News: Florine Roche

Mangaluru, May 16: A novel concept of summer camp on agriculture, farming and related activities aptly titled ‘Krishi– Ranga’ (Agri-theatre) was conducted at Krishi Vijnana Kendra (KVK) of Mangaluru from May 9 to 14.

The week long Agri-theatre was conducted with the sole aim of giving the urban an insight into the diverse fields of agriculture.

Participating students were taught to do  grafting, make compost, had hands on experience to wash animals, bring them green fodder, know the different breeds of cows and other animals, feed them,  know about piggery and know the concept of bio gas.

They were taught to identify various plants, trees, birds, flowers, learn aquarium making apart from interacting with progressive farmers and field visits.

Climbing the coconut tree with the help of machine or having a hands on experience of getting into a ploughed slushy filed also formed part of the camp and children had great fun learning these skills.

A nature walk in the sprawling 25 hectare campus of KVK proved to be idyllic exercise for students to learn and get acquainted with those aspects about which they knew nothing. 

Dr Shivakumar Magada, Professor of Aquatic Biology, College of Fisheries, the brain behind the concept points out that he wanted to give discontinuous method of learning to the students  and get them acquainted with agriculture and related fields.  The positive feedback from the students who participated in the camp give an impression that Dr Magada has succeeded  in his attempt to accomplish his major goal in his maiden attempt. 

Carol Castelino, a 8th standard student says that she was fortunate to be part of this unique camp.  “I was always fascinated by agriculture and related activities. My paternal grandparents at Bajpe have a small poultry and my maternal grandparents at Talapady have a huge farm house with different varieties of plants and trees. I came to know about this camp through newspapers and am proud to say I have  learnt so  much in one week’s time,” she declares.

The value addition of the camp is the knowledge imparted to the students by progressive farmers who formed part of the resource persons of this camp. Snake experts from Ujire and Mangaluru namely Snake Joy, Snake Papu and Ganesh were also invited as resource persons.  These experts showed different types of snakes and endowed the students with knowledge on different kinds of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes so as to educate the students and remove all the misgivings they harbour about snakes.

In fact it was a casual suggestion by a reporter during an interaction which prompted Dr Shivakumar Magada to ponder over the suggestion and act. He took that suggestion and swung into action coming out with the brainwave of a weak-long Agri-theatre summer camp.   He chose the print media and radio to give wide publicity inviting interested students below 15 years to the camp. Surprisingly, the response was overwhelming, beyond the   expectations of the organizers as 34 students got enrolled for the camp within a short notice.    One couple came all the way from Shirthady along with their son for all the six days driving 50 kms everyday and along with students they too learnt all the basic information taught to the youngsters. 

Shivakumar Magada is quite ecstatic by the response as well the keen interest and participation evinced by the participating students and parents. 

“I think it is the first of its kind of camp not only in Mangalore but in the entire state and probably in the country”, he stated.  

Emboldened by the enthusiastic response Shivakumar and team now want to impress upon the government through ministers to make such camps mandatory at all the Krishi Vijnan Kendras. “Through this camp we wanted to impart discontinuous type of learning where we focussed on learning by doing concept. In this concept the grasping capacity is 90 per cent and we want more and more people to take to agriculture as a profession. People are oblivious of the opportunities in the field organising camps is one of the ways to create awareness among youngsters,” explains Shivakumar.  

During the camp period the students were taken to Sons’s farm Moodbidri and also to an integrated farming house. On the way back from Moodbidri the students also visited a scientific dairy farming having 150 cows of various breeds. They also got an opportunity to know about hydroponics (a method of growing vegetable without using soil) during the field visit.  

Jaison Lobo, a 9th standard student says that the camp was a god send opportunity for him as he was always keen in agriculture and related activities but never got an opportunity to  know or learn with hands on experience.  “I am really thrilled by what I learnt as I did not have an opportunity to live in a rural ambience. First we were shown some power point presentation or documentaries and once in the field we got practical experience to do what we saw. It was a great learning experience,” he stated. 

He further says it was unlike classroom kind of experience as we could sit the way we want or even lie on the desk and be casual while listening. Jaison’s mother Juliana Lobo says the camp has been fruitful as it has inspired her son to take up agriculture-related field for his graduation. 

To beat boredom, the students were given a respite in the form of theatre activity. In the afternoons children were taught to act in skits with agricultural themes. This theatre activity was done in collaboration with Sanketh Professional Theatre group of Mangalore and on the final day the students enacted the skit on the stage.

The students feel that the duration of the camp should have been little longer so that they could assimilate more practical knowledge.

Shivakumar also feels that it could have been more but it is the first of its kind of camp and he had to plan it in a week’s time giving him not much time to prepare more systematically.

With such encouraging response such camps are sure to become mandatory in Mangalore. KVK would help giving exposure to urban kids to know more about agriculture related fields, about farmers and their work and also about dairy and dairy farming.