A group of 66 final-year students pursuing Bachelor of Science in Agriculture at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Kalaburagi, are showing the way to increasing farm income and cut input costs to make agriculture more remunerative.
Two months ago, the students began planning to cultivate on 38 guntas of land and started experimenting on it. They are now producing an array of fruits and vegetables that have generated an income of ₹2 lakh in just two months.
P. Vasudev Naik, a horticulture scientist at KVK Kalaburagi, and Mahantesh Jogi, assistant professor, College of Agriculture, Kalaburagi, told The Hindu on Friday told the cultivation system was based on scientific farming and the students had adapted mulching combined with a drip irrigation system to help conserve water. Dr. Naik said the objective was to test production strategies and get a decent income from a small piece of land with reduced water.
“The students have cultivated nine crops, including two main crops of marigold and watermelon. They have utilised the space left between the rows of the main crops for cultivating ridge gourd, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, dolichos bean, carrot, radish, and spinach,” Dr. Naik added.
Dr. Jogi said that this was truly a student farm and they made almost all the decisions. “We can get around four tonnes of marigold flowers from 6,000 marigold plants and are expecting a profit of ₹80,000. From the 4,000 watermelon trees, we can generate an income of anywhere between ₹1 lakh and ₹1.5 lakh.”
Scientific methods of farming, with a combination of drip irrigation and mulching, is sure to make farming successful, both ecologically and financially, Dr. Jogi explained.
The harvested flowers are sold in the local market and the staff and locals are invited to buy the vegetables.
Satish Kumar, a final-year student, said that under the experiential learning programme, besides farming methods, they had also understood a sense of entrepreneurship as the students grew and sold the produce themselves. “It has taught us how to farm and use the land potential as well. We were responsible for watering and giving manure to the crops.”
