This farmer from Karnataka reduced the cost of farming by rearing pigs, used advanced techniques

Somanna Siddappa Bhasagi, a resident of Almel village in Bijapur, Karnataka, took up farming in 2009. Before joining agriculture, he was a scrap dealer. He bought two and a half acres of land. This gave him a yield of 40 to 45 tonnes of sugarcane per acre. In 2010-11, he took 6 acres of land on lease and continued farming in the traditional way. Somanna was not satisfied with the market price he was getting. He decided to try innovative farming methods instead of growing regular crops. After gathering information, he thought of doing pig farming. He took training from Pigri Breeding Center at Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru. After taking training, in 2014, he bought 20 piglets from Pigri Breeding Center itself and started pig farming in his village.

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Special attention to cleanliness 

He built a shed of size 60″x100″ for the piglets. A generator was installed to deal with the power problem. Somanna pays special attention to cleanliness to prevent diseases. The shed is cleaned twice a day.

Pig farming also reduced the cost of farming 

He has also reduced the farming expenses through pig farming. The remains of pigs are collected in a tank of 8 to 10 litres. It is used as manure. This has reduced their use of chemical fertilizers by 50 to 60 percent.

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Prepare your own animal feed 

To reduce the cost of animal feed, he himself prepares the feed of the pigs at home. Easily available cereals like maize, rice, wheat, groundnut, mineral mixture and salt in proper proportion make animal feed. Also, semi-solid waste is available from nearby restaurants.

The number of pigs reached 20 to 200 

Somanna sells a pig for around Rs 3,500. Within three years, the number of pigs increased from 20 to 200. Apart from pig farming, Somanna bought about 4.5 acres of land in 2015 and started practicing mixed cropping and intercropping farming. Between the two crops, he also started cultivating pumpkin. This earned him Rs 2 lakh in a single season.

Cultivate many crops 

Somanna also cultivates commercial crops like sugarcane and cotton. He has also cultivated horticultural crops like mango, guava and lemon to get a source of income throughout the year. He has also planted coconut trees around the field. It gives an average of 80 to 100 fruits per tree. 

Awarded Progressive Farmer Award

They get direct profit of Rs 4.5 to 5 lakh from farming, which includes pig farming. Today he has become an inspiration to other fellow farmers of his area. He has also received the Progressive Farmer Award from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.

Somanna encourages the youth to take up agriculture and allied activities like poultry, piggery, goat and sheep rearing, beekeeping, horticulture, fisheries and value addition in millets instead of chasing government jobs. Somanna believes that farming is close to nature. The happiness and peace that comes from farming cannot be compared with any other occupation in the world. 

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Contact us: If farmers want to share information or experiences related to farming with us, then they can do this by calling us on the phone number 9599273766 or by writing an email to kisanofindia.mail@gmail.com or by sending your recording. Through Kisan of India, we will convey your message to the people, because we believe that if the farmers are advanced then the country is happy.