Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems

In 23rd January, all team members of CIKS from various offices gathered for a day long celebration for the Seventeenth Foundation Day of CIKS at Mahabalipuram. All members shared their impressions about working with CIKS and way forward. Members also gave their suggestions for improvement in various technical and administrative areas. This was followed by several lively cultural programmes. This gave an opportunity for all the staff to display their skills and also spend a relaxed day away from work and recharge their batteries.

Stories of men, women and communities that have become local champions of organic farming - their experience, learning, achievements and aspirations.

A SUSTAINABLE TRIANGLE
Highlights of our project on Biodiversity Conservation,
Reduction of POPs and Livelihood of Farmers

Our Centre implemented this project in Tamil Nadu with support from UNDP – GEF. The project activities were implemented in Kancheepuram, Thiruvannamalai, Dindigul and Nagapattinam districts. Some of the highlights of this project are as follows:

- Seven value added products like rice appalam, vadaam, puttu mix, rice vermicelli etc., were standardized.
- Members of 58 Self Help Groups (SHGs) were trained on value addition.
- Two women SHGs in Nagapattinam district are involved in the commercial production and marketing of value added products.
- A 225 sq. ft. structure has been constructed for the preparation of value added products in Kancheepuram district.
- More than 25 traditional paddy varieties are being conserved in the coastal villages of Nagapattinam district.
- Eleven types of five indigenous vegetable varieties are being conserved in Dindigul and Nagapattinam districts.
- Case studies on the cultivation of traditional paddy varieties were conducted.
- Intensive trainings on reduction of POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants), organic farming and related technologies were conducted for the beneficiaries.
- Capacity building trainings were conducted for the farmers and representatives of other NGOs.
- Informative calendars on "Rice biodiversity" and "Organic farming technologies" were brought out.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

ORGANIC FARMING –
AN INTRODUCTION (TAMIL)

Editors: R. Abarna Thooyavathy,
N. Lalitha and A.V. Balasubramanian
December 2011.

This publication in Tamil provides basic information on organic farming and its need in the current scenario. It provides details on organic farming and related technologies in four different chapters - Organic farming, Organic kitchen gardening, Agrobiodiversity and Pests and pesticides. Each chapter ends with a set of exercises for students to improve their understanding on organic farming. It has been modeled in such a way to educate school students on sustainable organic farming by using it as a basic guide.

SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION –
A USER GUIDE

Editors: K. Subramanian, Subhashini Sridhar, K. Parimala and
K. Vijayalakshmi
September 2011.

This book is designed in such a way that it can either be used as a book or the material in it can be separated and used as individual posters. There are seven posters which deal with basic technologies of SRI including season, seed varieties, seed selection, nursery management, transplantation, water and nutrient management, crop protection methods, pest and disease management etc. This user guide would be a useful tool for anybody to learn and adopt SRI method of cultivation.

A TOUR OF OUR EXPERIMENTAL FARM

CIKS maintains a 11.14 acre organic farm in a village called Sukkankollai which is in the Maduranthakam taluk of Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu. It is 4 kms from the famous Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary. The farm is an important hub for all our activities.

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