ALAPPUZHA : Last March, a delegation of 27 young farmers from the state visited Israel to study the precision farming practised in there. On his return from the journey arranged by the agriculture department, S P Sujith started a model farm at Arthunkal in the Cherthala South panchayat of Alappuzha in May. Nine months on, the first experiment with Israel-model farming in the state has turned successful.
Having cultivated tissue-cultured banana on the one-acre farm, Sujith has earned a profit 40 to 50% higher than the returns from the normal farming practised in the state. While the profit for that particular volume generally ranges from Rs 20,000 to 25,000, the new method earned the farmer a profit of more than Rs 50,000.
“In Kerala, farmers plant bananas in single pits, but in Israel, they plant three saplings in a single pit,” Sujith told TNIE.
“We followed that method and around 1,100 seeds of banana varieties like robusta, ethan, njalipoovan and red poovan were mixed in the farm.” To generate additional income, Sujith planted cucumber, pumpkin and ash gourd as mid-crops.
“The harvesting of cucumber started in 45 days. Through the cultivation of mid-crops, we got an income of around Rs 1 lakh. The harvesting of bananas earned us around Rs 1.5 lakh, which is equivalent to the total cost of cultivation,” Sujith said. A drawback to the method, he said, was the growth of bigger bunches of bananas.
“In the Kerala market, most buyers prefer a banana bunch weighing 8 to 12kg. However, many bunches produced on the farm were much bigger and weighed more than 20kg. That reduces the rate for bananas,” he said.
The next time, he plans to manage the weight of the bunches through reduced use of fertilisers. “The profit is expected to be higher from the next crop because the initial cost to prepare the farm for this method was high. A good amount was spent on installing pipelines for drip irrigation,” Sujith pointed out.
Agriculture Minister P Prasad had inaugurated the banana harvesting a few days ago.
“The Israel-model farming is a success in the state and many farmers will soon come forward to adopt such farming methods,” the minister said.
The delegates who attended the awareness trip to Israel are now master trainers who train farmers in the precision farming method. Sujith said that many people are now arriving at Arthunkal to study the method. “The method needs to be popularised within in a few years,” he said.