Jenu Kuruba Returns to the Land

Then, in 1990, an organization called BAIF offered to help the Jenu Kurubas start growing mango fruit. Mango trees are hardy. They do not need much water or special care once they are established.

And the fruit brings a high price on the market. The tender green mangoes are pickled and the ripe fruit eaten fresh, canned as pulp, or bottled as a drink.

To get the Kurubas started, BAIF offered to give each of them 40 free mango saplings. The saplings were healthy grafts of good commercial varieties. BAIF would also show them how to plant and care for their farms.

At first, Jenu was cautious. What did BAIF want? Would the helpers take away the produce? Or perhaps even the land?

But the BAIF workers were persuasive. Slowly, Jenu began to feel their idea would work. He heard that BAIF had helped a group of Kurubas in another village to raise watermelons on a dry riverbed. In 3 months, that group had harvested over 10,000 tons of watermelons. They had enough to send several truckloads into the next state, where the fruit sold at a higher price. They made large profits, and BAIF took nothing from them.

So Jenu decided to risk farming his unused land. Working with BAIF, he carefully planned how to plant it to make the best use of scarce water and to save the soil.

First, Jenu was advised to plant a hedge of kalli (Euphorbia thirukalli) around the farm. This was a new idea that no one in the area had tried. But Jenu found that kalli makes a thick, dense wall which keeps out cattle and goats. And its roots hold the soil, so it does not wash away.

Just inside the hedge, and along the whole length of it, Jenu and Javaramma planted two rows of timber and fuelwood trees. They planted both slow-growing trees such as teak and fast-growing ones like casuarina (Casuarina equisetifolia) and melia (Melia azaderach and Melia dubia). Leguminous trees such as leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala), gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium), and acacia (Acacia nilotica and Acacia auriculiformis) will provide fuel and wood for building. They will also add nitrogen to the soil. Jenu has his own nursery to raise new trees to replace the ones he will cut.

Mangos are the most important crop on the farm. There are 40 saplings, spaced 9 by 9 metres apart to cover all the land. Jenu waters them by hand. To save water, Jenu puts a mulch of rice husks or charcoal and ash around the sapling.

In the spaces between the mangoes other fruit trees grow. There is papaya, chiku, or sapota (Achras sapota) and custard apple (Anona squamosa). There are plots of ragi, or finger millet (Eleusine coracana) which is the staple cereal eaten in this area. There are also chilies, beans, and other vegetables for Jenu and Javaramma to eat at home.

To hold the soil in place, Jenu built earthen bunds across the slope of the land. At the foot of the farm, at the bottom of the slope, he dug a water channel and a small pond to collect rainwater.

None of the land is wasted. Even the raised bund down the middle of the farm has pumpkin vines trained on it.

Jenu and Javaramma do all the digging and watering by hand. Jenu does not use any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. And his plants, fed on farm-made compost, are healthy and free of pests.

Javaramma is responsible for many of the farm chores. She does much of the weeding and watering and applies manure when needed. She also helps to harvest, thresh and winnow the finger millet. She harvests the vegetables that are planted among the trees.

In just 2 years, Jenu and Javaramma have been able to revive their land. Already their annual crops of finger millet, beans, and vegetables give them more nourishing food than they got when they worked as labourers in the village. Soon they will have fruits to add to their diet, and maybe even some left over to sell.

Some of the fuelwood trees around the border of the farm are almost ready to cut. Using home-grown fuel saves the family the money they would otherwise have to pay for firewood.

By 1995, the mangoes will begin bearing fruit once a year. Because mangoes are so much in demand, Jenu will not even have to take them to the market. Buyers will come to his farm to collect the fruit and take it to city markets.

By 1996, casuarina and melia trees along the farm borders will yield tall, straight poles good for building.

Best of all, Jenu and his family can now live on the land. So can other Kuruba families who joined the BAIF programme. Together, these families have marked out land in the centre of the area. They have built a cluster of traditional, round Kuruba huts of mud and thatch, where they now live.

There are two keys to the success of the farm. One is diversity–growing many different crops and trees. The other key to his success is growing mangoes–a money-making crop with a reliable market. Jenu’s farm gives his family food to eat and money too.

Jenu and Javaramma still work sometimes as hired labourers, especially during harvest season. But now they can look forward to their own harvests.

Acacia = Acacia nilotica.
Acacia auriculiformis. A thorny plant that grows quickly and requires little care. If it is sown at the start of the rainy season, it does not need to be watered. Acacia makes a good living fence.

Bean = Phaseolus vulgaris. Also known as kidney bean or navy bean.

Casuarina = Casuarina equisetifolia. A broadleafed plant that is sometimes mistaken for a pine because its narrow leaves look like needles and it has small cones. It can grow in arid climates, and tolerates harsh conditions, including some soil salinity. It is a good tree for agroforestry, because the thin leaves cast little shade on crops growing below it. Also, most animals will not eat it. It is used for fuel, construction, windbreaks, and for sand dune stabilization. Its deep roots make it useful for controlling soil erosion. It also enhances soil fertility.

Chiku = Sapota = Achras sapota. A fruit tree which originated in Central America, but is now grown in many parts of the world, especially Southeast Asia.

Coconut = Cocos nucifera. A multi-purpose tree which originated in Southeast Asia, but now grows all over Asia, and in Africa and the Americas. Coconut flesh is eaten, and coconut milk can be drunk. The palms can be made into brooms, baskets, or thatch for roofs. The sap is used for wine, alcohol, and syrup. The trunk serves as construction material. Coconut is also a source of oil.

Custard apple = Anona squamosa. This tree uses up only small amounts of soil nutrients and water, and produces a fruit which is good to eat fresh.

Gliricidia = Gliricidia sepium. A tropical, leguminous tree useful as firewood, lumber, living fence-posts, animal fodder, and mulch to improve soil fertility.

Kalli = Euphorbia thirukalli. Grown as a hedge in Africa and Southeast Asia. It is also called milkbush, or milk-hedge.

Lablab bean = Dolichos lablab. An annual, bushy, vining, legume adaptable to many growing conditions. Its deep roots allow it to survive very dry conditions. Lablab beans taste good. The plant is also useful for improving soil fertility, and provides dry-season feed for animals.

Leucaena = Leucaena leucocephala. A fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing tree. It is used to stabilise erosion on steep slopes because of its deep root system. It is also used as forage, firewood, green manure, windbreaks, and fire breaks.

Mango = Mangifera indica

Melia = Melia azaderach and Melia dubia

Papaya = Carica papaya. This fruit grows well from the humid tropics to the subtropics. It requires quite a bit of water, so in areas where there are long dry periods, it does better if mulch grass is used on it.

Ragi = Finger millet = Eleusine coracan. In many places, this millet is eaten as gruel and made into flat-breads.

Teak = Tectona grandis. A valuable hardwood tree.