Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (MS)

Kundapur, Jul 2: It is a well-known fact that younger generation is not interested in agriculture. It is also true that this is a serious issue. However, contrary to this trend, a group of youth of Padukone near here have decided to turn a barren piece of land into lush green paddy field.

DYFI Padukone unit is an organization that is actively involved in social service. They decided to some work that should inspire the younger generation. The barren paddy fields of Padukone caught their eye and they decided to grow paddy in those fields. When they conveyed their idea to the owner of the land, he also was inspired by their thought and gave his go ahead. So the team started to grow paddy in 3.5 acres of land.

On June 30, they planted the saplings with the help of 35 women. More than 30 DYFI members also were involved in the work. Some students also joined them. The young men, who were involved in this work are regular employees of organizations. They did this job on Sunday, their off day and felt happy doing the traditional work.

The story of DYFI friends does not end here. They have the intention of taking big strides in farming and becoming a model to the society. Tilling of the land that is fertile needs to be done before it loses its fertility. Science, technology and education might have made astronomical progress, but in front of agriculture it looks minuscule. Only if the farmer ploughs the paddy fields and grows rice, the human beings can survive. If everyone becomes lazy, a time may come, wherein we will depend on machines to grow rice for us. The young generation has to be alert. Agriculture gives happiness. DYFI members of Padukone have given the message ‘Let us all love agriculture and make the fertile land shine with lush green paddy fields again’ by their exemplary act.

Nagaraja Kuru, president of DYFI Padukone unit says, "Our aim was to attract younger generation towards agriculture. So we have decided on this project and attempted the same. Around 3.5 acres of fertile land was lying barren since four to six years. We got the owner of the land to agree to our good intention and got the soil tested scientifically. We have used the necessary manure and did the planting of saplings now. All our DYFI friends have worked together for this to happen."

"Paddy fields should not be allowed to lay barren. Younger generation have to turn their attention towards agriculture. Our effort is to create awareness among the people. Labour problem is the main issue in the field of paddy farming. We will try to include this in national employment guarantee scheme in coming days," says Rajesh, a gram panchayat member.