Going the natural way! 

ID: A group of men and women are standing around many trays of eggs and lemons while a woman is sitting in the middle and extracting juice from a lemon.

What are they making and why? 

The people in the image are making egg amino acid, which is applied on horticultural crops at the flowering stage to control sucking pests, minimize flower dropping issues and for good flowering and large size. Following are the ingredients and process of making it (as told by the one who took the picture):

Ingredients & things needed:

A dozen eggs, 

lemon extract (to immerse eggs in), 

500 grams of jaggery

and a glass jar. 

Making process:

Wipe the eggs with a clean cloth and put them in an airtight glass jar. Extract the lemon juice from the lemons. Filter the lemon juice with the use of cotton cloth. Pour the lemon extract into the glass jar till the eggs are completely immersed. Keep the jar aside for 10-12 days and make sure it’s stored in a dry place. Daily morning and evening let out the air in the jar to prevent the glass jar from breaking due to high pressure released from the lemon extract. After 10-12 days, mix 500 gms of jaggery in lukewarm water, let it cool and mix them in the egg and lemon extract. Stir well and keep it aside for 10 days. Follow the step of letting out the air from the jar twice a day. 

Usage:

Mix 250 ml of filtered egg amino acid with 100 litres of water and apply directly to horticulture crops at the flowering stage. (For effective results use the spraying of egg amino acid 2-3 times in crop season). The expiry of this egg amino acid is 2 months. 

PC: APNCF Programme

Click here for the compilation of all Livelihood Images.