Nicobarese are one of the twelve tribes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They are agriculturists and are concentrated in the tiny island of Car Nicobar. It being a tiny island in the deep sea, the ecosystem is very fragile and soils are vulnerable to many natural calamities, including severe cyclones and tsunamis. The Nicobaries have developed, over centuries of experience, a very sustainable soil-management system to cultivate coconut alongside pig, cattle and Nicobari fowl-rearing.
The Car Nicobar Island is a young coralline Island. The soils are Psamments with rich organic horizon which is a partially weathered coralline material. The soils are highly sandy, permeable and alkaline. The inhabited area is dominated by coconut groves and Nicobaries live in the coconut groves with pig, cattle and Nicobaries fowls. Their main food is pig, Nicobaries fowls and fish, with coconut and locally-grown tubers and vegetables, of which coconut forms a major portion. The soil is never tilled or disturbed except for very few purposes, qualifying it to be called “zero tillage”. The tribes allow natural vegetation to grow in these gardens, which include legumes and tuber crop species. Some legumes and tubers are also planted by the tribes. Thus, the soil is always covered with vegetation during monsoon. This is rarely slashed by the tribes, but is instead grazed upon by cattle reared by them. One can see no rills or erosion marks on the surface of the soil in this heavy-rainfall region tropical island.
Coconut farming practised by these tribes is a unique organic-farming system. Coconut groves are the result of natural establishment where fallen nuts germinate in situ and establish as fully grown trees. In these groves, one can see a staircase of coconut palms starting from the juvenile stage, to trees as tall as 50m. The gardens are thus overcrowded, with close spacing. Only a few palms gain access to the open sky and are excellent bearers (with an average of nuts exceeding 100 nuts per palm) and as many palms get entry into the open sky as in any modern coconut gardens. The under-storey palms bear no nuts at all. Thus, productivity of these coconut groves exceeds any state or national average coconut productivity. It has been observed that tall trees are often struck by lightning and lose their crown. Also, aged palms give up fronds and open up light for the lower-stage palms. Shaded palms then gain quick entry into the open sky and start bearing, with the number of nuts exceeding 100 per palm.
Soil management: The Nicobarese do not harvest coconuts from the trees. They only collect fallen nuts. These nuts are dehusked on the same spot and only dehusked nuts are taken home. The coconut kernel is consumed by them, and is also fed to the pigs. The shells are used as fuel, and the leftover shells and ash are returned to the gardens. Pigs are fed with coconut, tubers and kitchen waste. Pigs even feed on human excreta. Pigs, cattle and Nicobaries fowls inhabit these coconut groves, and add regularly sizable amount of manure. The indigenous surface-casting earthworms and other soil fauna and coir-decomposing microorganisms facilitate rapid decomposition of coconut fronds and other biomass. These, along with coconut, bind the soil and prevent soils from exposure to heavy-rain impact and prevent soil loss. Over a long time, this system has stabilized and qualifies to be called a sustainable soil-management module.
Building on indigenous knowledge for a sustainable future
A wealth of knowledge on soils has been acquired by traditional farming families. The biophysical principles are better understood today. Unfortunately, the established knowledge of sustainable management systems has not been widely used for areas where these are most needed.We are not future-proofed.We are likely to see more difficult days as soils become increasingly degraded, and water supplies less assured. Time is running out to protect our land resources from further degradation. Sustainability is not simply a matter of identifying effective biophysical solutions: the solutions must be economically viable and socially acceptable. What is needed now is an evaluation of how principles of sustainable soil management need to be applied in areas where productivity is either static or declining. We must not be averse to using fertilizer nutrients as, otherwise, meeting an increasing demand will not be achieved. Compromising on the cost, or imbalanced application of nutrients, must be avoided. But, use of organic manures and recycling of nutrients from residues must be made mandatory. Hence, urgent action is required to arrest the spread of land-degradation, and to establish sustainable systems where non-sustainable farming methods are currently practised. The principal responsibility for action must lie with the government and agricultural administration. It is essential today that the voice of the farmer is heard before planning research, to find solutions to unsustainable farming methods. Such studies must be conducted in association with socio-economic studies. Similarly, where adaptation is possible only within a changed policy framework, policy-makers must be kept informed of social and economic implications so that appropriate changes in policy may be made.
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