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Cultivating 20 crops in one acre
A model farmer, Mummidi Naga Maheswara Rao (Sekhar) of FK Palem in Pithapuram mandal, is reaping wonderful benefits cultivating the Annapurna model of agriculture department raising 20 varieties of crops without application of fertilisers in his one-acre land holding.
Pithapuram: A model farmer, Mummidi Naga Maheswara Rao (Sekhar) of FK Palem in Pithapuram mandal, is reaping wonderful benefits cultivating the Annapurna model of agriculture department raising 20 varieties of crops without application of fertilisers in his one-acre land holding. With input costs dwindling, the farmer is reaping wonderful benefits.
His farm appears to be a potpourri of various crops with paddy cultivated here, vegetable crops there, chrysanthemum and marigold crops on the farm bund. We see several creepers on the fence. The other varieties raised include corn, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, lemon, orange, coconut, pomegranate and mango crops.
His farm appears to be a farm house plot. He cultivates vegetables, pulses, rice and fruits in his farm. The farmer has one acre of land which is a mixture of dry as well as wet land. He cultivated paddy in 30 cents, black gram and red gram in 15 cents and green gram in another 15 cents. In the rest of the 40 cents of dry land he cultivates tomato, brinjal, lady finger, green chilly, yam and tapioca.
There is no water problem as the farm has a bore well. Corn is ready for harvesting right now. Objective of Annapurna scheme is to cultivate crops without application of chemical fertilisers. He is applying only organic fertilisers like Jeevamrutam and neem oil. He said that the application of organic fertilisers cut down the input costs drastically.
He is using some of the vegetables, pulses and rice harvested from his farm and selling the rest in the market, at a price slightly higher than the market price since the products are organic. People are evincing a lot of interest in buying the products.
Agriculture Additional Director Padmasri, agriculture officer Ch Satyanarayana and Agricultural Technology Management Agency MPEO Eswar are regularly monitoring the growth in the farm. Under the Annapurna scheme, the farmer has been extended a subsidy of Rs 25,000. According to Padmasri, more and more farmers have been evincing interest in this model. This scheme can be raised in an acre or half-an- acre.
By Saride Nageswara Rao
