mangaluru dr varanashi krishna moorthy chief varanashi development and research foundation adyanadka has returned from 17 days trip of cambodia held from the last week of may to june 9 he was visiting on an organic cashew advisory project his trip was sponsored by two international ngos international volunteers of yamagata ivy of japan and german community for international cooperation giz during the trip krishna moorthy attended 10 farmers met agriculture extension officers and participated in field demonstrations he presented a seminar on organic and sustainable agriculture and varanashi farms towards organic and sustainable agriculture own story with slide show and video in addition to local cambodians people from germany japan malaysia and kazakhstan were also present the seminar was organized by cambodian organic agriculture organization coraa krishna moorthy turned his farm organic from 1991 and in 1997 was certified as organic during the cambodian visit he visited cashew farm of seong ngy he told toi ngy was one among several farmers trained in organic cashew cultivation during my repeated german sponsored visits in 2006 that time ngy was harvesting 3kg cashewnut per tree in his 18 ha cashew property he now harvests 40kg cashew in his 6 years old cashew and 100 170kg in his 11 years old trees back then a poor farmer today along with farming he manages a cashew nursery and two trucks for transport business said krishna moorthyduring summer being in equatorial region temperature at cambodia touches 40 degree c wise and hardworking ngy works between 1 am to 7 am with a gum boot head light and his moped which can take him all through the farm he takes rest till evening he has four part time female helpers he is now a rich farmer and inspite of language barrier our meeting made both of us happy said krishna moorthyhe also visited a large organic black pepper plot in cambodia pepper vine is grown on closely erected 12 ft tall thick wooden pole without shade under micro sprinkler irrigation vietnam also follows the same system the farm he visited had 2000 fully grown three year old black pepper plants unfortunately all of them were affected with slow wilt caused by phytopthora fungus and were turning yellow suitable remedy was suggestedkrishna moorthy has over 37 years of experience in organic farming he is an organic farmer researcher extension specialist and an entrepreneur varanashidevelopment and research foundation has received apj abdul kalam environmental award he has rich experience in composting organic farming water harvesting and management manufacturing biofertilizers and biopesticide biogas waste recycling organic certification and internal control system he is an expert in betel nut cocoa black pepper cashew nut meg coconut rice teak cultivation and a few tropical and native vegetables he has worked in about 19 rd projects and rd linked extension programmes in organic farming standardization and bio fertilizer in different countries he is recipient krishi pandit awardkrishna moorthy has extensive experience of working in cashew sector development in cambodia he has