Dr. L. Narayana Reddy introduced Effective Micro-organisms to us. (These were discovered by Prof. Teuro Higa of Japan. In India these are marketed by Maple Orgtech (I) Limited). Dr. Reddy cautioned that uncontrolled conditions during production, by farmers, of Effective Micro-organisms may lead to the inclusion of harmful organisms because farmers lack the laboratory equipment to check quality and to prevent contamination. So, Dr. Reddy recommends that farmers buy Effective Micro-organisms from authentic laboratories.

However, Mr. G. Balakrishnan has perfected a controlled method for preparing a similar solution that he called Efficient Microorganism solution. In Tamil we call it thiRa nuNNuyir (thiRami, for short). We will refer to it hereinafter as thiRami. We use this method in our laboratory in Madurai to prepare small quantities of thiRami and supply to trained organic farmers in our association (Thamizhaga Uzhavar Thozhilnutpak Kazhagam). In the past ten years we have used it on a variety of crops under different conditions in twelve districts in Tamil Nadu and have been getting good results. Based on this experience, we now describe the preparation and use of the following solutions.