10 years of alternating rain, drought and shifting Seasons

Hi Subbu, I heard there is continuous downpour in Nanguneri (near by town which is 10 Km west of my farm). Is there rain in our farm ?.  No sir, nothing. The climate is as dry as it was for the past many days. There is no sign of any clouds.

Not my farm, but nearby

This is very natural and is expected in my farm. From my farm you can see the beautiful western Ghats silhouetted against the horizon.  You can also see wandering thunder clouds pouring rains over distant village. You can even smell rain. That is about it. The farm is neither near any mountain, nor near the sea. There are no water bodies or forest nearby. It is in rain shadow region.  No wonder it is a DRY LAND.  That is the challenge.

While thinking of this and browsing the internet, I came across some very useful first hand information in the net. Further analyzing the data I could prepare some useful notes.   Generally the rain, reservoir and meteorological data are not made available to public.  They are maintained in manual registers.   All measurements are monthly average rainfall in mm. i.e., amount of rain falls in a month.

I have selected three towns which are to the East, West and South of my farm land for the presentation here from the available data.  Of these the south town Radhapuram may experience more rain due to its natural position.  It lies ahead of a gap in western Ghats mountain range.  The other two towns mimic climate that of the farm.   

Tamilnadu  Anuual Rainfall.

The below graph must give an indication of what I can expect for myself.  Reference table above shows Tamilnadu State average rainfall.  From this we come to know that the state gets 81 mm rainfall every month on an average.  That should be our benchmark.

Comparing this with monthly rainfall average for over 11 years between 2000 to 2010 in three towns around my farm, clearly shows I can expect a decent rain of above 80mm/month only for 4 months.  

Strictly March, April and then October and November. This year there is no rains till now. The situation will become worse and will pickup only in September.  It is going to be a challenge to store the rain water for entire year in such narrow window.  the rain-fed crops can be sown only for one quarter which is the last quarter. I also hear that there is a shift of this rainy season to the right due to global warming. The second quarter rain is not guaranteed.

How does the climate change over a period of time ? 

A yearwise trend clearly shows that the volume of rainfall / month varies every alternate years.  There is a rhythm. One year dry and one year wet. If one year is 80mm/month the other year is only 40mm/month. There is also some flooding observed in 2008 and has upset the cycle, but is catching up.

This means that if this year is drought, we can recover next year and can expect dryness subsequent year. But this is a gamble. What if the subsequent year also happens to be dry ?

We hear that the el-Nino prediction for this year is not so great. Past year had been dry. Therefore I am hoping this year will be wet except for el-Nino factor. We expect the current year also will be dry only if we read the early warnings like the one below.

"Since 1951, the country has had 13 drought years (during SW monsoon), of which 10 have been during El Nino. The current patterns of El Nino are similar to the year 1968. "That year, there was a deficit of 11%. But this year, given local factors, we predict a deficit of 6% across the country," said Palawat"

Happy Farming.

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Credits:

State Ground and Surface Water resources data centre

http://www.igu.in/17-4/2paper.pdf

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/El-Nio-may-hit-cauvery-delta-with-drought/articleshow/33840746.cms

My Farm Notebook is back as my companian

I had a notebook where I used to write (yes "write" with Sheaffer Ink Pen in vernacular language that I understand) all that I want to do and go about farming. Over a period it grew richer with content.

Like any amateur farmer, I started off with a list of items that I wanna grow as though I am a customer in a restaurant and someone was supposed to take my order.  Over a period of time when even basic issues such as fencing, water and Govt procedures dragged me down to crawling speed and the reality dawned on me that I am the waiter, chef and the cleaner,  that I realized the starting point is somewhere else.  Even a grain of sand will not move on the farm unless I move it.   I had to keep the notebook aside and rework my priorities. It is time now  after 2 years that I have taken it up again and started updating the book.

A page from my Farm Note book - written in my language

So what is in my book ?  Without such a notebook you seem to have read something somewhere, but cannot refer to it again. My memory is not that great.

My book consists of the following sections.

Farmer contacts : This consists of  name and phone numbers of other organic farmers with their primary crop that I recollect. usually phone numbers are found at end of articles, paper clippings, references. This will be useful later to purchase seeds from them.

List of Crops to be considered:  This is master list of crop names that our farmers grow. Fruits, vegetables, trees, feed etc. Just the names. From this master list I tick mark what I want to grow in Phase I. Decision is made through advise taken, my own intuition, availability of resource and so on. For example I may try tapioca but may not want to grow sun flower.

Financials of small projects :  This is income and expenditure with breakups of one crop as shared by farmers in their bragging stories. One farmer for example spent Rs. 165515 and earned 374485 from 2 acres in one year from vegetable farming. One day I may also post like this.  This will give an idea if you will make or loose money.

Market rates : of Vegetables for bench marking. This may be useful to select my priority later during steady state.

Organic Pesticide Preparation:  Very funny brew of organic preparations are recorded here in ink. For example powder 10 KG Neem seeds, save it in gunny bag and dip it on the path of water in irrigation canal. So that the powder spreads slowly with water. Useful to control decay of roots.

Procedure for crops :  Carefully written paragraphs on how to create nursery till cultivation. Especially useful for novice like me to understand how to do from ground zero. Soil preparation, seed preparation, germination, weeding and so on...

Notes on Ideas (not inventions) : My own ideas or anecdotes lest I should forget. Usually you get these all the time when driving, shopping or working in office. "I stopped thinking what I want (table top plants with poor lighting) to what plant wants (agriculture).

Combinations of crops : Which crop are preferred in a typical integrated farm based on practical knowledge of others.  For example Puducherry Ravichandran a farmer says - 10 acres gooseberry, 2 acres banana, 2 acres teak, 7 acres topiaco, 4 acre millets (3 kinds).

Cows : All information about cow varieties, feed preparation, their diseases and remedy in organic way. For example fever medicine will be : Onion 200 gm, pepper 10 g, Betel leaves 5 Nos, Cumin 5 Gm - grind, paste and apply on fore head.

Crop Cycle : Timetable.  Mostly based on climate, almanac, hearsay, earth science, market potential and so on... I feel if conditions are favorable, any crop should do well.   This will be very useful in future to commit to customers and deliver the crops when I start marketing.  Needs hard work on this page.

Crop spacing : prescribed Spacing between crops. Wrong spacing will have impact on productivity. Overall spacing will determine total yield. This is an area many people feel fancy talking about.  Too much of misguidance is also found.  Recently I read about one 'innovative' company in America, who will weed out extra lettuce plants if customer decides how much space he wants between two lettuce. They use cloud computing, robots and image processing to identify lettuce from background..and charge for their 'service'.. What if the farmer decides in the first place to plant in optimal gaps using simple cylinder with holes?

Useful Insects:  Names of insets that should be promoted. Also to make ourselves familiar with them.

Organic Manure Preparation : Various tips on preparing organic manure out of cowdung, fruit waste etc.

Farm Equipment : Suppliers and details of small farm implements.

(Farm Expenses : Maintained in excel under password protection.  A hard copy notebook of daily expenses is maintained at the farm with bills. I have never reviewed this in detail yet as my time is limited and precious when i visit the farm.)

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Wind Mill and Don Quixote

It has become a bit longer wait for the wind pump. However it is worth waiting for.  Team at the farm is now better off with additional workers in this hot summer,  but still it is a manual job which we want to get rid off.

Chaitanya posing with his creation

My friendly engineer Chaitanya in ABS gives me constant feedback on the progress without any fuss. I can understand the odds against which they are racing for me.  We have kept a target of this week end to dispatch the material. The gear is in finished state and is getting its painting. To begin with Red oxide followed by silver I guess.

Aside is picture of Rotor with few blades fitted, just for a photo that requested. Chaitanya is hugging his baby which he passionately created along with his team.  The fully assembled wind mill be looking like a giant. No wonder  Don Quixote waged a war against the wind mills he saw for the first time.

Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished. Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."

"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza.

"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length."

"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."

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The biggest hurdle to farming and how to overcome ?

The biggest hurdle for farming while working will come not from difficulty in managing from distance. Not from lack of resource. Not from lack of confidence over field supervisors or lack of labour force. Not from your insufficient knowledge and experience. Not even from the fact that you are unqualified, dummy, first time farmer. Nor from the fact that you cannot differentiate Banyan tree from Neem tree.

The biggest challenge is going to come from your home. Every time your computer monitor shows some green field, you will be watched like a teenager with facebook. The near and dear has the potential to vanish and vapourise your dreams. What is supposed to be your pleasure will become permanent pain.  Continuously and non stop. To the spouse, money spent on farming is equal to dumping hard earned money into a pit. Farm is a demon sleeping with its mouth wide open to swallow all your savings. You are an underworld secret service agent whose intentions and bank transactions are burried deep in the soil with a malicious intent of destroying the family future.  The workers are blood sucking leeches who will cheat the 'innocent you' and are there to milk on you.

How do you steer your way forward and keep doing what you feel is right ? Precious time will be lost everytime you delay or postpone just because you have not won today's argument. Or the mood is not favourable yet.

When I mentioned that I also run a blog besides a farm, the instruction given to me was clear.  "Write on the wall to your friends that this project is not having my sanction."  But deep within, your spouse appreciates whatever you do, only that there is no 'confidence' on your 'skills'. Because you can't even fix a bathroom leak, how are you going to manage acres of farm....   The spouse are surrounded by people who provide all failure stories on farming. And it works like network marketing. Easy money, easy failures.  Therefore spouse donot want to 'sanction' and be with your 'failures', lest people ridicule about it.  That is natural.  But why should you fail in the first place ?

So you have two things to prove in order to continue farming and be successful.

a) Be transparent upfront to the spouse. Atleast on the gross expenditure.  The earlier the better even if it invites bitter evenings. For, any delayed disclosure will invite more trouble.

b) Be clear about your intentions.  Be well organised and be passionate about it.  Demonstrate this and explain it all the time.  Relate the environment, food security, future, child welfare and your career in a presentable manner. It is as easy. Having a healthy food, green locality and clean air is everyone's dream, not only yours. Therefore the story should sell by itself.

Not only that, if the issue is handled properly, the entire family will start supporting you.  You can plan summer holidays to work in the farm, and even if you donot get leave off, they will still continue to visit and add value. Without you.

The other thing is, like in real life how you plan right gifts for occasions,  you need to find what your spouse is interested more in. Is it medicinal plants, trees, animals, cash crops or aesthetic horticultural designs ?  Explore a bit and incorporate that as part of your plan. And show the photographs as proof.

If nothing else works, pretend to sell the farm. They will come running to say No. Stop, smile and ask what is to be done. They will advise you to do Farming till next instruction !  Keep doing.

All is well.

Farm Updates 15th April, 2014 - Fire protection, Tower manufacturing

Fire Protection

There was a fire in a neighboring field due to presence of dry grass and weeds. I understand fire department was pressed into service for putting up the fire as it had engulfed a nearby factory also. Due to hot summer all the weeds have dried up making the area potentially viable for fire.  

Subbu was suspecting that it could be the handiwork of some miscreants who after consuming liquor and ciggrette (or beedies if you like), throw the remains ceaselessly.  In our farm also there is thick growth of

Dried Weeds are prone to catch fire...

these weeds all over which have dried up now. If anyone will throw fire, the whole thing will burn including the little trees that we are bringing up near the fence.  Therefore decision has been taken to shave a portion clean of weeds adjacent to the fence.  This will be done by a bulldoser.  Costing around Rs. 2000/-.

Clearing the weeds also may help keep a check on wandering snakes if any.  But this will increase the temperature on the tender plants.  We need to plan for mulching.

Tower assembly tested before painting

It is for this reason that even though thatched roof tops are always preferred for the coolness they offer, I would advocate first a sheet of metal roofing and then the thatched roof using palmyrah leaves for any shelter that we would build in future.  Especially for animal shelters, inflammable material is strict No No. We can even use asbestos or tin roof in that place.

Presently there is already a resting place, made with dried and mended coconut tree leaves. That is ok as this is meant only for day time shade.  It is a favourite resting spot for workers. 

Tower Fabrication

Meanwhile back in Mumbai, the tower fabrication is in full swing. The required components for rotor and tower are being hand made.  Contrary to my thinking (one more myth gets burst) that the assembly will come ready made from "somewhere",  I could see that they are being manufactured in a large engineering workshop from the basic raw material for me. They are solid iron rods and V bars. That is good news and a proud possession to have.  The above photograph shows the tower that I had ordered getting manufactured.  12 meters in length.

The tower is prepared section by section, bolted and tested for quality check - indoors.  Then it will be painted for rust proofing and then color.  Preparing the rotor is even more elaborate process starting from cutting and welding the plates. Machining the wheels...  Interesting... 

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Foundation Dressed up

I got an update of the farm today. Subbu had to travel to nearby town to upload these snaps.  The work is satisfactory.  The tower foundation for wind pump has been dressed up and ready.  We have taken a call not to put an upper slab as the foundation itself is very solid. Upto a depth of 4 Feet on solid ground.  The top slab is found to be irrelevant as of now unless ABS compels it. (Process oriented companies generally kill creativity. I hope ABS is not !!)

Along side as a bonus we also have got the snaps of live fence growth.  Looks good. But the heat is visible very much. Plenty of water is required to reduce the temperature.  Must be a hard work for the guys over there now.

Bougainvilla blossoms

Causarina 

Farm Update (Random) on 5th April, 2014

1. New appointment : Two female workers have been appointed. It will take one month to confirm. Kandan needs a helping hand in this hot sun. He is unable to manage all by himself drawing water from hand pump and watering the plants across.  The mud is very hot.   He used to fill the tank in the morning and pour the water in the evening. His little daughter used to give him company occassionally. Now a days due to hot sun, he is not keeping well. Therefore one women worker was decided initially. But later it was her preference and also collective wisdom that we should have two female workers for safety and company for each other.  That means cost of wages will go up for me. But that is a happy problem. After all, the purpose of this venture is to provide more job opportunity.
2. The intensity of heat is so high that around 7 casuarina sibling plants have got burnt in above 39dec C and hot air. They were promptly replaced with stock available.
3. Wages :  I believe they had expectations of wages equal to NREGA (The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)  which comes to around Rs. 130/- per person per day. It was explained to them that we cannot pay that money much as there is no production yet.  The work is also less - only watering now.  We settled for little less. But in the mind i was thinking that these workers will in fact get more salary in the long run by working for me than working for Government.
4. What's the Plan: The justification for appointing them now is that they will slowly get used to a monthly salary routine (Our farm believes in monthly salary and not daily wages) and the farm and its developments. Once the water is arranged, there will not be work of drawing the water. Only irrigation. Then around 2 months from now, we can start creating raised soil beds and start the crops. Most of the crops will be local country organic varieties (Non-hybrid) and will be for seed generation. Therefore there will be plenty of variety, but small in quantity like a nursery. This will require the kind of skillset only women have - patience and routine tending.
5. I reminded  Subbu that we have temporarily deviated from our mission. In the sense that I wanted to appoint a female worker only after construction of toilet and a resting room.  That is a little away, not due to lack of efforts, but for water.  We can construct a toilet only when there is flow of water to water tank for flush out. Otherwise it is of no use.
6. Foundation is complete. we decided not to dress the upper portion of foundation with another layer of concrete. It is only for beauty and we don't require beauty now is what Subbu opinioned.  He had put 16 bags of cement and has done a 4 feet deep foundation - too solid.  We may spread small gravel stones on the top or even dress it up with cement after the tower is done.
7. Tower is getting welded starting today in its ABS factory some 1200 Kms away in Mumbai city.  I mentioned to the coordinator that we need that painted in green color. They were planning red color earlier like a typical cell phone tower.
8. I made friendship with a Goshala owner (Cow Protection centre), some 60 kilometers away. he has promised to supply a lorry load of cow dung manure some 2 months from now.  That should be ideal to enrich the soil.
9. The country is facing election in starting this week. There is frantic activity all over.  Someone in Govt level who is outgoing before election wanted to make quick buck. By promising that he will help me convert all pending patta at a cost of  whopping a lakh of rupees. They are cheats and they will not do that. I have experienced that already.  Moreover I have waited for 3 years and I can wait for few more years.  World is not going to come to an end. I have confidence in Government and taluka rules that it will protect the interests of farmers in the long run.  I refused the offer.  Farming is an activity which require long periods of "waiting". It is not a business model to make quick bucks. If anyone is making quick money either in farming, or in business, then we can be rest assured that he is compromising on something else. 

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