Progressive Farmers

A passionate farmer come out with a must visit intensive buffaloes unit

“If a buffaloes yields an average of 16 liters of milk per day in its lactation it is equivalent to one acre of paddy cultivation’, says Srinivasa Raju, K., a farmer from Chikka Ballari in Siruguppa taluk of Ballari district. Srinivas Raju started rearing Murrah buffaloes five years back and as of now he has a healthy herd of over 250 buffaloes. Daily production of milk is around 700 liters from 65 lactating animals. He has nearly 100 elite she-buffaloe calves at various stages of development. The buffaloes are scientifically reared and they are offered with variety of chopped forage like CoFS-31, Super Napier, Hedge Lucerne which he grows in his 10 acres of land. Concentrates are offered as per the individual yield of milk per day which include grounded maize, bajra, redgram chunni and rice bran. The annual net returns from buffalo unit are 18.50 lakhs

He rears fish (Rohu and Catla) in 10 large farm ponds each covering 1 acre of land. Buffaloes are let lose for wallowing in these farms ponds from morning 10 am to evening 3 pm. A break in the middle for one hour is given for consuming day fodder (paddy straw). As buffaloes have habit of passing dung during wallowing, the farm ponds are enriched with planktons which are consumed by growing fingerlings and the adult fish. This has reduced cost of fish production and he earns an average of Rs. 1 lakh per farm pond. He grows sugarcane in 25 acres of land and paddy in 5 acres. Both help him to get needed forage to rear his buffaloes. Thus, he has integrated his activities around intensive buffaloe rearing and is achieving sustainable returns since 5 years once he first started a buffaloe unit.

Srinivas Raju has brought elite Murrah bulls from Delhi and is aiming to produce buffaloes which could yield 14-16 litres/day. The excess male murrah calves produced in the farm are gifted by him do the needy farmers for the up gradation of their local stock. He has opened an outlet called “SURABHI MILK CENTRE” in Siruguppa town to sell milk produced in his farm @ Rs. 70/-. He served the people of the town even during COVID-19 lockdowns by getting due permission from the local authorities. Excess milk left is utilized for production of value added products like Khoa and some Bengali sweets which are also sold in his outlet. The love for animals and passion to take forward his enterprise with scientific practices is attracting many both practicing farmers and the rural.

Farmer Name: SuryanarayanaRaju, S.V.
Farmer Address: Vaddatti cross, Kurugodu (Tq), Ballari (District)
Farmer Mobile No : 9448159515
Education : B.E
Age : 51 years
Land holding: 75

Mr. SuryanarayanaRaju graduated in the discipline of Engineering belongs to agricultural family but desired to practice agriculture as a profession in his own land. He owns 75 acres of land out of which 15 acres under dryland and 60 acres under irrigated condition. He cultivated Mango (5 acre), Fig (20 acre), Guava (5 acre), Pomegranate (5 acre), Nannhari (12 acre), Mosambi (3 acre), Model nursery unit and seasonal crop like chilli, paddy, cotton etc.,. He obtained “ShreshtaKrishika” awarded from UAS, Raichur in KrishiMela. He adopted new and advanced technologies in agriculture to achieve economic prosperity and agriculture sustainability for more than 10 years.

Some of the important key features are:

• Rainwater harvesting and establishment of farm pond in 2 acre of land for collection of water and mechanized drip irrigation system to irrigate the crops.
• He established Model Nursery unit and poly house under NHM with the aid of Dept. of Horticulture, GOK. He uses Cocopeat and plastic trays for establishment of chilli and papaya seedlings.
• He propagate Guava and Fig through clonal prorogation in large numbers (> 5 lakhs plants) every year and supply genuine and quality planting materials to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh farmers.
• He provides employment to rural people of >100 labours / day in rural area by means of propagation and other works.
• He also propagate ornamental plants, lawn and have keen interest for establishment of gardens in front of Schools, Colleges and Government institutes etc.,
• He domesticated 6 improved breed of cows, 100 turkey birds and 2000 fishes in farm pond.
• He is pioneer in value addition, produced fig jam and marketed in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
• He practiced honeybee cultivation to achieve maximum pollination of crops to obtain high yield, extracted honey from bee hives and marketed locally.

A tryst with organic farming brought him laurels

Name of the farmer: VishweshwaraSajjan
Place: Hulikere, Kudligi (Tq)
Mobile No : 9902661597
Area : 10 acre
Specialization : IFS, Organic farming, value addition

• Sri. VishweshwaraSajjan hails from Hulikere in Kudligi (Tq). He switched from traditional farminginto Integrated Farming System in order to get year-around employment andanassured market for his produce.
• He has 200 Bael (wood apple), 70 Jamun, 10 Apple ber, 10 Tamarind, 10 Lemon, 150 Amla, 20 Mango (different varieties), 110 Coconut, 10 Guava,10 Sapota and various other local varieties which give him year around produce. He also has forest trees and grows jasmine
• He grows all those crops and vegetables that his home needs and sells off those which are in surplus.
• He also rears 10 Gir cattle and makes ghee and spells it at a premium price. He also prepares pedha out of Gir milk and has named it as “Memory Pedha”.

He has off late adopted to organic farming as his products fetched him higher price and his input costs are low.His passion for agriculture and his perseverance to go ahead with only organics has brought not only a sustained income but also laurels in the form of recognitions from University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur and many other institutions. As a feather in the crown he was selected for highest civilian award of GoK, the prestigious ‘Rajyotsava award’ for the year 2019-20.

A caterer turns into entrepreneur with his venture in stall fed sheep farming

Farmer Name : Ashok, A S/o Anand
Village : Belagal cross, Ballari
Farmer Mobile No : 9916117719
Education : 10th
Age: 32 years
Land holding: 04 acres

Ashok, a cook cum care taker in VIMS, Ballari approached KVK, Ballari during 2017-18 for taking up livelihood activities in his farm field that is situated in peri-urban area. He took 3 days training in stall-fed sheep rearing at KVK, Hagari. He initially started his venture with 10 Kenguri sheep. After his first fruitful experience, he constructed a raised slatted floor sheep shed which could accommodate 100 sheep. He grew forage crops in 2 acres of land which included CoFS-29, Super Napier, Hedge Lucerne and Sesbania. He started rearing Aminagadh (Yalaga) sheep and Sirrohi goats. He chose these breeds under the guidance of KVK for their highest production potential among breeds reared in the region.

Ashok adopted all the scientific management practices of sheep production like balanced feeding of ration, shed and disease management etc., to raise his stall fed sheep and goat. The chopped green forage and groundnut hay is offered alternatively during day time and a meal of concentrates during evening hours. He achieves body weight of around 40 kgs in Aminagadh sheep in their 10th month of age and during 1 year of age in Kenguri sheep. Sirrohi goats also perform just like Kenguri sheep with respect to their production potential.
Ashok plans his sheep and goat production in such a manner that his monthly income is Rs. 55,000-65,000. He even guides rural youths who want to take up stall-fed sheep rearing for their livelihood.

A rural youth finds his success in precision farming

Farmer Name : Sri Girish, M.R.,
Farmer Address : Siddapura/Chikkajogihalli, Gudekote (Hobli),Kudligi (Tq), Vijayanagar (Dist.)
Farmer Mobile No: 8618901776
Education : M.Tech
Age: 35 years
Land holding: 60 Acre

Mr. Girish, M.R. basically belongs to agricultural family, post graduate in the discipline of Engineering but interested to practice agriculture in rural area. He owns 60 acres of land, out of which 25 acres is under dryland and 35 acres in irrigated condition. He cultivated 18 acres of Mango, 08 acres of Pomegranate, 5 acre of Rose, 5 acres of Coconut and seasonal crops like Groundnut, Pigeonpea, Foxtail millet, Finger millets etc., along with forest species namely Teak (200 no.), Silver oak (50 no.), Casuruina (100 nos.) etc. on the border of land in an integrated farming system to obtain high income and economic sustainability. He adopted new and advanced technologies in agriculture and achieved “KrishiRatna” awarded by UAS, Raichur in the eve of foundation day

Some of the important key features of his achievement in agriculture are

• Rain water harvesting and establishment of farm pond in 1 acre area land for collection of water to irrigate during critical stages of crop cultivation.
• Under NHM he established 5 acres of poly house and cultivated 7 varieties of rose flowers and marketed at national and international markets.
• He practiced precision farming in poly house cultivation by adopting sensors and computerization to reduce the labor cost.
• He established cold storage, pre-cooling unit, practiced grading and packing of flowers and transported in refrigerated vans for distant markets to reduce the post-harvest losses.
• He domesticated 150 sheep under stall fed system and 8 improved breeds of cow with hydroponic technology to feed the animals. The organic compost obtained from domestication of animals is used for cultivation of crops.
• He obtains and adopts new technology from ICAR-KVK, Ballari and utilizes the schemes available from Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Horticulture and achieved a greater success in agriculture.

“Kadalivana” of Kalidas: A successful journey of Banana value added products

Background
Kalidas is an innovative banana grower hails from Bukkasagara of Hampi region, who keeps on trying new recipes from different fruits and vegetables. He has tried to make BaKaHu and utilize it in making different products long back. But could not bring any products to market due to lack of guidance.

KVK Interventions
Under EDP Programme Mrs.Kalidas was given capacity building trainings and proper guidance for scientific methods of banana value addition to bring his banana products in to market

Outcome and Impact

• Mr. Kalidas underwent series of banana value addition trainings given by KVK
• He purchased a small scale dryer for his processing unit and started drying the Sugandhi bale which is a famous variety grown in Hampi region but fetches low price to the farmers.
• He is also producing banana figs from sugandhi bale which have unique sweet and sour taste
• Mr. Kalidas has made many attempts to make different value added products out of BaKaHu
• One of his best trials is ‘BaKaHurotti’, which is similar to jowarrotti
• Though the Method BaKaHurotti is similar to jowarrotti taste is unique
• Demand for BaKaHurotti is increasing day by day in the local market due to its high nutritional benefits over other rottis
• Mrs. Kalidas has also got FSSAI license and now branded his products as ‘Kadali Vana’ products.
• Many TV and news Medias covered his unique success story of Banana value addition journey
• Kalidas is also planning to open an exclusive banana restaurant for the benefit of the Visitors of Hampi.

Value addition increases ‘Siri’ of Kirudhanyas

Background
Smt.NeelammaDiwakarGowda is an active farm women from Honnali village of BallariTaluk

KVK, Intervention
Smt.NeelammaDiwakarGowda took training in millet value addition and processing in the year 2016-17.ICAR,KVKBallari identified her interest in millet processing and gave her the hands on training to establish an millet processing enterprise under EDP programme.

Outcome and Impact

• Neelamma diwakargowda under the guidance of KVK started producing millet value added products (Foxtail millet idly rava,Ragiidlirava,Jowar Idly rava and foxatila millet dosamix,bajradosamix,ragidosa mix ,foxtail millet malt mix and dehusked and cleaned rice of all the millets)
• She is also beneficiary of millet processing unit given by NFSM programme of KSDA
• Mrs.Neelamma also received best millet recipe award during a programme hosted by SUCCO bank on the eve of its silver jubilee celebration. She won this prize by defeating 50 participants. Prize involves 15000 Rs cash money and a certificate. During the Programme honorable Agriculture minister of GoK,Honorable VC and DE of UAS Raichur were present.

Healthy mushrooms find a branded jar by the name of ‘Praveen’s Pickles’

Background
In the year 2016-17 Mr.Praveen from Guggarahatti village of BallariTaluk was an unemployed MBA graduate who came to KVK with the hope to get entrepreneurship ideas in Agriculture.

KVK Interventions

• Praveen was given trainings on milky mushroom cultivation and its value addition.
• Different flavored pickles were being experimented in KVK and the best accepted recipes were given to Mr.Praveen for large scale production.

Outcome and Impact

• Mr. Praveen is a successful mushroom grower now and he is also collecting all the mushrooms grown in the District.
• He is also involved in mushroom pickle making activity
• Mr. Praveen is selling different flavored mushroom pickles in the brand name of Praveen’s pickles.
• He is selling mushrooms and its pickles to Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

“Nature’s Fig Bars” A Successful Venture Of Childhood Friends ‘Sudha-Pooja’

Background
Lockdown during 2020 was hard on the part of fig growers. Figs were left unpicked in the orchards due to no market and transportation. Two young women Sudha and Pooja from fig growing families came forward to learn the techniques of value addition during lockdown.

KVK Interventions

• Under Entrepreneurship Development Programme
• Hands on trainings, demonstrations and advisories were provided to Sudha and Pooja.

Outcome and Impact

• Mrs.Sudha and Pooja started making the fig rolls during lockdown.
• Paper vans were the only vehicles moving during the lockdown.
• They sent fig bars to their relatives in nearby villages and asked their opinion, sold few kgs too. This built their confidence and took further more guidance from KVK.
• Samples of fig rolls and fig jam were sent to PRFQA lab of UAS Raichur for quality analysis and FSSAI license was obtained after getting the report.
• After proper labeling and packaging they were able to send the fig bars to Chennai, Bangalore, Davangere, Mumbai and other cities of the country.
• Demand for fig rolls has increased in no time.
• These women also received loan under PMFMEs ODOP.
• Sudha-Pooja became role models for whole village. By seeing their success many women came forward, took training on fig value addition and running their own fig value addition units.