We eat corps, not crops! Says Dr. Nammalvar, Organic Scientist

We eat corps, not crops! Says Dr. Nammalvar, Organic Scientist

My father said, “You can make others work only when you have worked and learnt everything!” These are the words of Dr. G. Nammalvar, organic scientist, in an interview by K. Karthikeyan of Ananda Vikatan, a Tamil weekly, in which he shared seven important lessons that he has learnt in life. He proudly remembers his father’s words as the first lesson which brought him accolade when he pulled the plough through the fields in style while he was pursuing his degree in Agriculture Science at Chitdambaram College, Tamil Nadu.



While he was teaching the latest farming technologies to people across many villages through the Agricultural Farming Groups, set up by the government under the plans of Green Revolution, he ran across an inspiring Essay on “Participatory Development.” There, the fact that the Green Revolution has nothing in store for agricultural prospects had dawned on his mind. It is only ‘participation’ that matters, he realised. At once he stayed with people of a village for over a period of time and changed to simple costumes of village farmers – a dothi around waist with bare body and rubber chappals – to participate in farming and learn from the people who knew the quality of the land better than him rather than teaching them the methods of farming with inadequate knowledge of land where he never stepped in. He coupled his knowledge with their labour and produced welcome results. He says this was the second important learning in his life, and for which he was celebrated among those village people.



Once, Nammalvar visited Aurobindo Ashram Farm to attend a workshop. There, he met a foreign lady who took a round with them through the fields and on coming back to Ashram, sat to have her lunch that afternoon. When all the courses were served, she commented, “Why do you serve me poison, when I’m looking for food?” Though surprised and shocked at her comment, Nammalvar and others were convinced when she explained about the chemical fertilizers used in farming to grow those crops which were used in cooking the lunch! The thought of Natural Farming, using natural fertilizers struck his mind for the first time and he did not delay anymore to pool information on Natural Farming. Nammalvar recalls it as the third most important lesson that he has learnt in life.





He also recalls another curious moment of his life where he ran across the three R’s of Natural Science – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In 1996, when he went to attend a conference in Europe, he came to know about Emoyce Foundation in Europe. After the World War II, several small provinces got independence. Consequently, the European Economy underwent a long period of recession. Most people were rendered homeless and became beggars. At that time, Father Abe Pear, a Member of French Parliament, hosted dinners whenever he happened to meet beggars. However, he felt the need to remove poverty in the life of paupers and give them a new way of life. He resigned his post of MP and talked to the beggars. He suggested that they could grow a small flock of laying hens, swine and goats which would feed on their begged food. The eggs laid by hens and the meat of goats would serve the purpose of their meals while the money obtained from selling reared swine could get them some saving for rainy day. Instead of knocking at doors and asking, “Anything to eat?” now they should ask, “Anything useless?” to get old dresses, shoes, fans, TV’s, belts, coats, etc, so that they could mend and resell them at second hand rates to gain income. Now the Emoyce Foundation has 356 units in European countries. Their motto: 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle was adopted by Nammalvar for agriculture and farming to solve some agricultural problems.



When he got a chance to visit Philipines, he learnt the method of “terrace gardening”, a well known practice of farming on the mountain slopes where it is easy to water the farms without any onerous task of setting up irrigation canals. This he recalls as the fifth lesson which he applied at several farms and got good produce from those lands.

Next he recounts a very important day of not only his life but also of our nation with a touch of humour. It was a time when America and Germany sought patent on seeds of neem tree which is the mother tree of India. For that patent case he visited Munich in Germany. Nammalwar kept in his hands all the sample parts of a neem tree to prove that India has been using each and every part of the tree from times immemorial. The person who came from Germany inquired about them. Nammalvar took out a neem stick and told him that it can serve the purpose of both toothpaste and brush if bitten at one end and used for brushing the teeth. He further explained that toothpaste and brush, invented by them are non-biodegradable and non eco-friendly, causing danger to both soil and the livestock in it whereas his neem stick is bio-digradable and eco-friendly. “It was only when an American who came to Bombay found out the fact that neem oil could be used as mosquito repellent that he took neem oil to America. Why mosquitoes, we drive away even the ghosts by the leaves of neem tree!” he added. After listening to his delineation, the German scientist was dumbstruck and his stand was nullified in the patent case. Their dream of obtaining patent was thus shattered, says Nammalvar, proudly recalling the day as an important day of his life and the nation too.



A pressing memory of a Conference on Slow Food in Italy leaves Nammalvar a bit touched. Meanwhile he calls it his seventh and last important experience in life that affected his eating habits. There a paper presented by a resource person talked about a strange branch of science – Intestinology, in the words of Nammalvar. The packed food items exported from America are very expensive and to buy those products we pay 40% of the cost towards shipping charges, but paying nothing to the farmer who produced it! “What is the solution for that?” wonders Nammalvar. He suggests that we should eat what is cultivated in our own land, in our own nearby village. He says he has developed the habit of eating the fruits and vegetables that grow in the nearby lands, even the paddy grains. He does not even touch the cooked food. Rather, he prefers to eat them raw and fresh. What else do you get after boiling rice? He says most of us eat not the crops but the corpse of rice!