<p>Guwahati: The Apatani tribes of Arunachal Pradesh scripted success stories with their traditional paddy-cum-fish culture in the picturesque Ziro Valley. But, how about crab-cum-paddy cultivation? </p><p>A group of women farmers, locally called Krishi Sakhis, in North Assam's flood-prone Lakhimpur district have taken to crab-cum-local paddy cultivation, an innovative organic farming method, which is practiced by farmers in South East Asian nations like Thailand and Cambodia. </p><p>"Crabs are found in our rivers and wetlands. But there is a knowledge gap among our farmers that crabs are natural predators of the insects that harm our crops. Crabs also help in water retention in the fields. So, we decided to release local crabs in the paddy fields," Samir Bordoloi, a trained natural farmer, who has been promoting natural farming in various parts of the country, told DH on Thursday. </p>.'Illegal' electric fences biggest killer of wild elephants in Assam in past 23 yrs.<p>On Tuesday, nearly 90 women farmers took to their fields at Rongli Charali village and together planted the saplings of betguti paddy, a local variety of paddy that can be cultivated at least one month later than the normal farming circle. "This delayed farming can help the farmers avoid excessive rainfall and flood or drought situations, which is normally witnessed during June in Assam due to climate change impact," Bordoloi said.</p><p>Destruction of saplings due to severe floods or drought situations in May and June has become a serious concern for the farmers in Assam. The agriculture department even has to distribute paddy saplings in July to tide over the crisis. "Two years ago, many farmers skipped paddy as their saplings got destroyed due to drought-like situation," Bordoloi said. </p><p>"Betguti paddy is climate-friendly and was traditionally cultivated by our forefathers. But the paddy variety is losing popularity as farmers are increasingly going for hybrid varieties due to lack of preservation of the seeds. A local traditional farmer Kusherswar Kochari gave us 10kgs of betguti paddy seeds and the germination was done in a field for this project," he said. </p><p>The project has been taken up under Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM), which has been mobilising women farmers and training them as Krishi Sakhis to take up organic farming. </p><p>The ASRLM has already involved nearly 1.15 lakh women farmers into organic farming in all the 219 blocks across Assam since 2020. "We started with the indigenous variety of scented joha rice and other horticulture crops. This is for the first time, we inroduced betguti paddy as they are climate-friendly. We are trying to increase the land coverage of the organic farming and thereby help them get certification and markets for better price," Anirban Roy, project manager, organic farming, ASRLM, told <em>DH</em>.</p>
<p>Guwahati: The Apatani tribes of Arunachal Pradesh scripted success stories with their traditional paddy-cum-fish culture in the picturesque Ziro Valley. But, how about crab-cum-paddy cultivation? </p><p>A group of women farmers, locally called Krishi Sakhis, in North Assam's flood-prone Lakhimpur district have taken to crab-cum-local paddy cultivation, an innovative organic farming method, which is practiced by farmers in South East Asian nations like Thailand and Cambodia. </p><p>"Crabs are found in our rivers and wetlands. But there is a knowledge gap among our farmers that crabs are natural predators of the insects that harm our crops. Crabs also help in water retention in the fields. So, we decided to release local crabs in the paddy fields," Samir Bordoloi, a trained natural farmer, who has been promoting natural farming in various parts of the country, told DH on Thursday. </p>.'Illegal' electric fences biggest killer of wild elephants in Assam in past 23 yrs.<p>On Tuesday, nearly 90 women farmers took to their fields at Rongli Charali village and together planted the saplings of betguti paddy, a local variety of paddy that can be cultivated at least one month later than the normal farming circle. "This delayed farming can help the farmers avoid excessive rainfall and flood or drought situations, which is normally witnessed during June in Assam due to climate change impact," Bordoloi said.</p><p>Destruction of saplings due to severe floods or drought situations in May and June has become a serious concern for the farmers in Assam. The agriculture department even has to distribute paddy saplings in July to tide over the crisis. "Two years ago, many farmers skipped paddy as their saplings got destroyed due to drought-like situation," Bordoloi said. </p><p>"Betguti paddy is climate-friendly and was traditionally cultivated by our forefathers. But the paddy variety is losing popularity as farmers are increasingly going for hybrid varieties due to lack of preservation of the seeds. A local traditional farmer Kusherswar Kochari gave us 10kgs of betguti paddy seeds and the germination was done in a field for this project," he said. </p><p>The project has been taken up under Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM), which has been mobilising women farmers and training them as Krishi Sakhis to take up organic farming. </p><p>The ASRLM has already involved nearly 1.15 lakh women farmers into organic farming in all the 219 blocks across Assam since 2020. "We started with the indigenous variety of scented joha rice and other horticulture crops. This is for the first time, we inroduced betguti paddy as they are climate-friendly. We are trying to increase the land coverage of the organic farming and thereby help them get certification and markets for better price," Anirban Roy, project manager, organic farming, ASRLM, told <em>DH</em>.</p>