Good Morning Friends,
We are sorry for not having shared any updates in a while. We have been a bit caught up with planning our work for 2017-2019 period. We have decided to focus on drought resistant crops and improving ground water availability.
Towards this end the villagers around Vayalur, Cuddalore and Ayapakkam (on ECR near Palar bridge) and Magasool organized a human-chain protest on Sunday morning (23rd July) to urge the Government to build a check dam. More than 500 farmers participated. The check dam is needed to prevent sea water from entering the water table and increase water availability for drinking and agriculture. The TN Govt had passed an order to the same effect in 2004 but work never commenced.
http://tamil.thehindu.com/news/article19340793.ece

I will share more updates in the next couple of weeks.

Thank you

Ajay

Dear Friends and Well Wishers,

The Magasool Team wishes you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. We have been busy with agriculture season and are sharing some of the highlights of our work from the past few months.

The paddy transplanting season ended on a sombre note in December with both the south-west and the north-east monsoons failing Tamil Nadu. Magasool farmers reduced cultivation area by nearly 40% to 1100 acres.

To help farmers cope with the vagaries of monsoon,  we have started identifying  drought tolerant cropping options. Starting next month we will partner with the Agriculture Department -Thanjavur District to test new varieties of pulses which require much less water than paddy and can bring in higher profits. If the test succeeds, the Magasool team will produce and distribute certified pulses seeds  to farmers.

We are also in the midst combining the best practices of traditional and modern rice farming and testing the efficiency in Periyakulam - Theni. We expect at least a 40% yield gain and hope to convince at least 50 farmers to adopt this method by next season.

   


     
We piloted soil-test based nutrition management in the fields of 10 new farmers. The results were excellent and the farmers are eager to  extend the method to the entirety of their land holdings. We are very positive of convincing 50 more farmers to pilot the method in their farms in the next few months.  

Magasool launched this season's kitchen garden program in Salem District last month. We hope to cover a 1000 small farmers and farm workers in Cuddalore, Salem, Trichy and  Kanchipuram  in the next couple of months.  



Please let us know of your feedback. We will add updates on a regular basis.

Regards
Ajay Tannirkulam
for Magasool

Hello,
Hope you are having a great Dussera and Muharram weekend.  

Over the last month and a half Magasool staff have been busy with the paddy season in Tamil Nadu. They have provided services to 300 + farmers (over 800 acres)  in Kanchipuram, Trichy and Cuddalore districts. Magasool also expanded work to two new districts - Theni and Thiruvallur.

We are using new transplantor machines purchased with your generous support.The youtube links (https://youtu.be/dWV1yy09Z3M, https://youtu.be/PiGGIvh5NQ4) show Sasi and Murugan putting one of the new machines in service.


Chakravarthy (right) in the photograph has been using Magasool's transplantation services for 3+ years. He is helping Operator Raja (left) load paddy seedlings on the transplantor tray. We convinced Charavarthy to get his soil tested this season. He consented to implement the soil test results on 5 cents (1 cent = 0.01 acre) of his land. We are confident that we will be able to boost yield by more than 20% in this patch.
We have also tested soils and implemented expert recommendations for 9 other  farmers.

We will keep you posted on our work. Please let us know of your feedback.

Thank you

Ajay