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Farmers prefer banana to groundnut
Madugupalli village in Putlur mandal in Anantapur District is like any other village raising groundnut crop year after year and losing heavily unable to get a decent yield due to failure of monsoon and inadequate water sources. Besides the topography of the village is uneven land with full of hillocks and rock boulders devoid of plain lands suitable for cultivation.
Madugupalle(Anantapur): Madugupalli village in Putlur mandal in Anantapur District is like any other village raising groundnut crop year after year and losing heavily unable to get a decent yield due to failure of monsoon and inadequate water sources. Besides the topography of the village is uneven land with full of hillocks and rock boulders devoid of plain lands suitable for cultivation.
C Nageswara Reddy, a farmer gave up groundnut crop in preference for banana plantation in his two hectares of land last year and harvested a total quantity of 150 tonnes to his pleasant surprise, he got revenue of Rs 20,000 per tonne and his gross income has soared to Rs 30 lakh in one year
The farmers of the village were growing groundnut and cotton crops under rain-fed conditions. But with the introduction of Micro Irrigation Programme, things began to change for good and every drop of bore water resources was conserved.
The farmers also took an about turn from groundnut cultivation to banana cultivation as the groundnut crop was not only fetching them poor yields due to erratic monsoon but also landing them in financial quagmire of indebtedness.
APMIP assistant project directors R. Vijaya Shankar Reddy and G Chandrasekhar took keen interest in educating the farmers to go for drip irrigation for achieving higher yields with micro water supply. C Nageswara Reddy, a farmer had given up groundnut crop in preference for banana plantation. Being a small farmer he raised banana plantation in his two hectares of land during last year and harvested a total quantity of 150 tonnes. To his pleasant surprise he got revenue of Rs. 20,000 per tonne and his gross income was Rs. 30 lakh in three acres for one year.
The astounding income he earned on banana in one year changed his traditional mindset and he decided to go in for only horticulture plantations. APMIP project director Venkateshwarlu told 'The Hans India' that for farmers like Reddy having small land holdings, Rs.30 lakhs was huge money.
He said that even other farmers who took to horticulture plantations earned handsomely totally transforming the very history of the village from constant droughts and crop losses to financial abundance wiping off all their indebtedness at one go.
The project director stated that drip irrigation and horticulture crops made a huge difference. Anjeneya, Venkatrao and Mrudhubashini are other farmers who have similar success stories to share.
By Ravi P Benjamin
