Intercropping Farming : Get double income by cultivating turmeric with tur
Intercropping or co-cropping allows farmers to increase their earnings apart from reducing risk
Due to the rapidly increasing population of the country, the pressure on agricultural land to get maximum yield per unit is increasing continuously. On the other hand, due to climate change, there is also a significant change in the uncertainty of rainfall. Intercropping farming is considered very useful in dealing with such challenges. In tur growing areas of the country, farmers often plant tur on the bunds of paddy fields. This gives less yield. But if turmeric farming is done with tur, then farmers can earn double.
Intercropping Farming is such a scientific technique, which has been found to be very effective in increasing income of the farmers. In this regard, it is recommended by agricultural experts to do turmeric with tur or ginger with tur or turmeric with drumstick or inter-cultivation of ginger and turmeric with papaya. With this modern technology, farmers can increase their income apart from reducing the risk of farming.
Turmeric crop thrives even in the shade
Actually, turmeric can be cultivated easily even in shady environment. Turmeric is a popular medicinal and spice crop. That’s why it gets good price in the market. Cultivation of turmeric with tur as an intercropping crop yields income from both the costly crops. The inclusion of tur cultivation in the crop rotation maintains the fertility of the soil, because the roots of pulse crops provide natural fertility to the soil by absorbing nitrogen directly from the atmosphere.
Madhya Pradesh is the leading state of the country in terms of Pigeon Pea Cultivation. The average yield of tur cultivation there is 10-12 quintals per hectare. But the scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Seoni, under their training campaign, taught the farmers advanced techniques of inter-cultivation of turmeric with tur. So that by intercropping or co-cropping of turmeric with tur, farmers can get 16-20 quintal per hectare production.
Improved varieties of Arhar and Turmeric
| Crop | Variety | Crop duration | Characteristics |
| Arhar | Trombay Jawahar Tuar (TJT) 501 | 145-150 Days | Unlimited growth, red colour of grains, good production capacity and anti-inflammatory |
| Turmeric | Suroma | 200-210 Day | High yielding, cylindrical, orange-yellow pulp, 9.3% curcumin and 4.4% oil |
Arhar seedling
After filling a mixture of 1 part soil, 1 part sand and 1 part decomposed manure, one seed should be sown in each of the 6×4 inch polythene packets by making 3-4 holes in the bottom. With this, such plants are ready in 30 days, which are transplanted in the fields.
Manures and Fertilizers
In order to get good yield from Turmeric crop along with Arhar, proper amount of fertilizers should be used at the time of sowing. Agricultural experts recommend that per hectare using 200 quintals of decomposed cow dung, 80 kg urea, 300 kg single super phosphate, 70 kg murate of potash, 25 kg zinc sulphate and 250 kg neem cake proves to be very useful.
Intercropping Farming Method
Turmeric is sown in two rows of drip on a raised bed of one meter. For turmeric plants, row to row and plant to plant distance should be kept 30 cm. Whereas for transplanting of Arhar plants grown in 30 days, row to row and plant to plant distance should be 2 meters.
Seed rate and seed treatment
Its healthy rhizomes should be used for sowing turmeric. These rhizomes should be soaked in 3% solution of dithane M-45 (30 g in 10 litres of water) for one hour. Then the treated rhizomes should be dried in a shady place and used for sowing. 2 kg seed per hectare will be required for tur crop. For the treatment of pigeon pea seeds before sowing, Vitavax Power @ 2 gm, Rhizobium culture 10 gm and Trichoderma 5 gm/kg should be used.
Also Read:Doubling farmer’s income is possible with advanced Arka Kalyan variety of Onion
Plucking the top buds of tur
Arhar top buds should be plucked 20-25 days after transplanting and 20-25 days after plucking of top buds gives good yield.
Comparison of Arhar and Turmeric in Interbreeding and Conventional Cultivation
| Item | Turmeric | Turmeric Planting Technology (SPI) | Conventional Turmeric Production Techniques |
| Sowing Technique | Sowing on raised beds | Direct sowing of seedlings on raised beds by preparing seedlings | Direct sowing in rows |
| Variety | Suroma | TJT-501 | Asha |
| Production (quintal/ha) | 243 | 19.05 | 12.08 |
| Cost-benefit ratio | 2.89 | 2.73 | 2.38 |
| Saving of input cost | Saving in input cost due to intercropping | Saving of 18 kg seed/ha by applying 2 kg/ha of seed, no effect of pest and frost in crop on timely sowing of seed. | Quantity 20 kg / hectare, in case of late sowing in the event of rain, there is a risk of pest infestation and frost affected the crop. |
| Crop | Production is good by planting on raised beds. | Crop Planting of 30 days old plants on raised beds does not affect the crop even in the event of excessive rainfall | 40-50 percent of the plants get spoiled in case of excessive rainfall |
| Conclusion | Increase in income | Increase in production and Saving of seed | Decrease in production |
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