Pomegranates brought smile on his face

A farmer had reaped rich dividends by taking up pomegranate cultivation in his 15 acre of agriculture land at Kadur taluk in Chikmagalur.

Gantekumar incurred heavy  loses while growing ragi, jowar, sun flower.  With the guidance of a pomegranate farmer Prakash from Davangere, Gantekumar decided to cultivate pomegranate.

He visited Hosadurga and Chitradurga, where farmers have achieved success by growing pomegranate.

“I visited a farmer’s land in Hosadurga to get hands on experience on cultivating pomegranate. I borrowed Rs 15 lakh loan from a bank and started cultivating pomegranate in 15 acre land,” he said.

He added that he had purchased ‘Bhagava’ variety of pomegranate sapling from a nursery at Jath in Maharashtra. “I had spent Rs 4300 to plant 300 saplings  in one acre land. The saplings have to be taken care for 11 months. After 11 months, I could get 15 tonne yield.

One tonne pomegranate was sold for Rs 1.20 lakh in Bangalore. In the first phase, I earned Rs 15 lakh. I am expecting 75 tonne yield this year. Pomegranate has given me a life,” he said with a smile on his face.

He said that the initial investment was Rs five lakh, that includes cost of cultivation, labour, pesticide, and manure. “By selecting hig-yield variety of pomegranate, one can succeed in farming,” he said.