The document discusses indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) of organic farming practices in India. It describes various ITK practices related to pre-sowing, soil and water management, pest and disease management, and post-harvest management. Some examples of ITK practices include soaking radish seeds in buttermilk before sowing, using neem to control pests, intercropping with legumes to restore soil fertility, and making panchagavya from cow products to provide nutrients to plants. The document concludes that ITK practices are organic, sustainable and cost-effective, though further scientific validation of these traditional methods is still needed.

1. INDIGENOUS TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE OF
ORGANIC FARMING
SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY
Prof.(Dr.) Thomas Abraham GROUP NO 9

2. Group no 9
Rohit Smit 12BSCAG012
Mazanthei shaiza 12BSCAG045
Vidhe zhasa 12BSCAG048
Pradeep Patidar 12BSCAG066
Akansha Verma 12BSCAG067
Preeti Priya 12BSCAG075
Devendra Patel 12BSCAG077
Pawan Kumar 12BSCAG082
Jasobanta Pradhan 12BSCAG117
Prashant Kumar 12BSCAG139

3. What is ITK???
Indigenous
technical/traditional
knowledge in a community,
local and rural in origin.
The source of ITK is our
ancestors who learned
techniques from their past
experiences and
experiments.
These varies from place to
place, and knowledge
spreads through folk songs,
stories & scriptures etc.
Alley cropping

4. WHY ITK IN ORGANIC FARMING
Has great role and scope.
Avoidance of synthetic chemicals
& keep soil alive.
Stress on sustainability.
Offers potential to accomplish
organic agriculture.

5. ITK IN ORGANIC FARMING
There are many practices of ITK out of which some are discussed here :
– PRE-SOWING PRACTICES
– SOIL AND WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
– PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT
– POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT

6. ITK in Good Germination
 Radish seeds are soaked overnight in butter milk
before sowing.
 Cucurbits seeds are kept embedded in fresh cow
dung ‘ball 'which are then buried deep in soil for
better germination.
 In desert areas ,chickpea is sown behind camel
drawn ploughs in sand dunes areas.
 Cut end of sugarcane setts are plastered with a
mixture of honey, ghee, the fat of hogs and cow
dung.

7. Weed management by I.T.K
 Apply the Neem seeds @ 40 kg / ac as basal to get more
yield as compared to the equal quantity of Neem cake.
to control weed growth.
 Cultivation of sun hemp or daincha helps to control the
nut grass (Cyperus rotundus) weed.
Crop growth promoter
 5% fermented coconut milk solution(1lit in 20lit of
water mix and use as Growth promoter
 Goat dung- 5kg, Goat urine- 5lit , Goat milk- 2 lit , Goat
curd- 2 lit, (Cow)Ghee -1lit , Sugarcane juice- 2lit,
Banana -10 nos, Tender coconut water-2 lit , Toddy – 2
lit/ yeast -800g, Jaggery – 800g, water- 5 lit. Mix and use
after 20 days as growth promoter

8. Mulching
 Tree leaves(karanj-pongamia
ponnata) and paddy straw are used
as mulch materials .This conservs
the soil moisture and
simultaneously keeps the soil cool
which provides favourable
conditions
 these mulches act as organic matter
to enhance the crop
 effective for weed mgmt

9. ITK IN RICE
 Common salt is dissolved in water and
sprayed in rice fields for controlling
major weeds
 To prevent lodging in rice crop at
maturity in water logging conditions .
The upper portion of the rice plants is cut
with the help of sickle. After two months
of transplanting ,excess growth of rice
plant is checked due to pruning . Lower
part of the plant become strong

10. BEUSHENING IN RICE
Practiced in direct -seeded low land
rice in odisha ,MP,bihar.WB,UP to
control weeds optimize crop stand and
provide soil aeration
 cross ploughing young crops 4 to 6
weeks after sowing with a light country
plough in 5-10cm standing water once
or twice depending upon the density of
weeds and crop stand. if there are too
many weeds it is followed by flanking.

12. Jhum cultivation/Slash & Burn
cultivation/Shifting cultivation.
 well suited to the heavy rainfall areas of the
north east India.
 the trees are slashed & burned and the
seeds are sown only after the 1st rainfall.
 After cultivating for 2 - 3 years, fields go into
fallow. Then, the farmer moves on to the
next plot or forest area to protect the soil and
allow for build up of nutrients.
• soil erosion is controlled and fertility
maintained by constructing contour bunds
often May reduce the incidence of soil born diseases.

13. Terrace or Bund cultivation
• Practiced in valleys and foot hills.
• Bench terraces are made across
the slope.
• The vertical interval is not more
than 1m.
• This helps to maintain soil erosion
and retaining rain water in the
slopes and depositing runoff to
the foothills.
• Widely grown crops are rice and
turmeric.
Jaintia hills, the small village of Nongbah,
(Meghalaya) India

14. Irrigation practices- Bamboo drip irrigation
• Bamboos divert water from
perennial springs on hilltops to the
lower reaches by gravity.
• Used to irrigate the betel leaf or
black pepper crops.
• 18-20 litres of water entering the
bamboo pipe system per minute
gets transported over several
hundred meters and finally gets
reduced to 20-80 drops per minute
at the site of the plant.
• Used mostly in winter, as there
soil in Meghalaya has low water
holding capacity.

15. ITK and Soil Fertility Management!!!
 In Madhya pradesh, soil fertility is renewed by using :
• made up of cow dung, sheep, goat, and camel feacal
pellets,
• wood ash,
• animal urine,
• growing nitrogen fixing leguminous crops intermixed/
intercropped with cereals/oilseeds,
• allowing certain local weeds and xerophytic plants viz.
bui (Kochia indica), fog (Calligonum polygonoids), kheinp
(Crotolaria burhia), bordi (Zizyphus manuritiana) to grow
undisturbed maintaining adequate khejri (Prosopis
cineraria) tree population in the field.

16. Continued…
• Ancient Tamil text widely quoted the use
of Calotropis gigantea, Morinda tinctoria,
Thespesia populnea, Jatropha
gossypifolia, Ipomoea spp. and Adhatoda
spp. to be used as green leaf manure.
• crop rotation and intercropping to
restore soil fertility.
• ants, earthworms and frogs were used
to improve soil physical properties.
• FYM was used to add nutrient into the
soil and to maintain the organic matter
content in soil.

17. Contd.
• Zai technique
• combine water harvesting
and targeted application of
organic amendments (
cattle manure, millet straw
etc.) by the use of small pits
dug into hardened soil.
• Increases water retention
capacity of soil and is
effective in restoring soil
fertility
• Practiced in Burkina Faso
and Sahel, Africa.

18. Indegenous practices for water harvesting
• PHOUR
• For house Water in the pond is
collected from the rainfall and
seepage. To prevent inflow dyke of
about a meter height is
constructed surrounding the phour.
Trees are planted along the bank
to stabilize the banks. Fish may
also be raised

19. CONT…
Cross-dam irrigation:
 Earthen cross-dam,4-6m wide and 2.5-5m
deep, is constructed across a perennial
creek between two hills.
 The catchment area for the creek is 80-100
hectares.
 People use stored water for fish culture and
raising ducklings.
 A bamboo pipe of 5cm diameter that passes
through dam is used to maintain the water
level. The pipe is kept closed with a wooden
plug that can be removed to lower the water
level in the pond or provide irrigation.
Cross Dam irrigation in
Chittagong Hill tracts of
bangladesh

20. Pest & Disease Management in ITK
TULSI
Control the Blast of rice
Control of insect in sapota, guava
METHI
Control of insect of okra eg. Fruit borer
KAROSENE OIL
To control of ant in climber
To control of Termite

21. Cont…….
CASTOR OIL
Control of white fly in cotton
stored- grain pest control in pigeon pea
CHILLIES
Dry chilli smoke for rat control of
wheat

22. Cont…….
MADAR (Calotropis gigantia)
Used to prevent attack of thrips in
paddy nursery
Control of insect pest in ginger, cotton
LEMON
Control of hairy caterpillar
Aphid control in cotton
ONION
Use for pest & disease control in maize
Pest control in sugarcane

23. Cont…….
GUR OR SUGAR
Control of insect in cotton
Control of pod borer in pegionpea
SALT
Control of wilt in pegionpea
Control of khaira disease in paddy
NEEM
Neem cake use for termite control
Control of aphids in mustard
by neem twings

24. Cont…….
ASH
Used as insecticide
Control of root feeders and pests
DHATURA
Control of stem borer in rice
Control of insect pest in fruit crops
TOBACCO
Control of aphids white flies and
other Pests

25. ITK AND POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT
DRYING
It is the traditional method
for reducing the moisture
content of grain.
Method of sun drying are
1.Field drying
2.Panicle drying
3.Drying on mat
4.Pavement drying

26. THRESHING
• 1. By beating the grain using a
flail on a threshing floor
• 2. Making donkeys or oxen walk
in circles on the grain on a hard
surface
• 3. By using threshing board

27. Storage
• Traditional storage methods are
1. In gunny bag
a. Storage of red gram with common
salt in gunny bag
b.Storage of grain using camphor in
gunny bag
c Storage of ragi with neem leaf in
gunny bag

28. 2. MUD BIN STORAGE
example. Storage of grain
3.WOODEN BOX STORAGE
Example. Storage of vegetable seeds
with cow dung
storage of paddy

29. Panchagavya
Composition:
Ghee, milk, curd, cow dung and
cow’s urine
Application:
 3% i.e. 3 kg in 100 lit of
water is the best dose for
application. In acre of land
6 lit panchagavya will be
applied
 provides nutrient to plant
 gives resistance of plant to
insect pest

30. Low budget fish gunabajalam proves
effective for crops
fish gunabajalam (extract in Tamil) or fish growth
hormone is a traditional method which is practised
by Mrs. Thangam and some farmers in
Kanyakumari district. They use this hormone for
growing their rose, chilli and paddy.
Along with Mrs Thangam,several farmers in the
village who use traditional methods vouch for its
efficiency in controlling pests and helping good
crop growth. If one has to use chemical sprays for
an acre then he has to spend nearly Rs. 1,500 -
Rs. 2,000 but they hardly spend 100 Rs.and get
equal benefit.
.
Cost effective: The
lady farmer Mrs.
Thangam
demonstrating how to
make the fish extract

31. Conclusion
It may be concluded that ITK based practices offers its
potential to accomplish organic agriculture where biological
methods are adopted for farming, keeping away off-farm
inputs. Indigenous techniques used in different components
of farming system are mostly organic, eco-friendly,
sustainable, viable and cost effective.
 ITK based practices will help to furthering the concept of
biodynamics and natural farming where the soil-health-
building process is left to the nature, as the inputs for ITK
are drawn from the products of soil and are returned to
the soil in the form of compost or manure or soil and
plant health-protecting agents.

32.  But, there is a need to explore, verify, modify, and scientifically
validate these practices for their wider use and appliction.

33. References:
• I.C.A.R., New Delhi, Handbook of Agriculture, pg
1418,1420,1433.
• Rainwater_harvesting_CBSE.pdf
• Hand book of organic farming,A K Sharma
• http://www.niscair.res.in