It is common for farmers to have a rich collection of crop varieties and cattle breeds. But this young, innovative farmer, Siddalingeswhwara Veerappa Kalival, has a library in his farm that boasts of a collection of 5,000 books on agriculture, besides the CDs.
Thirty-year-old Mr. Kalival, who took up farming on his 75 acres of land in Ibrahimpura of Shiggaon taluk in Haveri district after completing BA, has a penchant for reading anything to do with farming. He was honoured with the Dr. M.H. Marigowda State-level Best Horticulture Farmer Award by the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Krishi Mela on Thursday. He now plans to develop a village library which has books exclusively on farming and facilities to view CDs on innovative farming methods.
Known for his experiments in farming, he has demonstrated high-density banana cultivation by growing 2,640 banana plants in an acre against the conventional practice of accommodating 1,000 to 1,200 plants. “In the conventional practice, each plant would yield 35 to 40 kg of banana. But, I got an average of 35 kg from each plant, resulting in doubling of my profits,” he says.
He is also using used water bottles as a mechanism to provide drip irrigation to plants grown by him, as part of agro forestry.
Similarly, H.L. Naresh of Hanjugodanahalli of Sakleshpur taluk, who also got the Marigowda award, is known for his innovative practices in increasing the fertility of land through effective management of water and manure application. “Other farmers in my village get only about 25 bags of coffee (of 50 kg each) from an acre. But, I get an average yield of 60 bags an acre,” says Mr. Naresh.
Using drones in farm sector
Get ready for new-age agriculture. Drones are set to be used to know the scientific status of standing crops and the farmland.
According to Bosch officials, the company is set to conduct an experiment soon on the campus of the UAS. Rathan D.R., head of Bosch’s Solutions and Systems Team of the Agriculture Technologies, told The Hindu that the drone pictures would be analysed to know if the plant growth was healthy and if there was any possibility of pest attack.
This would help in advance warning of pest attack so that preventive action could be taken. Preventive action is always cheaper and effective than the post-damage efforts, he said. Of course, use of drones by the private sector is banned in India.
