by Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne

Tanamalwila Living and Learning Centre

At the last GEN Board meeting the Board approved the Tanamawila Sarvodaya facility as one of the proposed GEN Living and Learning Centres. We have since been busy attending to government formalities with regard to legal extension of the long term lease, further assessing the current status of the facilities, limited upgrading of the infrastructure, and the development of a comprehensive funding proposal to be presented to donors.

I was working with an Indian volunteer, Aishwarya Lakshmirathan, developing the first draft of the Sarvodaya-GEN Living and Learning Centre funding proposal. We were also very fortunate that Momo Waguri, who was a Japanese volunteer helping with GEN work last year, returned to Sri Lanka for a period of 2 weeks to help us write a proposal to a potential Japanese donor. We are all very excited about this new venture and we are now preparing for a visit by Max Lindegger and Lloyd Williams in October to do further technical planning.

 

Saliyapura Eco-farm

Bandula Senadheera, who spent an year as an Intern at Nature Spirit community in the US last year, settled in one of the oldest farm sites of Sarvodaya, Saliyapura in the Anuradhapura district, to develop it into an eco farm.

The Sarvodaya Sustainable Farm at Saliyapura was started with an island-wide survey (except for the war areas in the north and east) from January to April 2000, conducted by the assistant project coordinator (Bandula). In the first week of April he came to Anuradhapura and found two pieces of land: one at the Anuradhapura Sarvodaya district centre and the other at Saliyapura, a tiny village 13 miles from the Anuradhapura new town, just off the Anuradhapura-Jaffna road.

He took to the Saliyapura plot instantly because it had all the desired characteristics that were necessary for the development of a sustainable farm. The 15 acre plot already had 5 acres under paddy cultivation, and 5 acres of coconut plantation. With a semi-developed farm in place, the Saliyapura plot was ideal for all the visions of a sustainable organic demonstration farm that Bandula and Sarvodaya had in mind.

On 10th of April, in my capacity as the Executive Director of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, I visited the site and agreed for it to be developed into a demonstration farm that used organic and green methods of cultivation. This is an opportunity for Bandula to put into practice the many theories and new forms of knowledge that he had learned from his nine-month internship in the USA.

Initially Bandula had to find a place to stay near the farm as the one 'shack' that existed on the plot was in a dilapidated state. After researching all options, and discovering that Saliyapura was not accessible by public transportation, the organisation decided to invest in a motorcycle for Bandula to commute from the Sarvodaya Anuradhapura District Centre to the farm. Also, barbed wire and agricultural implements were purchased for the farm as initial investments, using Sarvodaya funds.

Two acres of the site were completely cleared and a quarter acre of land in that cleared area was prepared for vegetable growing, using permaculture and intentional farming methods. The seeds for the vegetable beds were purchased from a local seed vendor, while the varieties and vegetables chosen were based on local farmers' choices and plants native to the Anuradhapura district.

The farm workers — Bandula, Ranaweera, three hired labourers, and visiting volunteers — faced the challenge of being behind the planting season. And yet their labour and effort did not go in vain and the vegetables: radish, okra, bitter-gourd, tomatoes, beans, chillies and others have grown successfully and are ready to be harvested in August after three months of completely organic care. The vegetable cultivation on the farm though is not focused around the final produce or on its sale and marketing.

The Saliyapura farm aims at demonstrating to local farmers that organic farming, without the use of chemical insecticides, pesticides and artificial fertilizers, but involves optimal natural inputs including cow dung, rice straw, Grilicidea leaves (abundant in the area), etc., allows for viable and successful vegetable cultivation. Traditional farming methods are being revived on the farm such as using neem as insect repellent spray for the vegetable and paddy fields, using a mixture of Grilicidea leaves and cow dung as a liquid fertilizer, etc.

Rice paddy farming is hard work, and common in rural Sri Lanka.
This paddy is near Tanamalwila.

5 acres are under paddy cultivation, but only half an acre has been cultivated using organic methods. Before the team at the farm started to turn over the soil, rice straw and Grilicidea leaves were spread on the half acre, and left undisturbed for two weeks, allowing them to putrefy in the soil. The soil was turned over twice and then levelled, after which sprouted rice seeds were broadcasted. This too is intended and developed as a purely demonstration unit, that uses and embodies the possibility of organic and sustainable farming.

The rest of the rice fields at the farm (four and a half acres) are still cultivated using conventional farming methods by a local farmer. But the long-term hope and aim is for organic methods to be established in all 5 acres of the paddy fields, and for all cultivation on the farm to be eventually entirely organic. Rice growing is an arduous and difficult task that requires a lot of manual labour. With a limited supply of workers at the farm all of whom are working at maximum effort, the site has been brought to this level of development. In time, a greater labour force and the support of established organic practices on the farm will make expansion easier. The rice will be ready for harvesting at the end of August.

The 5 acres of coconut plantations are currently undergoing changes with respect to the introduction of inter crops of banana, lime, papaya, pepper and other perennial crops. Inter and mixed cropping are traditional methods that are being re-introduced to display the benefits of these practices, as against the conventional monoculture plantations that have been recognized as unsustainable. Plantation work is time-consuming and requires extended and patient care. This part of the farm is intended to hold the possibility of income-generation, as the sale of the coconuts, bananas, lime, delums, etc. will in the long-run make the farm self-supporting.

The farm has come a long way in the three months since it began, with 2 acres of organic cultivation that have laid the foundation for viable and sustainable methods of agriculture. And yet the future holds far more in terms of the farm's potential for expanded activity. The farm has compost heaps already in place, but needs to purchase material such as rice bran and cow dung to further consolidate the operation. The front fence needs to be extended to border the entire farmland, as visiting cows and other animals have inflicted damage to the plots in the past. There is the dire need for an agro-well if cultivation is to be extended to include more areas of the plot.

Additional implements and a renovation of the shed on site will make the work of the labourers a little easier, while providing them with a place to rest and stay when necessary. With a momentum already established, and a growing curiosity from interested neighbour farmers who have seen the plot flourish in its alternative stance and path, the Saliyapura farm is evolving into the paradigm of sustainable agriculture that it was meant to be. Local farmers are beginning to see that organic and chemical-free farming is not a distant dream, but is entirely possible and profitable. And it is in offering farmers this choice that the Saliyapura farm continues in its everyday working, bringing theory and practice, traditional and modern, old and new, just a little bit closer.

  

Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director
GEN South Asia, Sarvodaya Headquarters,
98 Rawatawatte Road, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Tel: +94-1-647159/645255, +94-75-525335
Fax: +94-1-646512,
E-mail: gensa@sri.lanka.net