Simulia: Even as people find paddy farming unprofitable and are averse to take up agriculture, a father-son duo has turned vegetable cultivation a profitable business at Bangarakhadigadia under this block in Balasore, thanks to their innovative techniques, including use of vermin compost.
Narendra Nayak (65) and his 32-year-old son Sitaram Nayak have been cultivating lady’s fingers, brinjal, cucumber and greens on two acres for the last seven years.
They have been adopting various new methods to step up vegetable production. One of these is bio-compost in vegetable farming instead of chemical fertilizers. They are earning an average of Rs 80,000 per month from vegetable farming.
As for the vegetable cultivation, Narendra said, “Once, I thought of growing tomato in the land after harvesting paddy. I did it and got Rs 1,000. Then, I wanted to expand vegetable cultivation. At that time, my son was doing a job in a private company in Bangalore. He left his job to give me a helping hand and the vegetable cultivation started.”
However, they had not received any help from the agriculture department. “We have no marketing facility around the area. We send vegetables to Soro where they have good demand,” Narendra said.
As for his interest in vegetable farming, Sitaram said, “While in Bangalore, I used to read all articles about agriculture in newspapers. With the help of a urea manufacturing company, I had visited an agriculture exhibition at Nagpur. Since 2011, I have been associated with farming and there has been no looking back.”
He lamented that farmers in rural areas do not have proper facilities and support while agriculture officials do not have sincerity to boost agriculture. “The agriculture officials also lack proper knowhow about advanced agriculture methods, as a result of which farming has become backward,” Sitaram said.
He alleged that they had sought help from officials of the horticulture and the agriculture departments, but to no avail.
He suggested that there is a need for drip irrigation facilities and promotion of vermin compost to boost agriculture. More and more people will be drawn towards vegetable farming, apart from paddy, Sitaram asserted.
PNN