Mangalore: Passionate Farmer Transforms Barren Hill Into Profitable Plantation

By Prakash Samaga
Pics: Savitha B R

Mangalore, Feb 11: At a time when people are hesitant and reluctant even to take up agriculture as a viable profession, a person has set an example before them, by opting to grow cashew in his land and making the unit economically successful.

In normal course, cashew plants are allowed to grow on their own in barren hills and forests, without any individual care having been taken about their growth and well-being. But Henry Crasta, a passionate farmer, stands out for thinking different, choosing to deviate from the beaten track, and proving that it is possible to bring up a economically viable cashew nut plantation under controlled conditions. He has brought up a cashew plantation in the seven acres of land belonging to his family, located on a hilly terrain with a slope of 45 degree. The plantation is located behind Kelarai Church in Neermarga here.
 
Henry had observed that though cashew nut trees are found mostly in barren lands, those located in coconut plantations happened to bear more yield, as these trees get nurtured with good manure and water. This observation made him to divert his attention to a way of farming that is in complete deviation from the local practice. He bought cashew nut saplings of different species like Ullal1, Ullal 2, Ullal3 Dana, Baskar (Goa), Priyanka, Vengurla 7, and other local species, from the Agriculture Research Station in Ullal here.
 
Usually trees bear two to three cashew nuts in each bunch, but in the cashew nut trees grown in Crasta’s plantation, it can be seen that each bunch bears between 40 to 50 cashew nuts. He assigns the reason for this phenomenon, to the use of good manure and abundant water fed to these trees.
 
He wakes up at 5.30 am every morning, and heads to his plantation with a torchlight in hand, to check for the presence of worms that feast on the stems of the cashew trees. He also has employed five full-time labourers, who feed manure and water to the cashew trees, besides maintaining the plantation. He sells the harvested raw cashew nut to factories. The manure he uses are cow dung and rotten cashew fruits. He also has 200 coconut trees and 500 pepper vines in his land.
 
Speaking to Daijiworld, a beaming Crasta said, “I will be very happy to provide guidance about cashew farming to any interested enthusiastic youngsters or those who want to venture into this field”. Crasta gets an average yield of ten kgs of cashew nuts from every tree. He has grown a variety of saplings, which start bearing fruits in two to five years time. In total, he has planted 1,000 cashew nut saplings. He has already invested seven lac rupees in his plantation over the last seven years at the rate of one lac rupees per year. He says this year he expects a bumper yield of 3,000 kgs of cashew nuts from his seven-acre plantation, based on the robustness of the flowers that have bloomed in these trees. He also remarks that support from the government for such innovative farming activity has been far from satisfactory.
 
52-year-old Crasta, who is a diploma holder from KPT here, was working as a mechanic in Saudi from 1979 to 1984. But his passion for agriculture brought him back home. He recalls that he pursued his primary education by selling vegetables grown at their field to pay the school fees and books.

Crasta can be contacted on mobile No. 9880051269.