INTEGRATED FARMING BRINGS SUCCESS TO KARUNAKAR DEHURY: A SCHOOL DROPOUT

Karunakar Dehury is a young farmer of village Kharmunda, block Teibani situated 10 kms away from Deogarh district headquarter. His family was rehabilitated by Government with 2 ha of unirrigated undulated land after they lost their ancestral resources to Rengalidam project. Going to school was boring-some activity for him which led him to pack his books after class VIII. Being from a farmer’s family he wanted to be a successful agro-entrepreneur. After listening about Krishi Vigyan Kendra activities, he went there, interacted with the scientist and invited them to visit his village. The KVK scientist visited his farm and found it suitable for both off season and seasonal vegetables like tomato, cauliflower, potato etc. A crop calendar was prepared as per his existing resources and land topography. He started cultivating 0.4 ha of off-season tomato of variety Arka Alok scientifically with the guidance of KVK and within 4 months (July-October) he earned a net profit of about Rs 18,000/-. He also cultivated off-season cauliflower variety Barkha in 0.4 ha and his produce flourished the Deogarh district market before Dusshera and was sold like hotcakes. It fetched him a net profit of Rs. 16,000/- . In another 0.4 ha of land he cultivated potato variety Kufri Chandrimukhi which gave him a profit of Rs.10,500. From 0.4 ha of mustard crop he harvested 1q of mustard. In another 0.4 ha he cultivated local black moong, which earned him Rs.6000/-. He then developed a broiler unit rearing 150 chicks after getting training from KVK. After 3 months he earned a net profit of Rs.9,000/-.Thus his total annual net income comes to Rs 59,500 during 2009-10 from his 1 ha of crop based integrated farming system approach. Now he is a happy young man and developed a spirit that a man can be self employed from agriculture if he has interest and will power.

Success Story of Bishnu Prasad Biswal : A Successful Watermelon Cultivator

Bishnu Prasad Biswal is a young farmer of 30 years belonging to village Congresspur of Tileibani block , Deogarh district. He lives on his 5 acres land not sufficient for his livelihood. His annual income was only Rs. 8,500/-. He was sitting idle after the harvest of Kharif crops. His interest & enthusiasm dragged him to corridors of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Deogarh. He interacted with the scientist about his cultivation, problems and invited scientists to visit his village. The scientist of KVK visited his land and surprised to find the natural water source flowing nearby. The soil was loamy sand with undulating topography. The intervention suggested by the scientist to cultivate hybrid water melon during summer season using this water source. This was included in the FLD programme on watermelon. Sugar baby and sugar pack varieties of watermelon were provided to him. The skill of seed treatment and application of PMS with INM and IPM module was demonstrated to him with emphasis on “learning by doing”. A diesel pump was supplied through ATMA with our effort, transformed his barren land to wholesome greenery with bumper crop of watermelon during Summer season. He harvested about 500q of watermelon. Merchants from Angul, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and even from Ranchi rushed to him to purchase the green sweet balls. His net return from 2ha of watermelon cultivation comes to Rs.62,500/. The feedback from the merchants he received through his cell phone no 09178042057 named as “Suguda Sugar” and his endeavour has brought laurels for his village for which he was felicitated as a successful agro entrepreneur by Hon’ble Agriculture Minister, Orissa on 48th Foundation Day of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology.