The expert from Bengaluru believes soil-less agriculture could be the answer to improving the quality and yield of turmeric cultivation in India.
CV Prakash, a former naval officer and expert in soilless agriculture, has made turmeric ( Curcuma Longa ) more profitable for ordinary farmers. This passion was ignited during the lockdown.
His ongoing Mission Turmeric 2021 is a way to start an “orange revolution”, says he. It involves teaching people how to grow the spice in grow bags, large porous containers made from high-density polyethene, and coco-peat (made of the pith of coconut husk) instead of in shade houses.
After he immigrated to Australia in 2000, Prakash was introduced to soilless agriculture and returned to India in 2008. Prakash has taught over 10,000 people how to cultivate different crops using hydroponics at his CV Hydro training centre, Bengaluru, under the auspices of Aggragannya Skills.
Prakash could not travel to Australia last year due to the lockdown, so he finally took the time to study the cultivation of turmeric.
“My friend sent me eight kilograms worth of Tiger Claw Salem turmeric seed rhizomes (Grown in Erode) last February. Each 60g of seed was planted in 100 bags. I used coco-peat as soil to replace the soil. Prakash says that the results were incredible.
Results are encouraging
The Eurofins Lab’s analysis of the sixth-month crop revealed a curcumin level of 5.91%, nearly twice the amount it would have in a nine-month growing cycle. Prakash says that Salem turmeric usually has less than 3% curcumin. This was a surprise.
Curcumin, a bright yellow phenolic compound, has been in the news because of its potential to combat cancer. According to research by the Trade Promotion Council of India, curcumin has seen a rise in demand from pharmaceutical companies.
Another breakthrough was the increased yield. “In the sixth month, when we harvested the crop early, we obtained 4.45 kilograms from one grow bag. Prakash says that we had 6.44 kgs at the end of the seventh month. In the final harvest, 8.17 kilograms were obtained from one plant.
The crop is also free of heavy metals, making it a viable product. Erode farmers typically get between 500 and 600 grams of turmeric per plant when they grow conventionally. Prakash says that this method yields a higher yield and is a good cash crop because of its high curcumin content.
“If you have seven tonnes of turmeric in your field, four tonnes will be wasted because of poor quality or pestilence. Our method did not allow for even one milligram of bad turmeric. It is because soilless agriculture is an extremely deep science. Prakash says that the yield of a grow bag can be between 10 and 11 kilograms.
Mission orange
Mission Turmeric 2021 was launched in January 2021. It currently covers 1,28,000 square feet. A total of 15 pilot projects with eight varieties of turmeric are currently underway. Three ventures are based on one acre.
“We trained 18 people in Mission Turmeric 2021 via webinars and started a watch and learned’ programme for those who couldn’t make it to the growing season, which began in May. Prakash says he will mentor the applicants and share video lessons on harvesting, pre-seeding, and harvest.
Prakash requires that growers from India’s different regions report daily parameters such as leaf length, width, stem diameter, and height to Prakash. All monitoring is done through observation. Prakash says he is a conservative farmer and believes you can’t remove the human element from agriculture.
CV Hydro offers to buy back turmeric to farmers to encourage them. Rates range from Rs18 per kilogram finger wet rhizomes to Rs100 per kg dry polished mother Rhizomes.
“If production costs are Rs12 per kilogram, and wet turmeric finger Rhizome is sold for Rs20, India’s gross profit would be Rs8 per kilogram. The international price of this miracle plant is Rs500 to Rs5,000 for a kilogram. Prakash says farmers can make much money if they grow turmeric in soilless agriculture.
R Srinivasan from Chennai, who became interested in soilless cultivation after visiting the US, attended two-day courses at CV Hydro. For the past three years, he has used the method to grow tomatoes and cucumbers.
“Soilless agriculture allows the grower to keep a healthy root zone.” He says that careful monitoring is key to unlocking the plant’s full potential. It’s easier to manage diseases during cultivation.
After completing her college studies, Niharika Deora from Mumbai decided to experiment with soilless agriculture. Prakash trained her. “I have cultivated exotic vegetables and flowers on a terrace of 800 feet. She says that soilless agriculture doesn’t require much labour and can be a great business opportunity with the right knowledge and skills.
However, farmers agree that soilless agriculture is not a panacea. The method is not only expensive initially, but it also requires practice to be successful. Hydroponics requires growers to be more careful with the different parameters than soil-based cultivation. Despite their good results, Srinivasan says that hydroponics products are not priced at a premium.
Prakash, who has taught many home growers soil-less farming techniques, says Mission Turmeric’s results have shown him the importance of reaching out to the nation’s farmers. It is possible to produce healthier crops over the long term if more farmers adopt soilless agriculture. He says this is the difference between applied science and lab science.
source:- The Hindu
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