PUDUCHERRY: When you pick a bag of rice from your local market, it's easy to forget the long, complex journey that brought it there. Behind every bite lies a story and one of it is, in the serene farmlands of Bahour and its surrounding villages, a quiet revolution in sustainable agriculture is under way. Led by the Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS), farmers are replacing chemical fertilisers and pesticides with homeopathic formulations -- a novel approach known as Agro-Homeopathy for Sustainable Agriculture (AHAR).

The initiative, which began as a small experiment, is now inspiring a growing number of farmers across Puducherry to embrace this low-cost, eco-friendly alternative to conventional farming.

The AHAR project, which started in 2018 under the guidance of Dr Uttareshwar Pachegaonkar, a homeopath, and in collaboration with SAS, explored the potential of homeopathy in agriculture. Supported initially by NABARD and later by the Tata Trusts, the research commenced at the Society's experimental farm near Ousteri.

Dr F Jayachandran, project coordinator, SAS, said, "We started with laboratory trials and later moved to the field. Our first crop was lady's finger, and when we saw the improved germination and plant strength, we extended the trials to paddy."

The experiments used a randomised block design with eight different treatments -- six homeopathic combinations, one using standard NPK fertiliser, and one control plot with no fertilisers. The combination with the best result was selected and passed on to the farmers.