The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Campaign against chemical fertilizers

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Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Campaign against chemical fertilizers

S. Sandeep Kumar

Dharam Raj Ranka’s organisation distributes three truckloads of manure free to farmers everyday

— PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

Educative trips: Dharam Raj Ranka in front of the ‘Nature on Wheels’ in the city on Monday.

HYDERABAD: At 65, when a majority of his counterparts are leading a happy retired life, Dharam Raj Ranka has taken up an initiative to propagate the use of cowdung as natural manure for farming.

Under the banner of Satyam Shivam Sundaram Gau Nivas (SSSGN), Gaganpahad, an organisation that provides shelter for cows and fights against cow slaughter, Mr. Ranka campaigns on the ‘Nature on wheels’ van and has been doing it from December 2007. He has already travelled over 10,000 km covering Telangana districts.

Specially modified van

The van is specially modified to carry hoardings which spread the message about the benefits involved in using cow dung as manure instead of chemical fertilizers and also appealing to people to fight against cow slaughter. Members of SSSGN travel nearly 250 km a day in the van and educate farmers by distributing pamphlets promoting breeding of cows and the use of cow dung. It costs some Rs. 2,500 per day for Mr. Ranka, who bears the expenditure with donations from philanthropists.

The idea is to generate awareness among farmers to use cowdung as a bio-pesticide. India’s cattle produce over 800 million tonnes of manure every year and cowdung far from contaminating makes the land more fertile. Above all, it is available free of cost, says Mr. Ranka, a science graduate from Osmania University.

Apart from promoting the use of cowdung, SSSGN also distributes three trucksloads of manure free of cost everyday to farmers in and around Ranga Reddy district.

Cow shelters

Mr. Ranka, who is the managing trustee of SSSGN, operates two cow shelters – one at Shemshergunj (with over 800 cows and established in 1997) and the other Gaganpahad (over 2,500 cows and set up in 2001) -- incurring Rs. 50,000 expenditure per day, including labour costs, fodder and other expenses. Despite this struggle, SSSGN proposes to establish another cow shelter at Bhongir in a sprawling area of over 100 acres by next year.

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