Daijiworld Media Network – Sullia (MS)

Sullia, Feb 22: A farmer, a resident of Ivarnadu village in the taluk, who was out of work after the pandemic, began sweet water farming in his farm land based on the suggestions given by Gandhi Krishi Vigyana Kendra (GKVK).

Naveen Chatubhai built two tanks at his home and started pearl farming. With the help of his friend, he has sold 300 pearls to a dealer Hyderabad in just one year.

Minister S Angara has spoken about the possibility of exploring sweet water and pearl farming in the taluk. Inspired by his talk, Chatubhai decided to explore the agriculture of pearls and mussels.

Representational image

Naveen says, “I studied the guidelines given by Gandhi agricultural university of Bengaluru with regards to pearl farming. I built two tanks with an investment of Rs 25000. There is no need of huge investment for sweet-water pearl farming. Though many types of mussels are available, only few are suitable for pearl farming.

“In order to prevent water from getting evaporated, we put plastic sheets below the tanks having capacity of 5000 litres. In the beginning, we bought 500 mussels from Bengaluru and kept them in trays in tank. Cleaning of tanks and protecting the mussels from direct sunlight is very important in pearl farming. The mussels produce two pearls in 12 months,” he says.

In addition, Naveen Chatubhai also does agriculture of decorative fishes. These both can be done together, says Naveen.