If carried out with hard work and passion, farming will not only bring satisfaction but will also support the livelihood, opined Podamada Mohan, a progressive agriculturist from Balele Devanuru village.
Mohan has been cultivating paddy on only two hectares of land. However, he has been able to harvest an average of 62 quintals of paddy per hectare, annually. This is made possible owing to the innovative methods of irrigation, pest control and so on.
For his commitment towards agriculture, he has been awarded the taluk-level progressive farmer award in Virajpet, for the year 2015-16.
The paddy farm belonging to Podamada Mohan is situated at a distance of one kilometre from Balele. The rainwater based farm has water supply across all seasons of the year.
Mohan has been cultivating Atira and Tunga varieties of paddy. Now, both the varieties are almost ready for harvest. He has maintained cleanliness in the paddy farm by removing the shrubs.
Manure
He said that a mixture of DAP, Urea and Potash are provided to the crops in the quantity of 20 kg per acre, at the time of transplantation. This will help in the faster growth of paddy sheaths.
The process of providing fertiliser is repeated twice, with a gap of one month. The high-lying area of the paddy farm, which is known as 'Nippuni' is provided with 100% manure while the low lying 'Kippani' area is provided with 20% of manure.
The paddy farm has not been affected by any disease. Mohan has made sure to spray insecticide 15 days before the transplantation.
This will control the disease at the initial level, he said.
No takers
Mohan lamented that 45 quintals of unsold rice from last year, is remaining at his house. Even though the rate is Rs 1,125 per quintal, there are no takers.
No suitable market price is available at the APMC as well. The low price is discouraging for many farmers, said Mohan.