Farmer Nagappa Channabasappa Nimbigondi who hails from Makari village in Haveri district’s Hirekerur taluk has taken to natural farming from the last ten years and has involved himself in conserving indigenous varieties of seeds.

 He practises natural farming in five acres of his own land and two acres of land he has bought on annual contract. You can see millets, cotton and other native varieties on his farm.

There are as many as 42 varieties of cotton, including Meghalaya, Bangladesh, Karunguni, Jayadhar and Kashmiri varieties. He has conserved 20 varieties of ragi, maize and paddy. He grows a vast number of native varieties on small sections of his land.

Nimbigondi heads the committee that fixes prices for these desi crops, also sells desi seeds to farmers from the State and elsewhere. He exchanges notes with other farmers and has also set up a seed bank. He sells seeds with the help of organisations such as ‘Sahaja Samruddha’, and ample help from the government.

He doesn’t use chemical manure or seeds from multinationals. Instead, he sprays natural insecticide that is prepared from organic ingredients. “The yield from natural methods of farming matches the yield from chemical methods.

 It is important that farmers are aware.

 I am trying to do my best to create that awareness,” he explains. Nimbigondi also actively participates in the activities of the Raitha Sangha, and several awards and laurels have come his way. 

He has been given the ‘Prof M D Nanjundaswamy International Award’ at a recently held ‘Raithothsava’.

His wife Halamma Nimbigondi has been a constant source of support for him, and she too has won several awards, including that of the ‘Best Woman Farmer’.