Asia’s useful trees, plants
By K.L. Noatay
BAEL is a medium-sized deciduous trees. It belongs to the rutacae family. Its branches are thorny and bark is grey in colour. The leaves are trifoliate, aromatic and full of aromatic oil. Its scientific name is aegle marmelos and Hindustani, vernacular or local names are bel, bil, bela, bilvam, mahaka, etc.

Wheat-paddy rotation a vicious circle
By V.S. Mahajan
IT was through paddy that Punjab had entered the second phase of the Green Revolution which even surpassed the earlier phase of wheat revolution with faster output and income growth. Indeed the Punjab farmers got so much addicted to this crop that they made big forays into costly new technology so that they were able to reap the maximum benefit. For this, they went in for big loans at high interest rates. So long the going was comfortable they did not mind heavy payments for these loans.

Protect your plants from frost injuries
By B.V.C. Mahajan and B.S. Dhillon
THERE are two types of fruit plants i.e. evergreen and deciduous. The optimum time for planting evergreen plants viz. mango, litchi, citrus, guava, etc. is February-March and September-October, whereas for deciduous plants viz. peach, plum, pear, etc. it is December-January. Once these plants are planted, the next important duty is to protect the plants from frost injury. It is intensely cold in December-January. The deciduous fruit plants shed their leaves and evergreens withhold their new growth in order to resist the adverse weather. During these months, the fruit growers have to intensify their efforts to protect the young fruit plants against frost damage.

Farm operations for January

Green Revolution fails to uplift women
By Bharat Dogra

WHEN new farming methods changed the face of agriculture in western Uttar Pradesh, it was expected that this economic and technological change will also improve the condition of women. However, in this important Green Revolution region of India such broad-based social change has proved elusive. Indeed in some respects the situation of women has even worsened.

This is one of the important findings of five villages (located in five different districts) of western UP conducted by the Disha Voluntary Organisation and four other sister organisations.

In Bibipur village of Muzaffarnagar district expenses relating to the dowry system and marriage of girls are increasing. Expenses in daughter’s marriage can range from Rs 25,000 (for the poorest families) to as high as Rs 3,00,000 (for the richest families). Mr Yogendra Singh of the Shram Voluntary Organisation who studied this village says, “A bride who doesn’t bring adequate dowry in the perception of her husband’s family is frequently abused and beaten up. Sometimes she is even discarded and her husband remarries. Even after marriage, when the girl visits her family she is expected to bring back gifts from them”.

For many families it is becoming increasingly difficult to arrange the marriage of their daughters. Some of them become heavily indebted due to marriage expenses. There are examples of Nahli, Kripa and Diya who took debts at a high rate of interest and being unable to pay this back, they had to sell their land and even leave the village.

In this village hardly any middle-aged or old woman is educated. The percentage of literacy is very low even among grown-up girls. However, at primary levels, about 50 per cent of the girl children go to school. But only 5 per cent of the girls are actually able to pass the eighth class. Thus, the dropout rate of girl students is very high. In poor households girls are generally kept busy in looking after their smaller brothers and sisters, helping in domestic work and also participating in income earning activities in some cases.

Mr Yogendra Singh adds that the normal tendency is to accord very low priority to the education of girls as they are supposed to go to other families and take up the household work there. Several villagers also think that grown-up girls will not be safe if they have to go to school everyday.

There has been no reduction in the “purdah” system or drawing a veil by the village women. A woman who doesn’t observe the “ghunghat” or veil becomes the target of a lot of criticism in the village.

Women also suffer from discrimination against themselves.They often eat last and eat less nutritious food. Another aspect of discrimination against women in Bibipur village is that women farm workers are paid significantly less than male workers. Mr Yogindra Singh’s study recorded that while most male workers get Rs 50 for one day’s work, female workers generally get only Rs 30 per day.

A somewhat similar wage difference is reported in Pirnagar Sudhna village in a survey done by Mr Bhoop Singh and in Muhammadpur Dhumi village (Meerut district) in a survey done by Mr Meher Singh. Sikri Kalan village (Saharnpur district) studied by Mr Paltu Ram has a distinct identity as it is located near Chilkana village. This latter village was the scene of an impressive movement by women farm workers for the equalization of male and female wages. This movement got very enthusiastic involvement of women farm workers not only of Chikana village but also of nearby villages. But despite this, Mr Paltu Ram’s survey revealed that significant gaps exist between male and female workers even in Sikri village — males get around Rs 50 while females get around Rs 30. However, in the case of women workers the working time may be a little less. Hence the male female gap in wages appears to be a pervasive and persistent phenomenon and reasserts itself even in places where threre has been a specific struggle against it. In Saharanpur district in particular, land pattas given to women from poor families who had undergone sterilisation are being cancelled on a large scale.

However, in education the performance of Sikri village is much better than Bibipur village. Here about 75 per cent of girls attend school and at least 40 per cent of them complete class VIII as reported in the study by Mr Paltu Ram.

In Pirnagar village the dowry system is spreading among farm workers as well, making it difficult to arrange the marriage of their daughters. Disputes over dowry have also led to an increase in violence against women; even bride-burning has been reported. Other forms of violence against women, including sexual harassment and violence, have also been reported in this village.

Similar is the experience of Muhammadpur Dhumi village where a woman, Munni, was burnt to death some time back. Other brides have been beaten up and/or deserted. Poor families have also reported increasing difficulty in arranging the marriage of their daughters. One factor common in all the five villages is the rising distress of women belonging to those households where men are addicted to liquor. The number of such households is increasing in all these villages.

The findings from these villages are supported by information available at the regional level. According to the 1991 census, the literacy rate for women was only 26.6 per cent in western UP. Several alarming cases of violence have been reported from western UP in recent times. An increase of liquor consumption and addiction are also reported as a major problem in most parts of western UP.

Clearly surface level modernisation of villages linked to technology upgradation cannot by itself provide a better life to women. This needs a broad-based social reform with the involvement of people. Western UP still waits for such a social reform initiative.

Asia’s useful trees, plants
By K.L. Noatay

BAEL is a medium-sized deciduous trees. It belongs to the rutacae family. Its branches are thorny and bark is grey in colour. The leaves are trifoliate, aromatic and full of aromatic oil. Its scientific name is aegle marmelos and Hindustani, vernacular or local names are bel, bil, bela, bilvam, mahaka, etc.

This tree is generally found in the outer Himalayas, Shivaliks and South Indian plateau with altitudes ranging from 250 to 1200 metres above mean sea level. It prefers comparatively drier and sunny or warmer aspect of the hill slopes with well-drained loamy soil. It is found growing naturally in mixed stands of chir, sal, terminalias, etc. in dry temperate region. Its natural habitat begins from Burma in the East and extends to Afghanistan in the West, and also the Deccan plateau.

Bael bears greenish white flowers during May-June. The fruit, green when raw, appear in June-July and become palish brown on ripening during November-December. It is spherical like a cricket ball, with a diameter approximately 5 to 8 cm. It contains, medicinal element called marmalosin. Its bark exudes a kind of gum which is sweet like honey and is used for making squash. Children eat it when raw and also when ripe.

Medicinally, half-ripe bael fruit is regarded as astringent, digestive, appetiser and gives relief from dysentery. The pulp of ripe fruit, being sweet, is used in marmalade. The gum is also used as adhesive.

The wood of bael is aromatic, tough and strong. It weights 20 to 24 kg per cubic foot and is light yellow in colour. It is difficult to season and if kept in the sun it develops cracks. Nevertheless it finds use for cheap rural house construction and also for agricultural implements. Further during grass famine bael leaves are used as fodder for the cattle.

Shaivite Hindus, however, regard the bael tree as a plant of Lord Shiva and normally avoid lopping, much less felling it. The leaves and wood are used as essential items of pooja samagri for worship of Lord Shiva and as fuel in havan.

Further, during summer bael gives a very cool and cozy shade. It also improves the environment by utilising carbondioxide and exhaling oxygen.

Bael tree matures in about 60 years when its height, in favourable environment, is around 10 metres and girth 1 to 1.5 metres. It regenerates itself with ease in its natural habitat. It can also be raised in nurseries from its seed and from root cuttings.

Wheat-paddy rotation a vicious circle
By V.S. Mahajan

IT was through paddy that Punjab had entered the second phase of the Green Revolution which even surpassed the earlier phase of wheat revolution with faster output and income growth. Indeed the Punjab farmers got so much addicted to this crop that they made big forays into costly new technology so that they were able to reap the maximum benefit. For this, they went in for big loans at high interest rates. So long the going was comfortable they did not mind heavy payments for these loans.

In fact with growing prosperity they were tempted to raise further loans to celebrate on a lavish scale social ceremonies in the family. New prosperity had encouraged them to lead a life of luxury and extravagance. Indeed an average farmer in Punjab started comparing himself to his western counterpart. And close to it he was, with new-look houses, fitted with the latest gadgets, vehicles, frequent liquor parties and what not.

Lately, however, this prosperity had begun to delude them, for with rising output of paddy they have been finding it difficult to market their produce. In fact even the state and central governments, despite commitment, have failed to come to their rescue. While new paddy prices are announced at which the government agencies are supposed to buy, then looking at the bulging stocks already lying with them and with hardly any space to accommodate new purchases, they try to find one excuse or another to keep away from the market.

This has been precisely the situation lately. While farmers converge on different mandis with big loads of their produce, they find it difficult to sell. In fact, not able to wait for long and their pleas to the government agencies having failed, they are forced to resort to distress sales where prices are more than 30 per cent below the minimum announced by the Centre, which, of course, under the circumstances have no meaning.

Thus, farmers are caught in a vicious circle. With big loans yet to be cleared and not even able to pay high interest rates and alternative avenues not available which could fetch them higher income than what they get from paddy, they are forced to raise the maximum paddy from their fields.

There has been talk that Punjab could raise two crops of paddy, in addition to the usual wheat crop. It means additional pressure on limited resources as well as on local environment which is otherwise not fit for large-scale paddy cultivation. With limited monsoon this area had to depend on underground water and with the maximum land under paddy cultivation one can well imaging how much of underground water has to be drawn to feed the paddy fields.

All this has brought out the problem of fast depletion of underground water resources as well as a severe problem of waterlogging rendering a large chunk of agricultural land unfit for cultivation.

Also another major fallout from this excessive cultivation of paddy had been that after the crop is raised farmers are in a hurry to prepare their fields for the winter wheat crop.

In this process they burn their paddy straw and other leftovers right on their fields which results in virtual smog conditions around the villages.

In the months of October and November, one can see clouds of smog hanging low over a vast area of the countryside which spell danger to environment and health, particularly of old people and children.

Raising a new crop on yet wet fields leads to multiplication of mosquitoes and consequently a large number of villagers suffer from malaria.

But then as mentioned in the absence of an alternative viable crop to replace paddy farmers would not change. Even the efforts made by the scientists at Punjab Agricultural University to encourage alternative environment-friendly crops have not been successful because of the uncertain market situation for these crops.

This issue, however, should be taken up with utmost care and earnestness by farm scientists and other interested agencies so that alternative and more successful solution is found for curtailing paddy cultivation.

Protect your plants from frost injuries
By B.V.C. Mahajan and B.S. Dhillon

THERE are two types of fruit plants i.e. evergreen and deciduous. The optimum time for planting evergreen plants viz. mango, litchi, citrus, guava, etc. is February-March and September-October, whereas for deciduous plants viz. peach, plum, pear, etc. it is December-January. Once these plants are planted, the next important duty is to protect the plants from frost injury. It is intensely cold in December-January. The deciduous fruit plants shed their leaves and evergreens withhold their new growth in order to resist the adverse weather. During these months, the fruit growers have to intensify their efforts to protect the young fruit plants against frost damage.

What is frost injury: It is logical that the death of plant results from water expansion upon freezing and subsequent disruption of cell wall and other anatomical features. The ice crystals grow into extracellular air space, and water from within the cells diffuses out and condenses on the growing ice crystals which may become several times as larger as an individual cell and it leads to damage to cellular components. In frost hardy plants, when ice crystals melt, the water goes back to cells and they resume their metabolism. In sensitive plants, the metabolism cannot be resumed, because water cannot re-enter the cells completely.

Protection against frost injury: The frost causes a great loss to the fruit plants every year. The young fruit plants, particularly the evergreens, suffer immense loss through the destruction of their foliage and tender twigs. Common types of damage to deciduous fruit plants are frost splitting of tree bark, death of cambium in twigs, branches and trunks, etc. Early blossoms are also sometimes destroyed by the late frost. Some of the important methods to protect the young fruit plants from frost injury are as under:

Covering of young plants: Young evergreen plants must be provided with thatches prepared from paddy straw or sarkanda or any other suitable materials. These coverings should be kept open on the eastern side so as to allow the sufficient sunlight and air to young plants.

Irrigation: Young fruit plants must be irrigated during winter, especially when frost is expected. It helps in raising the temperature of the orchard atmosphere and, thus, reduces the chances of frost damage.

Creating smoke: Creating clouds of smoke in the orchard when frost is expected also proves useful. In fact, the smoke forms a sort of screen over the plants and, thus, wards off the frost.

Planting dense wind break: The tall and medium trees planted closely on all sides of the orchard helps in protecting the plants against frost damage. Eucalyptus, poplar, jamun, mulberry and seedling mango can be planted around the orchard as wind break.

Maintaining plant health: The fruit plants should be kept in a vigorous condition by manuring them judiciously, irrigating them at right time and protecting them from various insect-pests and diseases. This is necessary because it is believed that healthy plants can fight frost better than the weak ones.

Farm operations for January

Vegetables

— Complete sowing of spring potato in the first fortnight of this month. If the seed raised from autumn crop is to be used for spring planting, its dormancy should be broken by the dipping cut tubers in the mixture of 1 per cent thiourea and 1 ppm gibberellic acid for an hour followed by treatment with ethylene chlorohydrin (3 per cent) in air tight chamber for 48 to 72 hours. Avoid direct contact with ethylene chlorohydrin. Air dry the treated seed pieces for 24 hours in thin layer in shade.

— For the spring crop, the seed may be dipped in the solution of Agallol (500 g in 100 litres of water) for five minutes before sowing.

— Twenty tonnes of farmyard manure along with 75 kg of N (165 kg of urea or 300 kg of CAN), 25 kg of P2O5 (155 kg superphosphate and 50 kg of K2O (80 kg of muriate of potash) per acre should be used. Drill all P and K and 1/4th N at sowing and the remaining N at the time of earthing up.

— The late and early blight of potato may be checked by spraying the crop with 500-700 g Indofil M 45/acre. The covering of the seed plot with dehaulmed shoots should be avoided in infested plants.

— Aphid attack can be reduced by spraying 300 ml Rogor 30 EC or Metasystox 25 EC or 75 ml of Dimecron 85 SL in 100 litres of water per acre.

For seed production, transplant 10 to 15 cm long and fully matured roots of carrot at 45x30 cm (line x plant) spacings. Before transplanting, apply one quintal of CAN or 55 kg of urea, 155 kg of superphosphate and 40 kg of muriate of potash per acre.

The crop may be sprayed with Karthane @ 80 ml/acre to control powdery mildew disease. If rust attack is there, spray the crop with indofil M 45 @ 400 g in 200 litres of water.

— Complete transplanting of onion seedlings by the middle of this month. Delayed transplanting leads to poor formation of bulbs and lowers the yield.

— To control weeds, spary Stomp 30 EC at 1.01/acre (within a week of transplant).

— To control purple blotch, spray the crop with 600 g of Indofil M 45 mixed with 200 ml of Malathion and 200 ml of Tritone or linseed oil as sticker in 200 litres of water/acre. Spray may be repeated at an interval of 10 days.

— Onion maggots feed on the developing the bulb and cause discoloration of leaves. Apply Thimet @ 4 kg/acre into the infested fields.