For more than two months 13 students of Agriculture College at Karere near Hassan have been staying at Ganjalagudu, a village in Arakalgudu taluk. They spend most of their time with farmers in the field as part of the Rural Agriculture Work Experience Programme (RAWEP), introduced by the Bengaluru University of Agriculture Sciences three years ago. “What we learn in the classrooms within the four walls is different from the experience we gain through interacting and working with farmers in the field,” says Kshama A.V., final year student, who is one among 13 students camped in Ganjalagudu.
The village with a population of a few hundreds was chosen by the teaching faculty for RAWEP considering significant features of agriculture area. The farmers here grow paddy, jowar, potato, ginger, maize, banana and several other crops. The village is surrounded by the canals that supply water to paddy fields from the Hemavati reservoir at Goruru. As part of the RAWEP students have to stay in the village for three months, understand the crop pattern, give suggestions for increasing yield and educate them on modern cultivation methods and composting methods.
“When we came here in June 29,” said Kishor K.B., “majority of the farmers were cultivating ginger and potato. Vast tracts of potato had attracted late blight disease. Our priority was to safeguard potato crop. We gave them suggestions on medicine and could safeguard the crop in some farms. However, the yield is very less as there was no rainfall.”
The students soon after reaching the village conduct a survey on crop pattern, livestock presence and problems faced by farmers. Considering the fact that many families were depending on live stock for livelihood, they demonstrated azolla cultivation. Azolla which is provided as feed for cows increases milk yield. “Milk producers are happy that after azolla was provided as the feed, the quality and quantity of milk have increased. Now many farmers are developing azolla pits,” said Chinmayi M. Prasad, also a student.
The students have demonstrated azolla pit near the dairy, where the milk producers visit twice a day. Anand, a banana grower in the village, is happy that the students gave special interest to increase the yield in his banana farm. “I did not know how to go about bunch feeding of banana. The students did this in my farm. Now I can see the size of fruits is increasing with it,” he said. Similarly, the students have cultivated paddy using varieties of seeds, which are not yet familiar among the farmers,” said Sandesh G.M, another student.
The college has divided final year students into six groups and they have been sent to six different villages in Hassan district under this programme. With the help of local people, they have found accommodation in schools and houses. Coordinators of the RAWEP Dr. G. Nagesh, Dr.H.M. Manjunath and Dr.E.R. Umesh keep visiting the village and give students instructions whenever they need.
They have developed a kitchen garden, to spread awareness among farmers about making use of space available around the house to grow vegetables. Dr.H.M. Manjunath, one of the RAWEP co-ordinators in the college, said that the students were doing a good job in the village. “They constantly interact with farmers and with that they learn. While farmers share their field experiences, students inform them about scientific advances. This activity helps both students and farmers,” he said. Dr.H. Shivanna, Vice-Chancellor of UAS, Dr. L. Manjunath, Dean of Agriculture College in Karekere have visited the village and appreciated the students’ work.
