switching back to natural manures which they say increased the yeild and improved the taste of the produce.
The practice is fast picking up in Virudhunagar and Sivaganga Districts, which has seen farmers reduce consumption of chemical fertilisers by between 30-40 per cent and 25 per cent respectively, according to S Ramadoss, a senior agricultural extension officer.
Farmers also realised that sustained use of chemical fertilisers was affecting water used for irrigation and the milk yield of cows which are fed straw, he said.
Farmers like 80-year-old Seenisamy from Karpayoorani near here say they have 10 heads of cattle, whose dung they use to fertilise their seven acre land.
Apart from this, he also allows goats to graze in his field, whose droppings, he says, provides nutrients to the soil.
Though his son managed to get a lot of chemical fertiliser some time back, grew some crops and got better yield, "the rice was not tasty as it used to be. Nor is my son as healthy as I was in his age".
Seenisamy said he hit upon the idea of asking his son to use the dung of cattle for the field when he saw him struggling to get fertilisers from the market.
