Innovating Fields: Our First Visit to Dodaballapur Village Farm

Innovating Fields: Our First Visit to Dodaballapur Village Farm

Our First Visit to Dodaballapur Village Farm

This story is the story that needs to be told. So much of our country’s population longs to hear stories from the farm; they long to know how their food is produced and who is doing it. So why not share agriculture’s story?

Last Saturday our CropEx team was on farm visit to Dodaballpur. We met Sadanand a progressive farmer from Tapsahalli region. We spent around 4 hrs with him learning about his farm and methods of cultivation. It was surprising when we came to know that, with his 2.1 acre of land and he generates profit of 22 lakh per year. (He is earning more than any high paying corporate jobs!!).

So, how he manage to do this?

If you look at his methodology, it’s not less than Toyota or GE Lean Six sigma initiatives.

He is not aware of Six sigma tools but he know how to optimize his available resources and make them run at its maximum efficiency in other way implementing lean into his field. He cultivates nearly 30 varieties of crop on his land, and constantly experiments with multiple cropping methodology. He cultivates ginger along with areca plantation (400 trees) in 1 acre land. He has planted 2000 rose cutting in 1/4^th acre of his land. He cultivates capsicum in greenhouse setup in 1/4^th acre. French bean acquire 1/2acre. Tomato is planted in 1/2acre. He also has a fish (Rahu & Katla) rearing pond which is 10 feet deep. Sadananda has also made space in his areca plantation for rearing 250 Giriraja hens. In the periphery of his land he ha s planted coconut, jackfruit trees, coffee plants, papaya, sapota and lime trees. His cows produce 80 to 100 liters of milk a day. He also breeds Rottweiler and Great Dane breeds of dogs

Let’s look at his few earning Highlights:

1. Tomato and Areca fetch him Rs. 2.5 lakh/year

2. Ginger fetch him Rs. 70000/year

3. Rose Plantation fetches Rs. 4 lakh/year

4. Capsicum fetch him Rs. 3.5 lakh/year

5. Rottweiler and Great Dane breeds of dogs to earn Rs.1.2 lakh/year.

6. French bean fetch him Rs. 6.25 lakh

7. Fish fetch him Rs 45000/year

He has bore well facility and use drip irrigation for watering his plant. It prevents weeds and also saves him about Rs. 400 a day in labor costs. Manure for the fields comes from vermin-compost and the slurry from a gobar gas plant, he avoid using chemical fertilizers. He prepares pesticide naturally by using vermin-compost, neem cake, and soap etc in-order to spray in his field. He has converted his old scooter into a spray machine which save 3 labor cost in-order to spray 1.5 acre land/per hrs.

He has demonstrated how farmer can optimize their land and resources to become profitable. If we look around we will found very few farmers with this kind of appetite. This is stirring my mind:

If I have to Vote for the best job in the world, will vote for farmer because they produce the world's food, fuel, and fiber and enjoy it to its fullest. Without them the world does not eat, our dependence on foreign oil would be even stronger, and stores would not be filled with clothes. But If you ask farmer most of them will reply NO because this is not the case for every farmer as its not paying them enough.

How can we make them Vote for their job?

1. can this be copied and pasted to other farms?

2. Do you think agriculture can plays a huge role in this whole scenario?

3. Is enough thrust is there to push agriculture businesses to accommodate the new economy?

We don’t know the answer as if now, but CropEx Team is working to figure out a plan to do so.

…………………Let me know your views on this……………………….

India is such an agriculturally diverse country. Looking at a map detailing all of our commodities, I am impressed. India is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nut, coconuts, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper. It is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish. India accounts for 10% of the world fruit production with first rank in the production of banana and sapota. If we look at these stats, India has potential to become powerhouse of agriculture.

Let’s digitize agriculture!!

Your thoughts are welcomed…..