Farmers in and around Ooty have expressed concern over the sale of fake organic manure in some fertilizer shops and also by some private parties involved in the fertilizer trade. KN Bhudhi, a farmer of Nanjanad village near here said, "Some fertilizer traders from Thiruchengode area came to our village and sold organic manure. I bought it with the hope that it would enhance yielding capacity. I spent Rs 36,000 to purchase that manure, but it failed to give desired results. This happened with other farmers also."

My guess would be that it's simply dirt, maybe with some compost thrown in for texture.

Organic manure would be straight from a cow - smell and all. The stuff most people buy is processed. I assume, therefore, that fake organic manure would be processed manure.

That has to be a bad assumption though because I thought the primary reason for processing manure was to add nitrates, etc. in order to increase effectiveness. Since these guys had the opposite yield results, it must be plain ole dirt.

Or maybe they just really suck at being farmers, or their crops suck. I mean... since you don't NEED the manure to make a crop grow, as it's not magic dust that solves everything, I wouldn't be too afraid to say that maybe they just can't grow stuff xD

I'm guessing that those farmers were told that the oraganic fertilizer was superior to the other kinds and would significantly increase their crop yield.

Sometimes you do need manure (or some fertiliser) for the crops to grow, Mera. Especially in places with poor soil and high population density.

I'm guessing it was manure, just probably not organic (not that organic manure would be likely to have different effects from non-organic). And surely organic manure would be from organically-raised cattle?

Reading the article, I'd guess that despite the included quote the real concern is not that the fake organic manure is no more effective than ordinary manure but that its use would invalidate a grower's organic status - thus depriving the farmer of the opportunity to exploit the higher prices commanded by organic produce.

The cynical bastard part of me thinks that this is a pretty good story to come up with when you get caught using non-organic fertilizers to increase yields while still selling the produce as organic, but I'm sure that no farmer would ever dream of doing such a thing.

BABOUIN !

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