Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur

Kundapur, Jul 2: Today, the significant responsibility of preserving paddy farming lies on everyone’s shoulders. However, it often remains limited to speeches and is implemented only in a few places. There is an urgent need to preserve paddy farming, or else we might only read about the paddy fields that once existed in the coastal region in history books.

In an era where traditional paddy farming is almost extinct, there are experiments underway that show mechanized farming methods can make paddy cultivation profitable. One such effort is led by young farmer Santosh Shetty Baladi and his team near Ampare in Hadali. This year, they have implemented mechanized paddy transplantation on 14.5 acres. This is their second year of experimenting, having cultivated paddy on 10 acres last year. Inspired by the CEO of Zilla Panchayat, Prasanna, who personally plowed the fields last year to encourage the youth to take up paddy farming, many farmers have now decided to use fallow land for paddy cultivation.

Despite high expectations last year, the crops were damaged by wild animals. However, not one to give up, Santosh Shetty Baladi took precautionary measures this year by installing a solar-powered Ibex fence at a cost of Rs 1.20 lac, mitigating the risk from wild animals. Mechanized farming reduces costs and takes only seven days for transplantation. They used 1,280 mats and expect the total cost to be around Rs 1.50 lac.

"We are expecting a good yield this year. We plan to market the rice under the ‘Kundanadu’ brand name, which will bring profits to the company. In the future, we will encourage farmers to grow various types of vegetables,” said Santosh Shetty Baladi, the farmer.