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eight kg. The biggest cauliflower that he has produced till date is that of 12 kg 100 g in weight. Yield of cauliflower from his farm is around 50 tons per hectare, an example he has set for others to emulate. In the year 1999, he grew 61 tons of cauliflower on the 1.2 hectare land. Ajitgarh Selection He has christened the variety of cauliflower developed by him as ‘Ajitgarh selection’. His variety differs from other hybrid varieties in number of ways. Shri Parikh claims, "this variety is more resistant to diseases as compared to other hybrid varieties".
He further claims that cauliflower from his farm taste better than that of others who use chemical pesticides. Shri Sundaram Varma, himself being a well-known plant breeder (See HB 7(1): 11,1996) has also worked on this variety and discovered that this variety could be grown round the year. Shri Parikh has started growing three crops in a year from this variety since then. He further adds that the vegetable vendors of Shahpura, Neem ka Thana, Ajitgarh and Chaumu wait eagerly for his cauliflowers. The various characteristics of this variety compared with other varieties are given in Tab 1:
Cultivation Method He grows his own seedlings. Saplings are ready for transferring 20-22 days after sowing. It is ensured that saplings are at least three inches in height before they are transferred from the nursery. The stem should not be too long otherwise it would not be able to take the weight of the flower. Enough care is taken regarding the spacing of the plant. Watering is needed every third day before transferring from nursery and thereafter every fifth day. Watering is done only when leaves show sign of dryness otherwise too much of water can spoil the crop. Shri Parikh has never used pesticides or chemical fertilisers. It was his maternal uncle who inspired him to go in for organic farming. He mainly uses organic manure. For making organic manure he digs pits of 10x7x3 cu ft. dimension. He spreads a ten cm thick layer of grass stubbles, left over animal fodder etc. He then puts a 25 cm thick layer of cow dung. This is followed by a layer of around 10 cm of finely cut neem and ‘aakdo’ leaves. Further, layers of cow dung and neem leaves are repeated till the pit is almost filled. Then forty litre of water is poured into the pit. After every fortnight the pit is stirred and contents are turned upside down. Organic manure is ready for use after three months. Beside this, he also uses earthworms. He uses soil treated by earthworms as manure, which has increased his yield. Normally, crop of cauliflower gets infested with mosaic, which severely affects leaves of the cauliflower. To control this disease, he uses 100 g copper sulphate, 400 g ash and 100 g lime. This mixture is spread over the field by blowing it through a blow pipe. About 1.5 kg of this mixture is sufficient for dusting over a hectare of crop. Another disease, which affects this crop, leads to formation of black spots on the flowers. These black spots occur due to cloudy atmosphere and dew. To save the crop, he covers the cauliflower by using its leaves. Shri Mangeylal Mali, Shri Badri Gujar, Shri Mohanlal Yadav and Shri Prahlad Gujar-his fellow villagers-had purchased
saplings from him. They were forthright in saying that their income increased four folds by growing this variety of cauliflower. When Innovation Becomes a Problem A problem he faces is that it is difficult to sell such huge cauliflowers. Nobody is ready to buy these cauliflowers for domestic purpose. He pleads for marketing support from different channels so that his cauliflowers find their way to hotels and other big consumers. Recognition and Honour Shri Parikh has won a number of prizes and awards. He is a member of the committee on rural programmes of All India Radio, Jaipur. Agricultural colleges from nearby towns have invited him to deliver lecture on organic farming for the Post-Graduate students. During the Annual Meeting of the Honey Bee Network on February 20, 2000 he was awarded the SRISTI Sanman. Limca Book of Records (LBR) after reading about the honour given by Honey Bee network, decided to include his innovation in the latest edition of LBR. Future Plans The foremost thing in Shri Parikh’s mind is to get his 'Ajitgarh selection' patented so that he is secure from illegal use of his variety of cauliflower. He wants to break the existing world record of the largest cauliflower weighing more than 14 kg to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records. Further he wants to produce pumpkin weighing 100 kg. These feats look achievable if he is provided with some support like regular supply of electricity or other means of regular irrigation of his crops. Central and State Government shall hopefully come to his rescue. |
