Diversity is key to farming success

Shivu Siddalingaswamy, a resident of Antarasante hobli in Heggadadevanakote (HD Kote) taluk of Mysuru district, has been engaged in farming for the last 12 years now. Shivu returned to his village and took up farming after graduation.

His father, who had suffered loss in tobacco and cotton cultivation, discouraged him initially. "Since there was nothing to lose further, I decided to experiment in the land," Shivu says. After reboring, the old borewell yielded 2.5 inches of water. He started with ginger and later cultivated cardamom and turmeric. By then, he had realised that with multiple crops, the loss from one crop gets balanced with the profit from some other crop.  

This motivated him to diversify the crops further and start vegetable cultivation. Along with vegetables he also planted banana. Crop rotation has not only helped him get a steady income, but also enriched the soil. "We can avoid losses if we plan our crops in phases," Shivu says. Now one can see a variety of vegetables, turmeric, coconut, banana, maize and cotton in his
18-acre land. At least three types of crops can be seen in the farm every month.  

While Shivu sells most of the harvest at the wholesale vegetable market at the RMC yard in Mysuru, some vegetables like chillies, tomato and long beans get sold directly at the farm.