Farmer tastes fruit of success

At a time when youth are turning away from agriculture, here is a diploma holder who has achieved success in farming and has become a model for other youth, at K Kanabooru.

B R Krishna, a diploma in automobile did not work in automobile industry. Instead, he selected farming for his livlihood.

Though his father was into government service, he too had deserted the job to take up farming. “Being a son of a farmer, I was confident of turning the not-so-profitable land into a dividend-rich farm,” he said.

“I decided to cultivate Red Lady Taiwan variety in my 4.75 acre land at K Kanabooru. About 1,000 plants were planted in one acre land each. As I could get the fruit after six months, I planted tomato and raddish between papaya. I could reap papaya after six months,” he said.

“I could get 130 kg papaya from each plant. The income from one acre land was Rs 8 lakh. About Rs one lakh has been spent on each acre land in the form of planting and manure.
The price of Papaya during Ramzan was Rs 26 per kg. Hence, one should plant papaya in such a way as to get yield during Ramzan,” he added. Along with Papaya, he has grown cocoa, jayikai, agarwood, rambootan, clove in the arecanut garden. “Mixed cropping helps in preventing the growth of weeds. This also helps in fetching additional income,” he said.

He has also grown variety of jackfruits, fruits from foreign countries in his land. Krishna is recipient of national and district-level awards.