Techie-turned-farmer Combines Techniques, Gets Higher Yields
In the early ‘90s, Lokesh R was just another IT professional in Bengaluru. Twenty years later, he has become a hero in Malur, his hometown.
He owes his success to aquaponics, a system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising fish in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water). He uses water from the fish tanks to grow vegetables.
Malur is a town in a water-scarce area, and Lokesh’s prosperity began to inspire farmers from adjoining places like Kolar, Bangarpet and Srinivasapura.
After he quit his IT job, he had worked as a lecturer for some time, and served as a consultant for the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
“As the demand for ornamental fish started to peak in Bengaluru, I put up several tanks and started breeding ornamental fish.
I used the water to grow vegetables. The yield doubled,” he said.
The farm uses pots of all sizes filled with sand stones and planted with seeds to grow brinjal, tomato, beans, chillies and ladies finger.
He also grows bottle- and bitter-gourd and leafy vegetables. “Vegetables need 13 types of nutrition and with this water about 10 are supplied,” Lokesh said.
Chiranjeevi, a farmer from Abbenahalli, who was doing badly, took inspiration from Lokesh and help from the Fisheries Department, and started breeding ornamental fish. “I have four-and-a-half acres and use only 60 by 60 feet for fish breeding,” he said.
Voliwin, an organisation started by Lokesh, has got orders from 60 villas to set up aquaponics and hydroponics gardens.
WHY IT WORKS
Ornamental fish such as guppies, mollys, tetras, barbs, angels and goldfish, start multiplying within six months to a year. Aquarium shops buy them in bulk. The water used for fish breeding is best for growing vegetables.
Farmer Reaps Rich Profits After Switching to Organic
Lakshminarayan Reddy has turned his eight-acre farm near the city into a centre to teach organic farming.
Based in Makenahalli, Chikkaballapura district, he lived in a joint family till 2000, and inherited eight acres from a holding of 35. With his wife and three children, he toiled hard and generated decent returns.
Five years ago, he switched to organic farming and his profits doubled. He also practises dairy farming, floriculture, and horticulture. “I can produce in eight acres what my joint family used to produce in 35 acres,” he said, proudly.
Reddy’s efforts have won him the state government’s ‘Best Organic Farmer Award’ for 2014-15. He has four cows and uses the dung for manure and to produce gobar gas. Crop waste after harvest becomes compost, and he doesn’t use even an ounce of chemical.
“I have developed a weed-cutter cycle. All this is helping me make good returns. I earn about `15 lakh annually,” he said.
He says at least 50 per cent of his yield comes from rain-water harvesting.
H R Suresh from Vahini, an NGO that promotes organic farming, says Reddy has helped 700 others, especially small-time farmers, to learn organic farming techniques.
Reddy’s elder son has quit his job as a BMTC conductor and now joined him in farming.
Mela time for farmers