Most Significant Changes Stories

Less rice with fertilizer

The farmers in Sipura thought that they had struck gold when they began using fertilizer. Today they harvest less rice that ever before but they don’t dare stop using the fertilizer despite a lot of advices from MS partner KSSC.

By Malene Lærke

15. March 2007

It is harvest time in Sipura, ward no. 6 in Tilaunakot VDC, Kabilvastu district and on the fields the rice sheaves lie neatly side by side. The only sound that can be heard is a buffalo that moos in the court yard. 13 years ago, the farmers say, lots of birds would be singing, butterflies would joyfully dance around in the air and the rice harvest was all right depending on the weather.

Then fertilizer was introduced to the community. The farmers had seen what the fertilizer could do in other communities and they were not disappointed. The harvest was more that doubled in just one year. The farmers were overwhelmed with joy and could not believe the magic of the fertilizer.

The insecticides killed the harmful insects and everything was a farmers dream. After three years the smiles stiffened as the fertilizer proved to be more of an enemy than a friend. The harvest was now below what the farmers could have harvested using natural compost and after five years the harvest was only 20 percent of the usual yield.

Today, 12 years after the fertilizer and insecticides was introduced, the number of birds, butterflies and the kilos of rice after harvest time has decreased dramatically. The use of fertiliser however until recently skyrocketed but no matter how much fertilizer that was put into the soil it only meant the yield did not drop any further.

“We regret we ever started using the fertilizer but we needed food and we were told that the fertilizer would help us to produce more rice. That was true but only for a short period of time. Then we began to produced less than we did before when we used natural compost,” tells farmer Ganga Ram Sapkota.

“We went on putting fertilizer into the soil but production decreased and the grains were not of a good quality. We had to spend more and more money on fertilizer and made less money because the production decreased at the same time,” says farmer Sita Bhusal.

The problem with the fertilizer is that is makes the soil hard because the fertilizer acts like a poison to the worms that are naturally found in soil. The worm travels through the soil so to speak and makes it loose.

Today the farmers know they should stop using the fertilizer but despite trainings from Perma Culture Resource Centre that is supported by KSSC where they have learned about the bad side effects of the fertilizer the farmers do not dare to stop. The farmers however have banned insecticides from their fields. To stop using the fertilizer will have one consequence: zero production the farmers believe. Today the farmers use 60 percent of natural compost and 40 percent fertilizer.

“Our fear is that if we don’t use the fertilizer there might be zero production and we need to put food into our children’s mouths. Therefore we don’t just use natural compost,” says farmer Sharada Aryal.

The problem is also that there are not enough cattle in the village to provide the amount of natural compost needed. The villagers plan to have more cattle to increase the amount of natural compost in the village.