“When I was practising traditional agriculture, I had to hand-hoe intensively twice, and do
one lighter weeding. It took three labourers 6 or 7 days to weed one acre under normal
conditions, or 10 days if the soil was wet.
When I switched to conservation agriculture, I was able to reduce the workload and save
time and money. It took fewer people and less time to do the weeding.
The first season when I started conservation agriculture, I had to spend extra on lablab
seed and Roundup herbicide. But in the following seasons and years, the costs went
down because I had to weed less. I left half of the residues from the previous crop on the
field to cover the soil. So the work was easier: only one person could weed an acre in just
2 days by pulling the weeds.
This has given me more time for other work, such as planting trees, gardening, controlling
erosion, and making honey. I have three beehives, which produce enough honey for
my family and to sell.”