JOIN USMallikarjuna who had incurred heavy loss by growing coconut in his farm was disappointed over the loss so much so that he decided to quit agriculture profession. It was when the Bangalore Agriculture University’s community based lake management project District Manager S Manjunath who came to his rescue and suggested Mallikarjun to grow Angasha banana variety in two acres of land.
Plantation method
The process of plantation was quite a lengthy one. The farmer dug 1900 pits measuring three feet width and two feet length. As many as 20 tractor loads of compost, 50 tractor load of red soil, tricoderm, sudamanas, vyamo, PSB were filled in the pit 15 days before planting the saplings. The plants were brought from ‘Green Earth’ Angasha plant nursery from Bangalore and were planted in the pits. The plants were watered through drip irrigation. After 35 days of planting, the plants should be nurtured with 20 grams of nitrogen, 25 grams of copper sulphate, 25 grams potash.
When the plant starts to flowering Banana Special Micro Nutrient Tonic should be given to the plants.
Within nine months of plantation, the plants have yielded banana fruit, informs Mallikarjun.
Expenditure
Mallikarjun has spent Rs 7.50 each for digging the pit, thus spending a total of Rs 14,250 for digging the pits alone. The banana plants were bought at a total cost of Rs 20,000 (Rs 11 for each plant). He has spent Rs 95,000 as a whole including the expenditures of irrigation, fertliser etc. The plants have given the yield of 40 tons, each ton sold for Rs 9,000 thus earning more than Rs 3 lakh profit.
Mallikarjuna owes his success a lot to the facilities of the government, guidance from Agricultural University, help from various organisations and departments. Mallikarjuna may be contacted over phone 9449888333.