SIDDIPET: A technique in farming, which even scientists have not quite gotten the grasp of, has been perfected by a woman farmer who has studied only till Class 5.
Using this technique, known as Veda farming, R Lakshmi Reddy has not only saved time and money but also ensured a good yield from her field.
Interestingly, probably unaware that a woman in Telangana has already perfected the technique, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who came to know about that Veda farming was being practised by a farmer in Krishna district, AP, congratulated him over phone.
The CM even invited farmer Uppala Prasada Rao for lunch at his farmhouse to learn further about the technique.
The woman farmer, Lakshmi, who hails from Kondaparakala village in Manakonduru mandal in neighbouring Karimnagar district, came up with the new method while working in the farm along with her husband.
They had to address several problems that cropped up while cultivating paddy in their field. The farmer couple had to hire labourers to raise nurseries, then transplant them, remove weeds now and them.
Soon they faced a labour shortage when labourers stopped agriculture work as they found better wages under MGNREGS. Then the couple had to spend heavily on chemical fertilizers.
As the going got tough, Lakshmi began wondering if there was an alternative to their method. On an experimental basis, she dispensed with raising nurseries and transplanting them. She began broadcasting seeds across the field for them to grow.
To her surprise, she saw that the quantity of seeds required for spraying was less than the seeds needed for raising nurseries. She had to use 30 kg seed to raise nurseries per acre but when it came to spraying she realised that 15 kg of seeds were enough.
Lakshmi’s husband, Tirupati Reddy was also surprised at the results and said: “We are happy to use the new method. It not only brought down the cost but also improved the yield. We are getting five bags of paddy additionally.”
The hay from the paddy is used to make vermicompost and used as organic fertiliser. Learning about Lakshmi’s success, Finance Minister T Harish Rao introduced Lakshmi and her method of cultivation to farmers of his constituency of Siddipet.
Hard worker Lakshmi does the hard work in the field. She drives a tractor to plough the ground and arrives at the field on a bike. Lakshmi is happy that one of her sons is studying BSc Agriculture, while the other is studying Engineering