Agriculture

“As a drought-resistant, frost tolerant, low nutrient requirement, high protein and low carbohydrate crop, it is well suited for our people.”

“Farmers are becoming more intelligent as well. Their attitudes are changing, besides looking towards what can fetch them better prices.”

These three private players represent some of the possibilities that one couldn’t consider even 10 years back for farmers. Imagine what they can do for farmers once the shackles are truly off.

“In the last five years, the investments into the agricultural space has been very encouraging. This validates that agriculture is not considered all that risky as some understand it."

"The neighbouring farms suffered 1-2% destruction even as they lit fires and played loud noises to drive the locusts away. On the other hand, my farm suffered absolutely no loss."

“I think one of the best pieces of advice Saritha ma’am has given us is to use rice starch as a pesticide. The insects get stuck on the plant because of starch’s sticky nature. I found this to be a great alternative to chemical pesticides,” says Anagha, a student.

Locust swarms can eat the food of up to 35,000 people in a single day. The situation is indeed alarming amidst the coronavirus but it can be controlled with rapid actions

"It was difficult to imagine that almost 95 tonnes of my cabbage would rot," says Kannaiyan Subramanian who tweeted a video of his cabbage farm, asking for help.

Having developed a nursery of the SS variety, Kshirsagar has sold saplings to more than 500 farmers. He believes that it is presently grown on 30,000 acres in Nashik district alone.

"My goal has always been to spread a bit of sweetness in the world. And what better way to do so than with mangoes!" says the 80-year-old farmer who has created a mind-boggling 1600 varieties of mango.