Thursday 7th May: Rice Sowing

Usually in this area, rice is sown in mid/late June. However, at the last minute, Mr Ramesh and Mr Raju (see Mr Raju's Visit ) decided to try to sow the rice early. We thought it would be worth sowing the rice directly (not in clay pellets) as there would not be long enough for the seeds to be eaten by animals before they germinated, and the extra month might prove beneficial with regards the yield.

Madhan about to sow the rice seed
 

A normal farm would harvest the wheat, till the land, and then sow rice. Fukuoka showed that tilling is destructive to the soil, and that the correct way to proceed is to sow the rice while the wheat is still standing. The wheat is then harvested, and the straw thrown on the field as mulch. The mulch would weaken the weeds and green manure, allowing the rice, which had already taken a head start while the wheat was still standing, to gain the upper hand against the weeds. (See Masanobu Fukuoka: Natural Farming )

So, the field is now composed of the following: a standing wheat crop, germinating soy and mung seeds (acting as 'green manure', and crops in their own right), and dormant rice seeds (see below).