The farming input is only cow dung, cow urine and green manures as fertilizers and
they never use chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
Deva Rao believes that the ‘YIELD’ means farm-produce that supports not just family
but also feeds the ‘dumb hungry cattle’. He does not equate ‘yield with money’.
And also believes that such produce while feeding human beings with pesticide-free
food also feeds that are dependent on humans with the kind of food they relish and
like.
For manure, he uses a mix of cow dung, dried leaves, twigs and branches of trees
from his farm, which he says is sufficient in quantity. To protect the crops from
pests, a mix of Gou-mutra (cow-urine), some herbs and water, sourced from his cow-shed
is used
Initially B.K.Deva Rao and his family follows organic farming since from generations
where they use to grow only traditional varieties in their farm but during 1970s
and 80s they were forced to use fertilizers and chemicals because of introduction
High Yielding Varieties (HYV).
Parameshwar explains that these traditional varieties of rice slowly started to
decline and perish after the advent of the new high-yielding variety of rice (starting
with IR-8 and now MO-4), which were introduced to boost productivity and revenues.
As the time passed he got know by experience that his land is degrading and losing
its fertility because of chemicals. Then he shifted to organic farming in 1980s.
In the name of HYVs he lost many traditional varieties which he grew earlier. Deva
Rao and his son Parameshwar Rao transferred their fields to organic farming and
went on to collect lost traditional varieties and other traditional varieties from
different places and now he is custodian of more than 140 varieties Rice. List includes
few improved varieties and hybrids (Jaya, IR-8) which still give stable yield under
organic cultivation after initial few years without fertilizers and pesticides application
Before introduction HYVs they had 45 rice varieties, meanwhile during 1970s the
list reduces to just 14 traditional rice varieties before regaining to 80 varieties.
On that time they focused to ‘yield’ aspect and they resorted to conservation aspect
Parameshwar Rao and his dad, Deva Rao slowly began collecting and conserving these
traditional varieties from various like-minded people. They have also collected
rice of West Bengal, UP, Bihar and Orissa from Mr. Anil Hegde, a Kundapura based
farmer - activist, now residing in Bihar. Certain varieties were given by Mr. Ghani
Khan, a Mandya based farmer and Mr. R.G Bhat, a Sirsi based farmer. Certain organizations
such as Green Foundation, Sahaja Samrudda from Karnataka, and Navodaya, Delhi have
also contributed. They are exchanging the varieties with various farmers of different
corners of the country, so that diversity can be increased and conserved for posterity
They have given more importance to locally grown varieties like Raja kayime, Kutti
kayime, Suggi kayime, etc from many generations than they got from different farmers.
They are identifying the varieties based on some special features like colour, religious
importance, local village name, use, flavor, taste, size, height, place, farmer
selected etc. he is having 25-30 varieties of rice which are grown in Rabi season
like Kariya jebi, Kattumunda, Kandre kutti, Athikraya, Kutti kayime etc
