This year alone, 392 farmers got into sericulture in the district

A single jackfruit tree will fetch ₹10 lakh for a farmer in Karnataka

Three Kadaknath chickens were the cynosure at the annual Krishi Mela held at the University of Agricultural Sciences on Friday. The arrival of these rare chickens was doubtful until the last minute. And when they arrived, everyone, including the farmers who came to the mela, could not stop clicking photographs of these black beauties.

Kadaknath are famous because everything from their feathers, skin, blood and flesh is black in colour. They are native to only one district of Madhya Pradesh and are reared by the Bheel and Bhilala tribes there.

Grown up Kadaknath hens normally weigh one kg and cocks can weigh up to 1.5 kg. The hens lay 80 eggs annually.

Protein content in this breed is 25 per cent higher and it also boasts lower cholesterol content. Kadaknath chickens also have 18 amino acids and vitamins including B1, B6, B12, C and E. But their biggest claim to fame is their alleged aphrodisiac properties.

The mela attracted farmers in their thousands on the second day on Friday. The mela is on till Sunday. Many new technologies introduced in agriculture sector are also on display at the mela.

Equipment such as coconut and areca nut dehusker machines; sunflower, maize and groundnut decorticators have attracted farmers as present day agriculture is facing shortage of labour.

Apart from farmers, professionals who are interested in agriculture were in attendance.

“The mela will definitely help farmers as all information regarding introduction of new technologies will be available here. Such melas will help those who are planning to venture into agriculture,” said Chandrashekhar, a farmer from Chamarajanagar.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / BangaloreMirror.com / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Bangalore Mirror Bureau / November 18th, 2017

Honey is both the nectar from flowers and a term used to express endearment for someone’s sweetheart. The twain have combined more seamlessly for G Raju, an ace beekeeper from Harati village in Kolar district. What began as a labour of love years ago has turned into a lifetime passion. Travelling across the State, he maintains over 700 beehive boxes in farms, gardens, orchards and backyards.

Honeybees demand nothing from the beneficiaries except some space where their industriousness could blossom uninterrupted. And in turn, they help the farmers increase the yield through pollination.

Raju became interested in bees around the turn of the century while working in an apiary in Punjab. Back in Karnataka in 2001, he rented a house in Bengaluru and placed some beehive boxes in the green surroundings. Bees began to hover around and he saw the potential for adding more boxes. A session of training in Bhagamandala in Kodagu led him to take beekeeping as the main source of livelihood. He decided to place beehive boxes in different regions and began persuading farmers to install boxes in their farms.

Today, he maintains these boxes in places like Hiriyur, Kadur, Birur, Vijayapura, Nargund, Chitradurga and Bengaluru. He extracts 10 to 12 tonnes of honey annually and sells nearly 500 boxes per year. In a standard beehive box, the brood chamber has eight frames suspended from the roof. Generally, a beehive box seller would supply only four frames that would carry the parts of combs attached to them. This allows bees to build their combs in the remaining four empty frames.

Raju says that a beehive box can ideally yield 30 kg of honey in a year in rural areas. The farmers can extract honey every 20 days while in urban locales, these boxes may yield honey just thrice a year. Yield is generally high between November and March, as this is the flowering season.
Sunflower has come to be a major crop in farms right from Tumakuru to Vijayapura. In Birur, Kadur and Chikkamagaluru, where coffee estates abound, the bees mainly draw nectar from coffee flowers.

In the beginning, Raju used to sell the honey to Coorg Honey and Wax Producers’ Cooperative Society at Virajpet. Later, he set up his own honey filtering unit in Bengaluru and secured Agmark certificate for the bottled honey. While he supplies honey to retailers in various towns and cities, he also sets up a stall in events like Lalbagh Flower Show and agricultural fairs.

Acknowledging his achievement in the field, he was felicitated at GKVK recently. A tonne of honey fetches him nearly Rs two lakh. He says, he spends nearly 20 days of a month in the fields and farms across the State, creating awareness about beekeeping and providing farmers the initial training.

His wife Geetha is a constant companion in his pursuit in disseminating information on beekeeping. Their knowledge and consummate skills in beekeeping make them almost a mobile encyclopedia on apiculture. G Raju can be contacted on 9494695937.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Spectrum / by M A Siraj / September 18th, 2017

Avinash Kora, a young farmer from Narasapura village of Yelburga taluk in Koppal district, has successfully experimented with agroforestry. He has planted horticulture and forest species like lemon, guava, custard apple, jamun, red sandalwood, hebbevu and sandalwood in his six-acre farm. The plants are nine months old. Marigold is grown in an area of two acres. A farm pond (30X40 feet) is also constructed in this part of the land.

There is a gap of eight feet between the rows of fruit plants. Six months ago, Avinash decided to grow drumstick in this area. He sowed the seeds directly on the farm. Almost all the seeds sprouted and grew into healthy plants. Drumstick is a perennial crop and once planted, it yields for five years. In Avinash’s farm, the crop was ready for harvest after four months. Since then, he has been harvesting drumstick once every three days. This is the first season of harvest and he has got a yield of 300 to 450 pieces per plant. Generally, drumstick is harvested twice a year and the harvest season spans over two months.

With neat packing (10 kg packs) and proper transportation, the produce remains fresh for hours, and thus fetches good price. Proper packing and identifying the right sale point are the other aspects that have helped him reap rich rewards from drumstick cultivation. Initially, he sent the produce to the local market. But since he didn’t get a good price there, he contacted a vegetable exporter in Belagavi after a quick online search. Now he sells two to three tonnes of harvest every week, and money is transacted online.

“Everything is going on smoothly. Quality produce coupled with proper grading, packing and transportation go a long way in helping farmers get the right price. Hence, it is time we farmers understand that post-harvest management is as important as choosing the right crops and practicing healthy cultivation methods. Also, we should be more enterprising and take the initiative to sell our produce to the consumers directly,” he says. While he has spent Rs 40,000 on cultivation, he has earned Rs 3 lakh through sales in this season.

This is not the first time Avinash has experimented with minor crops. In the first four months of setting up the farm, he had grown marigold and toor dal as intercrops and earned good money.

“Drumstick grows well in almost all types of soil. The agro-climatic conditions of this region are suitable for growing drumstick,” says Linganagouda Patil, assistant director of Horticulture Department in Koppal.

Kishan Rao Kushtagi
(Translated by AP)

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Spectrum / by Kishan Rao Kushtagi / July 11th, 2017