The Spice Rice Farmer of Karnataka

                                       The Spice Rice Farmer Of Karnataka 

 Mr. D.M. Ramesh (59), is from Daradahalli village, Mudigere taluk, Chikkamagaluru district, Karnataka, India. He has studied up to the pre-university level. He currently owns 15 acres of land and grows plantation crops such as coffee, pepper and areca nut. According to Mr. Ramesh, the manner in which we grow in a society depends on the environmental condition of a particular area. He has a deep interest in farming because his ancestors used to practise cultivation. He wanted to cultivate plantation crops but he did not possess his own land due to absolute poverty and hence could not achieve his dream. He shifted from Coorg to Mudigere in search of a job. He started Seetha Bangles Store in the year 1987 in Mudigere to earn his livelihood. After a couple of years, he got married and entered the timber business to increase the family income. Though he earned sufficient money from the timber business, he was not satisfied and discontinued working in it. Later, he purchased 15 acres of land in Daradahalli and started cultivating coffee, pepper, banana and areca nut in the year 1995. For five years, he got a good yield, which brought him immense happiness. However, between the years 2002 and 2008, coffee rates decreased drastically from Rs. 3,500/- to Rs. 700/-. Even though he faced multiple hardships in this time, he did not quit farming. He continued because he strongly believed that farming would never fail him if he worked hard and with devotion. He left the city and started living at the farm from 2004 onwards to fully focus his efforts on farming; by this time, his bank loan increased to around Rs. 40 lakh. He continued farming while facing the ups and downs of life during the bad period. From 2008 onwards, he started getting a good price for coffee, pepper and areca nut. He started repaying the bank loan in instalments with some assistance from the government. According to Mr. Ramesh, an average of 60- 80 inches rainfall is needed for the cultivation of pepper, and special care should be taken for pepper leaves from June to October in order to avoid exposing them to heavy rainfall, and from March to May, adequate irrigation should be provided through sprinklers. He used Farm Yard Manure (FYM) for the effective growth and development of plantation crops. He used Bordeaux paste 2.5 feet above the ground level and applied neem cake and Trichoderma to protect the crops from pathogens. He also applied chemical fertilisers in the months of June and September, which ranged from 400 to 500 grams of NPK per pepper plant. Pepper plants are known to get the leaf spot disease during heavy rainfall; to tackle this, he took preventive measures by using a spray of Bavistin (Carbendazin 50% WP). He also took up the advisable application of Thimet to avoid root diseases. Mr. Ramesh believes that an experienced farmer is a real agriculture scientist. He mentions that the pepper plant is very sensitive, and special care should be taken at almost each stage of its growth. He gets 8 1/2 tonnes of pepper, 450 bags of coffee and areca nut per year and is earning around Rs. 40 lakh as his annual income. He attributes his success to hard work, taking right decisions at the right time and applying scientific practices for cultivating crops. He was awarded the Progressive Farmer award by the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga, Karnataka, and he also received the Best Farmer award from Black Gold League (BGL), a Pepper Growers Training Institute in Mudigere, Chikkamagaluru. Mr. Ramesh believes that farmers do not need more than 50 acres of land for successful farming; they need dedication and continuous efforts. He also suggested that the youth “take up agriculture and allied activities and preserve our ancestral occupation for future generations”.

Author: Dr. Muttanna, Senior Research Fellow (SRF), National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) Rajendranagar, Hyderabad - 500030, Telangana State, India.