DHENKANAL: As part of the sustainable farm practices, the district administration is encouraging farmers to grow legume crops that can help revive soil fertility and reduce their input costs on chemical fertilisers. The strategy involved is to plough the crops into the soil giving it a treat of green manure.
Dhaincha, a legume known by its scientific name Sesbania aculeata, is green manure crop. The legumes draw their own nitrogen from the atmosphere and help rejuvenate soil with low nitrogen conditions adding substantially to the yield of next crop. Farmers in several parts of the district are already familiar with the strategy that avoids direct cost on chemical fertilisers. Once the plants are grown up to around two feet height, farmers root them out and mix it with soil. The plants, that have pods and roots bearing nodules containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria, work wonder once they are mixed with soil. Most of the farmers cultivate it before the kharif season in the district.
This year, farmers of the district had cultivated green manure crop on 212 hectares (ha) with support from Agriculture department. While 100 ha of land is covered in Kamkashyanagar, 100 ha in Dhenkanal and 12 ha in other areas of the district were cultivated. The district Agriculture department had supplied free seeds and incentives to the farmers. Sources said the district administration is planning to take up cultivation on commercial basis enabling the farmers to go in for green manure in a big way.
District Agriculture Officer Gunanidhi Behera said, “The district administration has been providing free seeds to the interested farmers and incentives for one ha of cultivation during kharif season. The farming is highly remunerative as it enhances crop production and soil fertility.”However, farmers demanded more technical know-how on crops to take up the cultivation on commercial basis.