HYDERABAD: To encourage waste management among the urban class and tackle the growing concerns over pesticide-laced vegetables, Padma Shri awardee and organic farming practitioner Yadlapalli Venkateswara Rao along with his team is giving free rooftop organic farming classes in the city.
Brought-up amid the farming community, Venkateshwara Rao was keen on farming since his childhood.
It was the 2004 farmer distress in the then united Andhra Pradesh that shook the commerce graduate from within. “Everyday, the news reports were about farmer suicides. I then decided to start visiting different districts of the State to research about the difficulties farmers faced,” he said.
He added, “One of the major reasons was that farmers were spending a huge amount on producing the yield — from buying expensive pesticides, urea and other chemicals — however, they were still earning lesser than their production costs.”
Rao who has set up a training institute for promoting organic farming in Kornepadu village, Vatticherukuru Mandal, Guntur district says that it is time that the urban class also get to know the benefits of organic farming.
“Terrace organic farming can be a new movement among the people in the city. Due to pesticide-laced vegetables, many suffer from health problems. A middle-class man cannot afford to spend so much on healthcare,” says he.
In March 2019, Rao received the prestigious Padma Shri from President Ramnath Kovind for his service to the farming community in AP and Telangana.