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HINDU FARMERS MOURN DEATH OF CATHOLIC SCIENTIST WHO SAVED THEIR CROPS

Updated: January 12, 2003 05:00 PM GMT
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About 150 Hindu farmers in Gujarat have mourned the death a Catholic scientist who helped save their crops at a time when their western Indian state reeled under the worst drought in a century.

The farmers attended a memorial service for Jagdish Nazareth on Jan. 9 at Ahmedabad, the state´s commercial capital, some 915 kilometers southwest of New Delhi. The 48-year-old Catholic died Dec. 29 of cardiac arrest and was buried in the western Indian city of Pune, where he spent Christmas. He headed the Institute for Studies and Transformations, which promoted organic farming.

Nazareth developed "pro-biotic" fertilizers by combining agricultural residues and animal manure in a pit. His method reportedly doubled the crop yield of farmers, despite severe droughts during the past two years.

Atmaram Patel, one of the farmers at the memorial service, told UCA News his maize production even tripled by using Nazareth´s organic fertilizers. Patel, a Hindu farmer from Limdi, 100 some kilometers west of Ahmedabad, said Nazareth "personally supervised" the use of the fertilizers and monitored the results, so his method "could also be replicated elsewhere." In homage to Nazareth, Patel said he took his whole family to the memorial service. "He was so vibrant, I cannot believe he is no more," Patel said.

Nazareth went all over India to help people understand how his method could boost crop yields. His wife Vanessa told UCA News that when he began promoting it in the 1990s, only three farmers accepted it, but now about 400 farmers in five Gujarat districts use his approach to sustainable organic agriculture.

Nazareth, who earlier was an executive in a petrochemicals firm, opposed using nitrogenous fertilizers and pesticides. He instead collected agriculture residues and animal manure into pits. Agriculturists say that his fertilizer not only improves yields but the nutritional value of the crops as well.

Bhikubhai Manath, a farmer in Sabarkantha district, began producing pro-biotic fertilizers on the advice of other farmers who had used them. "Last year," Manath told UCA News, "I clearly saw the improved quality and quantity of the harvest. That is why I switched over to this method."

Many farmers experimented after getting advice from relatives or neighbors. One of them, Ratilal Kharadi, said the difference became obvious last year when his maize and onions grew two times taller than that of his neighbors. "The quantity surprised me, and I was even more surprised when I tasted it," Kharadi said, after garlanding Nazareth´s photo at the memorial service.

Jesuit Father Peter D´Souza, who worked with Nazareth for years, says the death of the Catholic agriculture scientist leaves a vacuum. The priest in charge of Gandhinagar archdiocese´s Meghraj parish told UCA News that he plans to use Nazareth´s method in his drought-hit parish in north Gujarat.

Father D´Souza also said that though the region "is reeling under the worst drought in a century," Nazareth´s "pro-biotic formula" has been helping to arrest the growing exodus of farmers to cities.

Nazareth´s wife said his method has helped recover more than 1,000 hectares of land through afforestation. She and her three children plan to continue his work. "I do not know to what level I can match him," she said. "My ambition is only to make his dreams continue and to pass them on to his successor."

Vanessa also said she found many of her late husband´s future plans in his journal. A few months before he died, Nazareth spoke with UCA News about how he was beginning to implement some of those plans, including a campaign against an inorganic fertilizer lobby.

Father D´Souza said that Nazareth never bothered to get a vehicle for his institute, despite his extensive travels. "Instead, he spent the money on developing his organization," the Jesuit remarked.

The priest pointed out that many farmers now wait for rains to fill two huge pits Nazareth dug before his death. The farmers, he said, will give "a new dimension" to Nazareth´s dream when they use the fertilizers from that pit.

END

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