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APPROPRIATE RURAL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE (ARTI)
2nd Floor, Maninee Apartments, Survey No. 13, Dhayarigaon, Pune 411 041
Telephone: 91-20-439 0348/439 2284; Fax: 91-20-4390348; E-Mail: adkarve@pn2.vsnl.net.in,
INSTITUTE PROFILE:
The Institute was founded in April 1996 by a group of scientists, technologists
and social workers, who had devoted practically their entire adult life
to rural development. The Institute is registered under the Societies
Registration Act of 1860 under no. Maharashtra/4703/SATARA and under the
Bombay Public Trusts Act of 1950 under no. F-4674.
Registered Address:
Karve Bungalow, Near Adhikar Griha, Laxminagar,
Phaltan, 415 523, Dist. Satara, Maharashtra
Phone: 02166-20533/25200
Administrative Office:
2nd Floor, Maninee Apartments, Survey No. 13,
Dhayarigaon, Pune 411 041
Objectives of ARTI:
The primary objective of the Institute is to develop, standardise, popularise
and commercialise innovative rural technologies aimed at improving the
quality of life and standard of living of rural inhabitants of India.
Special emphasis would be laid on making traditional rural businesses
more profitable and on generating new business and employment opportunities
in the rural sector through introduction of novel technologies.
Organisational setup:
The Society has currently 20 members. Only those participating actively
in the activities of the Society are accepted as members. The trustees
are elected from among the members. The present Board of Trustees has
the following composition:
1. President: Dr. A. D. Karve, Agricultural Expert
2. Secretary: Shri A.S.Patwardhan, M.A., Cinema and Videography Expert
3. Treasurer: Shri S.A.Rane, Cookstove Technician
4. Member: Shri N.J.Zende, M.Sc. (Botany)
5. Member: Shri R.N.Prabhune, Dip. Hort.
6. Member: Shri M.S.Siddhashwar, M.Sc. (Botany), M.Ed.
7. Member: Shri R.M.Salunkhe, Certified turner and machinist
8. Member:. Shri M.M.Sheikh, Cookstove technician
9. Member: Shri R.K.Yadav, B.A., Dip.Hort.
Apart from the Registered Office at Phaltan and the Administrative Office
at Pune, ARTI also maintains the following field offices:
- Rural Entrepreneurship Development Centre, Ganeshnagar, Village Algudewadi,
Phaltan-Baramati Road, Tal. Phaltan, Dist. Satara, Maharashtra.
- Technical Backup Support Unit for Goa State, under National Programme
on Improved Chulha, Panaji, Goa.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The achievements of ARTI in the last five years cover two aspects, namely
development of innovative and appropriate rural technologies, and Rural
Entrepreneurship Development. The technologies developed by ARTI are enumerated
below:
RURAL TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED BY ARTI
ARTI has developed and standardised the following technologies on which
enterprises and income generating activities can be based:
(1) New Nursery Techniques: Almost 80% of dicotyledonous species
can be propagated by the simple method of rooted cuttings, if the cuttings
are treated with a rooting hormone and kept under conditions of high atmospheric
humidity. A low cost high humidity chamber, costing just Rs.200 per sq.m.
and the protocoll for hormonal treatment, hardening and transplanting
were developed. Use of black plastic mulch increases survival percentage
and vigour of seedlings that are raised on raised beds. Surrounding the
beds with a skirting of plastic film also increases rate of growth of
the seedlings. Methods have been developed to modulate plant growth by
using red and far red light. Use of root trainers produces better root
system than use of plastic bags. Seedlings and saplings grown in root
trainers grow twice as fast as those grown in a plastic bag.
(2) Leaf as a propagule: A leaf of a dicot plant, detached from
the plant along with its axillary bud, is treated with a rooting hormone
and kept in a high humidity chamber, the petiole produces roots, while
the bud grows into a shoot. In this way, an entire plant can be produced
from a single leaf.
(3) New items for nursery business: We have introduced several
non-traditional items into the nursery business. If the cutting or the
scion of a graft is taken from an adult tree, the clone shows very early
flowering and fruiting. This finding has been used for producing miniature
flowering trees in pots (Delonix regia, Spathodia, Nyctanthus arbortrystis,
Michaelia champaka, Erythrina indica, various species of Cassia, Ficus,
Citrus, etc.). The method has been standardised for nearly 100 arborescent
species. Candidate species for a rural nursery are fruit trees, trees
yielding non-timber commercial products, as well as flowering trees. Petioles
of leaves of a number of species can be induced to produce roots. Such
leaves have a life of about 3 months. Rooted leaves of different colours
and shapes can be planted in different configurations into pots to make
decorative live bouquets. A large number of local tree species can be
used as indoor plants, as they were discovered to be shade tolerant in
the juvenile phase.
(4) Nursery Business based on seedlings of seasonal crop species:
Ornamental plants are difficult to market in a rural area and the market
of perennials gets saturated after some time. Producing seedlings of seasonal
crop species has the advantage that there would always be a demand for
them. Seedlings growing in a nursery bed or in plastic bags occupy very
little space. Thus, while one crop is still standing in the field, or
while the soil/weather conditions are not right, seedlings can be raised
in a nursery and transplanted into the field when the conditions are right.
This allows the farmer to grow more crops in a year, to overcome adverse
weather conditions, and also to advance the date of planting in order
to get an early crop. Methods have been standardised for sugarcane, cotton
and pigeonpea. The business based on sugarcane seedlings grown in plastic
bags has an annual market potential of Rs. 5000 million in Maharashtra
alone.
(5) Plant tissue culture: The cost of plantlets coming out of a
tissue culture laboratory is too high for them to be used as agriculturally
useful planting material. ARTI uses a small tissue culture laboratory
to produce about 2000 plants per month, which serve only as mother plants.
They are further multiplied under field/nursery conditions for one or
more generations and the progeny is sold to users. at a price affordable
by them. The tissue culture laboratory uses pressure cooker instead of
autoclave, rain water instead of distilled water and jam jars instead
of costly Pyrex or Borosil ware. A laboratory producing a few hundred
plantlets per week costs less than Rs. six hundred thaousand to set up.
(6) Low cost greenhouse: The primary function of a greenhouse is
to provide plants with additional carbon dioxide. Neither heating nor
cooling is required under climatic conditions in Maharashtra. Carbon dioxide
is exhaled by green plants during the night, and by soil microorganisms
throughout the day. Carbon dioxide, being heavier than air, accumulates
near the ground. If the crop is surrounded by a skirting of plastic film
and even if the top of the structure is left open, one gets the typical
greenhouse effect with doubling of the yield. Because our greenhouse has
no roof, one can use relatively thin bamboo stakes to support the plastic
skirting around the plants. Per acre cost of a conventional greenhouse
is Rs. 10 to 20 million per ha. Our greenhouse costs just a tenth of this.
The greenhouse technology is combined with farming on permanent raised
beds.
(7) Farming on permanent raised beds: Raised beds made of a mixture
of sand and soil are laid on a plastic film. All the soil related limiting
factors (wrong pH, soil compaction, salinity, nutrient deficiency, poor
aeration, weeds, pathogens etc.) are eliminated in this system, so that
plants respond well to fertilizers. Using three times the recommended
dose of fertilisers, along with the necessary micronutrients, we get three
times the yield in most crop species. The system is ideal for a kitchen
garden, but even larger areas can be converted into raised bed system.
A single person can easily manage an area of about 2000 sq.m. Capital
cost of the system is Rs.100 per sq.m and the annual running cost is Rs.5
per sq.m. Gross annual income ranges from Rs.100 to Rs.250 per sq.m.,
depending upon the species under cultivation and availability of market.
The sand bed technology can also be applied for a number of other uses,
as described below:
(a) Using sea water for irrigation: If seawater is used regularly
for irrigation, even salt tolerant plants are eventually killed, because
the salinity level of the soil gradually increases as the water evaporates.
In our method, special care is taken to ensure good drainage by raising
the plants on a raised bed made of sand, so that with each irrigation,
the salts that have accumulated in the root zone are flushed out and the
root zone salinity is restored back to the level of seawater. Many species
can tolerate this much salinity (e.g.coconut, casuriana, Prosopis juliflora,
Thespesia populnea, Salvadora persica, most of the mangrove species etc.).
(b) Growing root drugs in a nutrient flow system: A system has
been standardised for growing plants in sand filled channels, through
which nutrient solution flows. One can harvest the entire root biomass
in this system, with very low labour cost. The roots obtained in this
system are very clean.
(c) High intensity cultivation of cattle fodder: African tall maize,
planted on artificial raised beds made out of sand-soil mixture, and provided
with all the necessary mineral nutrients, yields 20 kg green fodder per
sq.m., once every 80 days. Thus, beds having an area of 80 sq.m., of which
one sq.m. area is harvested and planted once every 80 days, can give daily
20 kg green fodder, which is enough to feed a hybrid cow giving 10 litres
milk per day. The cowdung and even other waste matter produced by the
household, can serve as manure for the plants. This system can give a
family a monthly income of Rs.2500 to 3000.
(d) Production of root mats: Grasses have a fibrous root system
and they can also form dense stands, in which the roots of adjacent plants
intertwine to produce a thick subterranian mat. If such plants are grown
in sand beds laid on a plastic film, one can easily harvest the root mats.
Depending on the species, the mats vary in their texture. The coarse ones
can be made into door mats, while the soft ones can be used as carpets,
blankets etc.
(8) Bamboo for outdoor structures: Bamboo can be rendered non-biodegradable
by impregnating it with a mixture of potassium dichromate, copper sulphate
and boric acid. Such bamboo can be used for constructing scaffolding for
grapes, greenhouses, fences, and even water tanks. As a crop too bamboo
is very paying, yielding about Rs.500,000 per hectare every year.
(9) Low cost water tank: A 120 cm tall palisade structure of bamboo
poles, with the intervening spaces woven into a wickerwork of bamboo,
and an inset made out of a plastic film, form the tank. It is filled with
potable water during the rainy season, after which it is covered by an
opaque black plastic film. These tanks cost about Paise 75 per litre of
storage capacity. If the bamboo parts used in the tank are chemically
impregnated they resist biodegradation and last for even 10 years under
outdoor conditions. The water can be used as drinking water in seasons
of scarcity.
(10) Wheelbarrow: A wheelbarrow, with a single wheel, is a very
simple labour saving devise, especially for women. Owing to its single
wheel, this cart can be pushed even along very narrow pathways, avoiding
the necessicity to carry loads balanced on the head.
(11) Cleansing agents from pods of Acacia auriculiformis: A process
has been standardised for making shampoo, soap and washing powder for
household utensils from the saponins extracted from the pods of Acacia
auriculiformis. Chemically, the saponins from the Australian acacia are
identical to those from Shikekai.
(12) New method of irrigating tree plantations: It is an accepted
fact, that drip irrigation leads to water saving, but even in drip irrigation,
there is wastage of water, because it wets the surface of the soil, from
which a large part of the water is evaporated, without benefitting the
plants. The wet surface also promotes weed growth. In the new method,
a plastic tube is let into the ground to a depth of about 50 cm and the
microtubule of the drip system is let into this tube, so that the water
is given at a depth of 50 cm. Because the soil surface does not get wet,
there is no loss of water due to direct evaporation from the soil surface
and there is also no weed growth. Doubling or sometimes even quadrupling
of the growth rate was observed in trees watered in this way in comparison
to those receiving the same quantity of water by the conventional drip
irrigation system.
(13) Sewage disposal through plantation of bamboo: Bamboo grows
luxuriantly and remains evergreen, if it is irrigated daily with domestic
sewage. Three year old poles are harvested and sold, earning annually
about Rs. 500 per clump.
(14) Rural energy systems, devices and processes:
(A) Biomass based systems: It is estimated that agriculture in
India generates annually about 500 million tonnes of agrowaste. ARTI has
developed a number of technologies to utilise the agrowaste as domestic
fuel. They are as follows:
Improved cookstoves: Woody agrowaste such as stalks of cotton and pegionpea
are burnt directly in a woodburning cookstove. A traditional rural cookstove,
made of unfired clay, has a very low efficiency, it produces a lot of
smoke and soot and it has a life of just a couple of years. The cookstoves
developed by ARTI not only have a high efficiency of about 25%, but they
also reduce the indoor air pollution. Being made of cement concrete, they
last for at least 5 years.
(a) Fuel briquettes from light Agrowaste: Because most agricultural
species are herbaceous, agricultural waste is generally in the form of
leaves and thin stems. The act of threshing also results in generating
powdery agrowaste. Agrowaste in these forms cannot be used as fuel in
a wood burning stove. But it can be converted into briquettes by two methods.
(i) Agrowaste of vegetable crops, which has a lot of moisture, can be
partially decomposed. The semi-decomposed biomass, which has lost its
stiff and springy nature, can be extruded into briquettes with the help
of an extruder.
(ii) For dry agrowaste such as dry sugarcane leaves, stems and hulls of
cereals and oilseeds, etc., ARTI has developed a charring kiln based on
the oven and retort system. The charcoal produced in this kiln can be
easily powdered. Mixed with a suitable binder, it too can be extruded
into char briquettes.
(b) Sarai stove-and-cooker system: This is an assembly, which is
capable of cooking a meal for a family of five using just 125g char briquettes.
A housewife, using a traditional wood-burning cookstove, would normally
use about 3 kg wood for cooking the same amount of food.
(c) Biogas from agricultural waste: Raw biomass is not a suitable
raw material for biogas production, because of the excessively long retention
period in the fermenter. Therefore, the biomass should first be aerobically
decomposed. The partially decomposed waste serves very well as a source
of biogas. The advantage of the biogas technology is that only the carbon
and hydrogen from the agrowaste are harvested as energy, while other elements
in the biomass remain behind in the slurry, which can then go back to
the fields as organic manure.
(B) Solar dehydration of fruits and vegetables: A kit consisting
of several lengths of bamboo is assembled to form a multi-tray bamboo
pyramid. After loading the trays with the target material, the pyramid
is covered with a black plastic cladding. The device serves for solar
drying of fruits, vegetables and processed foods. Because the product
is not exposed to direct sunlight, its colour remains attractive. It is
also protected from dust and flies. After use, the dryer is dismantled.
It occupies very small space in the dismantled state.
(15) Operating a rural bakery: ARTI has developed a low-cost and
fuel efficient oven for baking busicuits and cakes, which would allow
a rural woman to operate a small bakery enterprise.
(16)Mushroom cultivation: Oyster mushroom, Pleurotus sojar-kaju,
can be easily cultivated on a number of substrates, such as sugarcane
leaves, cotton stalks, wheat stalks, rice straw, etc. The residual biomass
can be fed to cattle, after harvesting the mushrooms. ARTI has made arrangements
with a biotech laboratory for the supply of good quality of spawn.
(17) Peat substitute from agrowaste: Agrowaste can be converted
into peat substitute by aerobica decomposition with the help of Trichoderma
viridae, a cellulolytic fungus. This product is in great demnad by plant
nursery business.
(18) Liquid organic manure for the kitchen garden and organic farming:
A tank made of bricks and mud, and lined with plastic film, is filled
with organic waste. The organic matter is kept moist, so that it starts
decomposing. The decomposing organic waste is leached out daily by pouring
water on the waste and collecting the brown coloured effluent from an
outlet at the bottom of the tank. If this water is used for watering plants,
no other fertilizer is required to be given to them. The tank is topped
up at regular intervals with fresh organic waste.
(19) Milk substitute from soybean and groundnut: In spite of being
cheap, this product serves the purpose of milk in poorer households that
cannot afford cattle milk. The product is especially suitable to tribals
in the Northeast, who are often unable to digest cattle milk.
RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME :
The technologies developed above have the potential of generating business
turnovers of literally billions of Rupees every year. Under the Rural
Entrepreneurship Development Programme, the trainee learns not only the
technology but also the business aspects of the technology (e.g. registration
as a small scale industry, purchase of a plot in an industrial estate
of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, legal aspects of the
business, etc.). Officials of banks, Directorate of Industries, and also
those of Khadi & Village Industries Commission, are invited to deliver
lectures on various incentive schemes, soft loans, their terms and conditions,
and how to fill out their respective application forms. Experts on business
administration give lectures on book keeping, cost accounting, advertising,
test marketing, importance of quality control, importance of after sales
service, etc. Because both the technologies and their products are new,
ARTI also provides technical backup and marketing support to entrepreneurs
who start businesses based on these technologies.
Adoption of new technologies by rural entrepreneurs was achieved in the
case of improved cookstoves, modern nursery techniques, and raising high
value crops on permanent raised beds.
ARTI has also produced video tapes and CDs in Marathi, Hindi and English,
to serve as training material of these three technologies. A video tape
shows the concerned object or action from the correct distance and angle.
Time lag between individual stages of the procedure is condensed, and
a trainee can watch the tape repeatedly, if he has not understood the
procedure in one viewing. He can also purchase the tape and take it with
him for future reference. The production of some of the video tapes was
financed by The Department of Electronics, Ministry of Information Technology,
Government of India.
To cater to the growing demand for training in various technologies, ARTI
established a Rural Entrepreneurship Development Centre (REDC), at Ganeshnagar,
village Algudewadi, Tal.Phaltan, Dist. Satara, on a plot of land measuring
4000 sq. m. Funds for constructing the building of this centre were generously
donated by M/s ICICI Ltd., Mumbai. An organization called Association
for India's Development, founded by Indian nationals residing in the U.S.A.,
have donated US$ 2000 for the audio-visual equipment at this Centre.
Training programmes :
Sensitisation programmes on ARTI technologies are held every year for
teacher trainees attending special courses in Teachers' Training College
at Phaltan (Dist. Satara). Sensitization programmes are also held for
Biology teachers in Maharashtra under the "In-service training programme
for higher secondary teachers". Because of the environment friendly
nature of ARTI's technologies, the Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of India, has been sposoring some of ARTI's training programmes.
Training as well as sensitization programmes on modern nursery techniques
are regularly held by ARTI under the DST-CAPART Technology Transfer Programme.
Funding has recently been granted to ARTI by Gesellschaft fuer Technische
Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Eschborn, Germany, for training farmers in establishing
nurseries for sugarcane and pigeonpea. In addition, DST is funding similar
training programmes in the case of cotton. Training programmes in tissue
culture are being conducted under sponsorship of National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development (NABARD). ARTI recently received the Ashden Award
for Renewable Energy, 2002. The funds received under this award are being
utilised for conducting training courses in the production of fuel briquettes
from charred agrowaste. Courses on repair and maintenance of solar energy
devices are sponsored by Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA).
The trainees are provided with design drawings, manuals, names and addresses
of suppliers of hardware and chemicals, as applicable to each training
module. If no outside funding is available, boarding, lodging and travel
expenses are borne by the trainees themselves. ARTI also charges a moderate
fee, which covers the actual costs of conducting such a course. Generally,
a batch consists of 5 to 10 trainees. ARTI is in the process of creating
its own hostel facilities, but pending their completion, trainees are
accommodated in hotels in the town.
Special courses are arranged for trainees who may wish to combine two
or more modules, or who may wish to learn only specific parts of a particular
module and not the entire module. The fees mentioned below are exclusive
of boarding and lodging charges.
Module 1: Nursery Techniques
1. Construction of high humidity chamber and its use in producing rooted
cuttings and grafts.
2. Vegetative multiplication through rooted cutting, grafts and through
leaves.
3. Transplanting and hardening of plants raised in high humidity chamber.
4. use of auxiliary light to modulate plant growth.
5. Use of root trainers.
6. Use of shade netting, mini-greenhouse and plastic mulch.
7. Production of compost for use in potting medium.
8. Production of liquid organic manure for use in nurseries.
9. Seedlings of seasonal crop species.
10. Bonsai technology.
Duration: 5 days Fee: Rs.500 per trainee
Module 2. Crop production on permanent raised beds
1. Preparation of raised beds for vegetables, floriculture.
2. Fertiliser application (a) chemical (b) organic manure
3. Irrigation (a) by drip (b) by hose pipe/watering can with rose nozzle
4. Construction of minigreenhouse using bamboo poles and plastic film.
5. Treatment of bamboo to increase its outdoor life
6. Special techniques for (a) fodder production (b) medicinal plants (c)
root drugs (d) root mats
Duration: 2 days Fee: Rs.200 per trainee
Module 3: Treatment of bamboo and wood and their use
1. Preparing treatment solution
2. operation of pump
3. Treatment without pump
4. Construction of bamboo water tank
5. Construction of scaffolding for vines
6. Construction of a greenhouse/nethouse
7. Fabrication of bamboo furniture
7. Fabrication of a bamboo wheelbarrow
8. Fabrication of a solar dryer for agricultural and horticultural products
Duration: 4 days Fee: Rs.400 per trainee
Module 4. Biomass burning stoves and fuel from light biomass
1. Preparation of clay/cement concrete mixture
2. Design principles of wood burning stoves and various models of stoves
3. Construction of stoves (domestic as well as large size)
4. Construction of bakery oven
5. Technology of charring biomass for making char briquettes
6. Stove-and cooker system using char briquettes as fuel
Duration: 7 days Fee: Rs.1000 per trainee
Module 5. Plant tissue culture
If two rooms of 10 sq.m. each, provided with water and electricity connection
are available, the laboratory can be set up at hardware cost of only around
Rs. 300,000.
ARTI would give complete know-how for setting up a tissue culture laboratory
and train the staff of the trainee organisation in the trainees' own laboratory.
Protocolls are available with ARTI for sugarcane, banana, turmeric and
ginger. ARTI's experts pay regular visits to the laboratory of the trainee
institution to solve any problems faced by the trainee institution.
Duration: Flexible
Training fee: Rs. 25,000 per institution as know-how fee. In addition,
ARTI's experts should be paid travelling expenses (train fare by II A.C.
Class or luxury bus fare, if train service is not available), local conveyance
and boarding lodging expenses.
Following kits can be supplied to the trainees against payment:
1.Portable high humidity chamber : Rs.100
2.Hand pump for bamboo treatment together with adapter and chemicals for
making 10 l solution (sufficient for about 40-50 poles: Rs.2,500
3. Micronutrient solution for use in raised bed technology.
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