A long time back, my mother would say that one-fourth of everything I did came from knowledge and the rest was mere show-off. She was my teacher too, and this comment came invariably after seeing my examination answer script. That is what I do to this day. What you see behind me is a bunch of plantains. In Thiruvananthapuram it is called “kappa pazham”. During my childhood, I used to hear it described as “rakta kadali”. I have never seen it in Kottayam. I don’t know if it’s available there now. The peculiarity of this variety is that the bunch forms after 18 months, while the others take only 10 months. But I got this one in one-and-a-half years’ time. I had planted it in May 2019 in a Miyawaki forest close to my house.
The reason why I exhibit is that it is a massive bunch with more than 100 fruits, and each plantain is fairly big in size. No chemical fertilizers were used. So this is an organic bunch of red plantains. Most people ask me whether plants in Miyawaki forests get enough sunlight to produce vegetables. What I know for sure is that this plantain plant grew really fast and the bunch was ready for harvest in 18 months, three months earlier than usual. Many other plantain and banana plants have put out bunches at various places in the Miyawaki forest, though not as big as this one. But for domestic use, we don’t need huge bunches. Moderate ones should be enough.
I say this because we are in the process of pruning the trees in our Miyawaki forest. We feed these leaves to the goats. With pruning, more sunlight will be available and new shoots will sprout. Pruning should be done carefully. We must check which plant is showing stunted growth and requires sunlight, and then cut branches of the neighbouring plants or trees. This can be done with a little bit of imagination.
Now to explain why all my activities are one-fourth knowledge and the rest, show-off. In the case of this plantain bunch, although I do all the talking, it is my fellow-worker Madhu who did the supervisory work. But he didn’t have to do much maintenance. He dug a hole and planted it, fixed a stake and tied the stem to it, cut the branch and oversaw its ripening. This is from a plant in a one-and-a-half cent Miyawaki forest. Three others remain. A papaya plant fell under the weight of its fruits. As we say always, vegetable plants and fruit trees should be kept on the periphery of the forest so that they get sunlight. Cut their branches from time to time. New leaves may take five to six months to sprout. So sunlight is assured for that period.
If you manage your Miyawaki forest in this manner, you’ll get the results. If you ask me about the theory, I can’t say much. I merely recommend that you try this method. Now many may be curious to know what I will do with this bunch of plantains. This is not for sale. I’ll need eight or ten plantains for my family – my wife, daughter and her husband. The rest will be distributed among those who laboured, and some of my friends. I’m not bothered much about the commercial aspect. I suggest that you shouldn’t worry about it either. These products are organic, and harvested from your own plot. That gives us a lot of joy.
Besides, there are certain priceless things we get from a Miyawaki forest, like fresh air, rainwater that seeps into our wells, protection from dust and noise from outside. Plenty of birds and butterflies will come visiting. When I get up at 5 o’ clock in the morning, I get to see the hibiscus flowers unfurling. These are experiences that no money can buy. We should be aware of these benefits. For instance, the sight of butterflies laying eggs, pupae forming, and new butterflies emerging from them is not available in zoos. If you want to assess a Miyawaki forest in monetary terms, the expense on one cent of Miyawaki forest will be only one lakh rupees, equivalent to three air-conditioners, inverter and paraphernalia. If you extend the forest to two cents, you’ll get a permanently cool atmosphere without any expenditure on electricity. The plants will take care of you.
For those who will not be satisfied with these benefits, this bunch of plantains should act as incentive. I don’t know the science behind such a huge bunch. Maybe botanists will be able to give the answer. In my childhood, when plantain and banana plants were grown in our 10-11 cent garden plot, they were planted and left to themselves. After a bunch was harvested, the plant was cut down, and new saplings sprouted on their own. In course of time, new and fairly rich bunches of fruit would appear. All this was for domestic consumption. The same is the case with our Miyawaki vegetable and fruit forests. Plants and trees grow well when they are planted in a crowded manner, and the idea was scientifically developed by Miyawaki. I cannot say anything more about it. So I suggest that you too conduct the experiment. It may yield good fruits.