To address the issue of shrinking agricultural land due to urbanisation, the Government recognised the need for a vertical growth in farming by introducing high-end technology.
To take technology to the grassroots level in Public-Private Participation mode, the Government introduced the concept of Agri-clinics and Entrepreneurship in 2002 in coordination with the Nabard and the National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad, to train financial and agriculture professionals and to bring financial assistance from banks.
Haritam Horti Agriclinic is one such agri-clinic developed in Vijayawada city by R. Suresh Kumar in 2003. The clinic provides technical support to farmers of Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari districts in soil and water testing and agronomical practices besides promoting bio pesticides at a reasonable price.
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As part of his passion, Mr. Suresh Kumar developed a technology of aerobic fermentation of poultry litter with a selective microbial culture. The poultry compost produced by Haritam Horti Clinic when tried on all crops, found it to be giving better results than other composts in use.
“Through constant use of poultry compost for two years in paddy the NPK chemical fertilizers can be stopped from the 3rd season. The yield is on par with the NPK-used fields with a comparatively low pest incidence. The quality of the produce is also good,” says a farmer Y.S.S. Mukharjee.
“The whole compost process takes 25 to 30 days. Recognising the use of this technology, the Nabard granted funds to establish a microbial lab for production of compost culture under Rural Inventory Fund scheme and commercial production began in 2012,” says Mr. Suresh Kumar.
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Many agriculturists and poultry farmers using compost culture are now producing their own compost at a cost of about Rs. 1,500 per tonne. “A kilogram of compost culture requires a tonne of poultry litter. The poultry compost application has also reduced use of chemical fertilizers by more than 25 per cent,” he observes. “The microbial culture, when tried in poultry litter in layer bird sheds has effectively reduced bad odour in litter, which is one of the major problems in layer bird sheds,” says Ramesh Babu, a poultry consultant.
A number of poultry farmers are using it in their poultry sheds in Krishna and West Godavari districts. Mr. Suresh Kumar can be contacted on 9848257135. (rsureshkumar@gmail.com).