Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Jan 16: An unusually large number of farmers have been taken over by the firm belief that farm products do not command enough demand in the country's market. Perhaps because of this delusion, farmers are found to be converting their landholdings into house sites and selling them instead of growing crops. Paddy fields are hard to find now-a-days. Shortage of agricultural labour, repeated attacks by swarms of pests, etc have driven agriculturists to the edge of despair. The situation has become so gloomy, that the farmers in coastal Karnataka, who are heavily dependent on paddy crop, are being overwhelmed at the feeling that it would be better to stay away from agriculture rather than reposing hope on the only crop they grow in their fields, and then reeling under heavy losses.

In the midst of this gloomy situation, there is a person who has emerged as a role model for the farmers and shown the way by raising mixed crops by depending entirely on scientific organic methods of farming. This story is about him.

This is a place where greenery is omnipresent. One finds so many varieties of plants and trees that it is impossible to find out what is being grown and what is left out. A large variety of vegetables, roots etc make the visitors to fall in love with the place instantly. B Sudhakar Nayak (62) owns this place, which is located at Hadimakki within Japti gram panchayat limits in the taluk. Nayak, who joined a farm at Kokkarna after finishing SSLC because of his interest in agriculture, conducted studies and research in agriculture out of his own interest to learn more and more. Later, he toiled in five and half acres of land given to him in Japti as share in the family land, laying stress on organic farming.

He also functioned at the milk dairy at Japti and got more interested in dairying activity too. His interest in dairying activity had grown so much till about four to five years back, that he used to supply 250 litres of milk on an average to the local dairy on a daily basis. After agriculture caught up more of his attention later, he evinced interest in raising mixed crops, although dairying activity continues to be undertaken by him.

Mixed crops like coconut, areca nut, pepper, paddy, banana, cocoa, cloves, nutmeg, pineapple among others, fruits like pomelo, custard apple, papaya, guava, jackfruit, mango and lemon, apart from over 35 types of vegetables including yam, tamarind, gherkins, greens, okra, and long beans are grown by Nayak in his land. Nayak, who grows different varieties of areca nut, has grown two acres of areca nuts, one acre of coconut, and an acre of pepper as mixed crops. He undertakes cultivation of vegetables and fruits on experimental basis, and is open to share information he has among farmer visitors.

Nayak does not buy fertilizers for his farm from outside. He uses water pumped from open well. He was the second farmer from the district to supply sugarcane to newly started Brahmavar Sugar Factory about 35 years ago. This progressive farmer had also applied for crop competition in sugarcane farming. He was ranked second among high quality sugarcane growers then. Since the last four decades, he has not only successfully met the challenge of conducting organic farming, but also become famous for growing everything with competitive spirit and getting high yield.

He puts into use biodigester, gobar gas plant, Japan-model compost unit, earthworm manure unit etc besides manufacturing bacteria-based manure, trichoderma, etc. Along with water that is sprayed to the field with the help of biodigester, manure water of decomposed organic matter and Jeevamruta are also fed to the plants and trees. Nayak personally feeds earthworm manure and compost manure to respective crops as per requirement.

Sudhakar Nayak, who also is engaged in apiculture, gets information and facilities from the department of horticulture in every stage. The department of agriculture also has been helping in exchange of information and providing information to farmers about proper use of different facilities.

B Sudhakar Nayak, who functioned as agricultural resource person and secretary in Gopalakrishna Growers Cooperative Society for five year, also has served free of cost as resource person for Dharmasthala Rural Development Project. He has not limited himself to just being an organic farmer, but has been distributing knowledge freely to other farmers by working as resource person. He also has got several awards and honours for this initiative.

Sudhakar's wife, Shanti S Nayak, has been extending able support to Nayak's endeavours. His elder daughter, Vijayashree Nayak, who is an engineering graduate, is married, while younger one, Vidyashree, has been pursuing postgraduate degree course in science. As a whole, his family has been providing full support to Sudhakar's initiatives in the field of agriculture. Its honest efforts towards spreading a strong message in favour or organic farming is commendable.

If you have time, plan a visit to Nayak's farm once. Sudhakar Nayak and his family are always prepared to extend a warm welcome to visitors.