Integrated Farming: Hit IFS model of Kerala farmer C Bhaskaran
Made himself prosperous by adopting new technologies in Integrated Farming, example of success presented at the age of 70
Age does not matter for those who have the passion to do something. C. Bhaskaran, a 70-year-old farmer from Alappuzha district, has set an example of success by adopting integrated farming system at this age. From farming to pisciculture and poultry farming, he is making good profit from only 1.5 acres of land by using new technology in everything.
Success achieved through integrated farming system
The Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Alappuzha district of Kerala has been running a program for several years to develop integrated farming system models. Many farmers have also improved their economic condition by adopting it. One of these farmers is C. Bhaskaran. Agriculture and allied activities are their only source of income. He has 1.5 acres of land, in which 10% of the area is a fresh water pond. The rest of the land is used for growing crops and animal husbandry. Since 2007, he has been participating in various programs organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra. Due to this, they keep getting information about new technology.
Fish seed sales
C. Bhaskaran started rearing Varal and Tilapia fish in his pond. Then he realized that there is a great demand for ornamental fish in the market. That’s why he also started rearing ornamental fishes like Gold Fish, Red Tilapia, Govarmi. Instead of selling the fish after they grew up, he started selling fish seeds. For this the size of the pond was also increased. He earns Rs.200 per day by selling 100-200 fish seeds every day.
Paddy cultivation area increased
He also cultivates paddy in an area of two acres. For this, he has taken one acre of land on lease. They get two crops of paddy in a year. He also cultivates sesame in summer. Every year he harvests about 100 quintals of paddy and 4 quintals of sesame. He gets an annual income of Rs 50,000 from paddy. Sesame is sold at the rate of Rs.350 per kg. From coconut farming, where earlier he used to get only 700 coconuts annually, now his number has increased to 1200. In this way, he earns about 18 thousand rupees from coconut cultivation. It costs him about Rs 6240 to cultivate coconut.
Dairy income
Bhaskaran has also started a small scale dairy business. Bhaskaran has reared local breeds of cows, Vechur and Kabila, in his dairy. He feeds them the remains of crops obtained from the field as fodder. In this way, there is no separate expenditure on fodder for the animals. He gets 2 to 3 litres of milk every day from the dairy. Out of this, he sells one litre of milk at Rs.60 per litre. The rest of the milk is kept for household use. Apart from this, he has also established a unit for duck, poultry and ornamental birds.
Before adopting the integrated farming system, he used to get a profit of only about Rs.24,680 annually, but now he is getting a profit of about Rs.1,78,000 annually. By adopting integrated farming system, his annual income has reached around Rs 3.72 lakh. Bhaskaran himself has become a successful farmer and is now motivating other young farmers to move forward.
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