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Rising up on a farm exposes children to the completely different challenges of agriculture. Whereas some may draw back from these points, others see them as issues to unravel. The latter develop as much as turn into innovators, addressing issues by discovering new options that improve effectivity and sustainability in agriculture — from specializing in enhancing crop yield and conserving water to embracing natural farming.
Here’s a listing of seven such farmers whose modern options are altering the face of agriculture within the nation.
1. Tree scooter revolution
Ganapathi Bhat, a farmer from Mangaluru has innovated an easy-to-use ’tree scooter’ to reap areca palms. This has helped farmers cut back dependence on labourers and harvest 300 areca palms in a day, which is thrice the quantity harvested utilizing conventional strategies.
Bhat was going through issues with areca nut harvests attributable to an unreliable labour workforce and improper upkeep of areca nut bushes. This additionally led to a lack of revenue. To unravel this problem, he got here up with the tree scooter, which helps farmers climb up an areca nut tree in a matter of seconds.
The machine works with a harness, seat, and seat belt, and operates utilizing a small motor and a set of wheels to know the trunk with out utilizing their palms. Bhat states that the machine saves about Rs 24,000 per week in labour prices. He has bought tons of of units to date.
2. Desert farming innovation
Haresh Thacker’s farm in Kutch blooms with fruit orchards of dragon fruit, mangoes, pomegranates and several other hundred greens. The enterprising third-generation farmer sells his produce beneath the identify Ashapura Agro Fruits.
Spending all his free time on the farm since he was 14, Haresh labored with a imaginative and prescient of constructing a farming empire within the dry, arid Gujarat area. Since he couldn’t change the local weather, he discovered modern methods to develop vegatables and fruits hitherto unparalleled within the farms of Kutch.
At present, he makes use of a Vietnam-based farming approach to develop dragon fruit and a high-density fruit tree planting methodology to develop mangoes, which often want as much as 100 litres of water per day. He selected the dragon fruit because it requires much less water and may thrive in arid areas, apart from being a low-calorie fruit. Via relentless experimentation, he now grows the dragon fruits in 50 acres.
Harsh additionally grows low season strawberries and broccoli utilizing the fan and pad expertise to manage the local weather. He additionally makes use of an automatic drip irrigation system and practises natural farming.
3. Preserving agricultural heritage
Mahan Chandra Borah, a rice farmer, wished to teach folks, particularly the youthful era, about India’s wealthy range in rice and different crops. Shocked by the extinction of many indigenous varieties, he began ‘Annapurna Rice Library’ to guard the vanishing legacy of his forefathers.
When he began farming, he researched and grew completely different indigenous forms of rice in his subject in Assam’s Jorhat. Since he couldn’t do a PhD, attributable to monetary constraints, he spent all his time researching and in search of papers on seed saving and rice varieties going extinct.
First, he arrange a rice library at dwelling, earlier than establishing Annapurna, which has over 500 forms of seeds preserved and grown organically. Farmers can go to the library and take any seeds they need. He runs all of it on his personal funds and conducts consciousness courses in colleges.
In the event you discovered his work fascinating, Mahan is presently looking for funds and volunteers for his library. You’ll be able to attain him at 91270 69446.
4. Sustainable post-harvest preservation
Vaibhav Tidke, a farmer’s son was moved by the post-harvest lack of vegatables and fruits, which he says is near 60 million tonnes.
The engineer developed a photo voltaic dryer utilizing a patented meals drying expertise to increase the shelf lifetime of produce with out including chemical substances and preservatives. Not just for vegatables and fruits, this dryer will also be used for meats, seafood and spices, and has been put in in additional than 1,200 locations in India.
The photo voltaic dryer consumes much less power than common dryers and refrigeration units, and retains carbon footprint to a minimal. He sells this product together with others by way of his enterprise, Science4Society (S4S) Applied sciences.
5. Shelf life enhancement
Haryana-based Sumer Singh began farming in 1999, utilizing chemical fertilisers. When his household’s and land’s well being deteriorated, he made the change to natural farming, virtually eight years in the past.
Now, he not solely grows greens, pulses, chickpeas and millets on his 14-acre farm but additionally motivates different farmers to do the identical.
Singh began engaged on rising the shelf lifetime of his produce by way of modern strategies. As an example, he makes use of stubble for mulching on the land the place he grows onions, which retains the soil moist for longer, harvesting 80 quintals of onion from one acre.
He hangs the onions in bundles like one hangs bananas as a substitute of storing them in stacks, which restricts spoilage. This additionally retains them secure for 3 to 4 months. Related improvements are adopted for every crop to extend their shelf-life naturally.
6. Biofertiliser for enhanced yield
Akshay Shrivastav noticed his father, a farmer in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, face numerous points, together with poor yield and unhealthy soil high quality, attributable to extreme use of chemical fertilisers.
He took up chemical engineering to discover a answer to enhance agricultural yield. The 24-year-old then created a biofertiliser that, in line with him, can assist improve agricultural productiveness by 35 %, serving to over 3,000 farmers throughout India.
The biofertiliser has 60 forms of microbes which may improve vitamins within the soil. He additionally developed a granule that will increase crop yield and reduces irrigation wants by greater than 30 %.
He began promoting this biofertiliser beneath the model identify ‘Navyakosh’ by way of his startup ‘LCB Fertilisers’ in March 2021.
7. Water-efficient irrigation
Because of a scarcity of correct irrigation methods, farmers waste gallons of water in paddy fields. Malesh T from Mandya, Karnataka, watched his grandfather and different farmers use extra water than required, resulting in flooded farms and fungal illnesses.
To assist such farmers measure the water requirement of crops sitting at dwelling, he launched an agri-tech platform ‘CultYvate’. The expertise helps them perceive when to offer irrigation so the crop just isn’t submerged in water on a regular basis.
He says that he’s reducing down 40 % of water use in farms by way of his platform and rising their yield. “Our expertise helps farmers analyse the dynamic weather conditions and plan their farm cultivation,” says Malesh.
Edited by Pranita Bhat
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