The Hindu Business Line : Precision farming paying dividends

REAPING BENEFITS: A farmer checking his drip irrigation pipeline at a village in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. He is one of the farmers covered by a precision farming project launched by Tamil Nadu Government in about 400 hectares. — M.J. Prabhu

Chennai , Oct. 16

Venkatesan, a farmer in Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu has earned a profit of Rs 3.90 lakh through tomato cultivation alone in his two-hectare land. He has bought another two hectares with that money.

If some farmers in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts of Tamil Nadu are able to earn handsome profits from cultivation of vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, chilli and tomato, it is due precision farming.

Project details

The Tamil Nadu Government has launched a three-year precision farming project in these two districts in about 400 hectares at an outlay of Rs 7.20 crore. The project is set to be extended to six more districts, including Thanjavur, in the State. In view of the project's success, it has been scaled up to 700 hectares during 2005-06 and a budget provision of Rs 10 crore has been made.

"The project in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts is a demonstration for the entire State with the hope that the technologies are taken to all the districts in Tamil Nadu and mitigate the problems related to deficit irrigation water resources and ensure better livelihood system for the farmers," says Dr V. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU.

Subsidy

Beneficiary farmers enjoy 100 per cent subsidy towards cultivation expenses and drip and fertigation systems. (Rs 40,000 plus Rs 75,000 a hectare) in the first year. In the second year, the farmers contribute 10 per cent of the margin money (Rs 11,500) and during the third year, they contribute 20 per cent of the amount (Rs 23,000).

Fertigation is a system wherein application of plant nutrients to a crop is done through irrigation.

Installation of drip irrigation system, raising of community nursery and cultivating operations including plant protection measures are done in time to ensure plants are cent per cent productive.

The produce from precision farm has been found to be excellent in quality and commands a premium in all the markets. The farmers have been made aware of the intricacies of pesticide quality, dosage, time of spraying and method of preparation.

Crop diversification

According to Mr K. Nainan Kumar, a beneficiary farmer in Dharmapuri district, several precision farmers have opted for crop diversification in crops such as tomato, chilli, cabbage and cauliflower owing to high-yield and better returns.

As a hi-tech practice, the seedlings are raised under protected condition

Besides maintenance of required population per unit area, the crops are raised in paired row system in broad beds.

This led to the plants exhibiting better growth and development, resulting in higher productivity.

"By adopting fertigation practices, there is 25 per cent saving of fertilisers and complete utilisation of applied nutrients by the plants. The uniform field stand of the crops have helped us to obtain 45-50 per cent increased yield compared to the conventional system," said Mr P. Rama Reddy, a farmer in Krishnagiri. Currently, he is cultivating tomato in his two-acre land.

Increased yield

In Krishnagiri, cabbage, cauliflower, chilli and tomato were raised in 100 hectares. Cabbage and cauliflower farmers got a yield of 60 tonnes a hectare each (an increase of 20 per cent) against 50 tonnes by other farmers.

According to Prof. E. Vadivel, Director of Extension Education and nodal officer of the Project, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, farmers who raised tomato got a yield of about 65 tonnes (an increase of 63 per cent over non-project farmer) as against 40 tonnes per hectare, while chilli farmers harvested about 29 tonnes against 15 tonnes per hectare under normal cultivation (an increase of 95 per cent).

"We are now able to save 40-60 per cent water when compared to the normal flooding system practised practiced by us earlier under conventional farming," said Mr K. Ponnuvel, another beneficiary farmer of Dharmapuri district.

Those who were irrigating one hectare previously, are now irrigating 1.4-1.6 hectare through drip/fertigation system, he said.

In general, the profit margin has been higher in all the crops under precision farming. This has been achieved by increased yield and reduced labour cost particularly for irrigation and weed management, explained Dr Ramasamy.

More Stories on : Cultivation | Horticulture/Fruits & Vegetables

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