The Concept and Formulation of Kunapajala, the World’s Oldest Fermented Liquid Organic Manure

Beginning in the 1990s, researchers and farm policy makers in India and the rest of the world focused their attention on ‘organic farming’ in order to better the sustainability of agriculture. I had earlier described and discussed most of the methods currently recommended in different parts of India14. These methods are: (i) The natural way of farming (‘do-nothing’) farming by Masanobu Fukuoka; (ii) Biodynamic agriculture by Rudolf Steiner – introduced in India; (iii) Vermiculture developed by Mary Appelhof– introduced in India; (iv) ‘Natueco’ culture by Shripad Dabholkar; (v) Zero-budget natural farming (ZBNF) by Subhash Palekar; (vi) Rishi-Krishi by Mohan Deshpande; (vii) Agnihotra by disciples of Gajanan Maharaj of Akkalkot, Maharashtra; (viii) Panchagavya by K. Natarajan; (ix) Krishi-suktis and Vrikshayurvedas (Surapala, Sarangadhara, and others) by sages and scholars of ancient and medieval India; (x) Compost tea by Elaine Ingham–introduced in India; and (xi) EM-Bokashi tea by TeruoHiga– introduced in India. Of these methods, Dabholkar’s ‘Natueco’, Palekar’s ZBNF, Natarajan’s panchagavya, Ingham’s compost tea, and EM-Bokashi of Higa are related to Kunapajala, which is produced by adopting the liquid fermentation technology as documented by Surapala16, in the first-ever compilation of the methods of Vrikshayurveda. Thus, Kunapajala, the ancient Indian fermented liquid manure, was a stupendous innovation. The fact of Kunapajala’s Indian origin went un-noticed for centuries, which is why agronomists, all over the world, currently tend to believe that the innovation of fermented liquid manure was done by farmers in Japan, Korea, China, or even medieval Europe— but not by farmers of India.