Complete:Narayana Hebbar in his self-sustaining farm at Kasaragod.- Photo: Special Arrangement
An Integrated farming system assures livelihood security to a small farmer by integrating enterprise and resource utilization.
Mr.
C.N. Narayana Hebbar an enterprising and dynamic farmer from Bela
village, Badiadka Panchayath, Kasaragod, Kerala has around 2 hectares of
land. He developed the farm on a sloppy undulating terrain by
successfully adopting suitable soil and water conservation methods such
as stone pitched bench terracing, and digging rain water storage pits.
Different crops
The
farmer grew crops like coconut, arecanut, banana and pepper along with a
well established dairy unit. He integrated high yielding, fodder grass
varieties, vegetables, cocoa, bee keeping, vermicomposting, biogas plant
etc.
Mr. Hebbar succeeded in incorporating all these
components to enhance the productivity as well as profitability of the
system as compared to the farming system model practised earlier.
“I
grew fodder grass varieties such as Co-3, Co-4 and Co-GG3 in an area of
one hectare of coconut garden, with micro sprinkler irrigation system.
The amount spent for the purchase of paddy straw drastically reduced to
Rs.50 per day, as compared to Rs.400 per day prior to fodder harvest,”
he says.
The change towards organic farming became
possible through effective recycling of crop wastes to highly valued
vermicompost by adopting vermicomposting technology developed by the
Central Plantation Crop Research Institute (CPCRI) for which, he got
trained at KVK.
The dairy unit comprises 11 cows out
of which five are in milking. The farmer sells around 75 litres of milk
per day. The cattle shed is clean with rubber mats spread on the floor
and milking is done by a milking machine.
Animal husbandry
Animal
husbandry plays a crucial role in the overall sustainability of the
system not only as the major source of income but also by improving the
nutrient recycling and providing energy for household cooking purpose
through two biogas plants.
The bio-gas plants of
capacity of three cubic metre each, are built underground with the inlet
pipe inside the cattle shed and the slurry is collected in a big tank
outside.
“Bio-gas slurry is directly pumped to
coconut, arecanut, and fodder grass after ensuring proper dilution. In
this recycling model, even crop residues such as arecanut leaf sheaths
serve as valuable, low cost source of nutrients for livestock,” explains
Mr. Hebbar.
A chaff cutter installed near the cattle
shed simplifies the workload in terms of cutting bio-wastes for
composting and cutting fodder for cattle. Through the establishment of
10 honey bee colonies he aims at better pollination and higher yields
other than honey production.
Production
The
average production from this system is 90 coconuts per tree in a year,
1.7 kg of dried arecanut per year, 1 kg dried pepper per vine, 10 kg
banana per plant, 1.5 tonnes of vermicompost, 75 kg of honey, 110 tonnes
of cowdung, 170 tonnes of fodder grass besides household consumption of
bio-gas.
According to him, the net returns from his farm of around two hectare area comes to about Rs. 3.5 lakh per year.
Self sustaining
“This
is a self sustained integrated farming system model wherein 90 per cent
of nutrient requirement is met through farm level processing of waste
bio-mass produced in the farm itself, which is one of the basic
principles of organic farming practices.
“Adequate
irrigation facilities are provided through two farm ponds and one bore
well whereas round the year household requirement is met through a
suranga – the unique water harvesting structure of Kasaragod district,”
says Dr.George V.Thomas, Director of the Institute.
This farm serves as a training resource for KVK trainees and farmers in and out of the district.
To
talk to him readers can contact Mr. C.N.Narayana Hebbar, Chowkar house,
P O Bela , Via Kumbla, Kasaragod, Kerala, Phone: 09446222192 ,
04998247234.
