Till now we have looked upon the issues existing in the current system. Observing the situation deeply we can derive solutions from these issues.
There are two ways to get farmers income doubled. One is to minimize his input cost and second is by maximizing the output. There is a need to follow both at the same time.
How to minimize input cost?
1) Fertilizers: In general it costs around 4000 Rs per acre of fertilizer. Phasing out of chemical fertilizers and replacing them by bio fertilizers will save our cost significantly. We can use vermi-compost with a mixture of cow and buffalo manure,dried leaves and rice straw instead of chemical fertilizers. The cost is negligible to get these things ready. So we have saved around 4000 Rs as of now.
2) Pesticide: It costs around 6000-8000 Rs per acre for purchasing pesticide.
Farmers in Andhra Pradesh have adopted NPM(Non-Pesticide Management) solutions where the usage of chemical pesticide is phased out completely. Government has played a huge role here.
Instead of chemical pesticides they are using Neem seeds. Neem seeds are ground into a powder that is soaked overnight in water and sprayed onto the crop. Neem doesn't directly kill the insects on the crop.It acts as a repellent,protecting the crop from damage.The insect starve and die within a few days.Neem also suppresses the hatching of pest insect from their eggs.Neem is not only much less expensive than chemical insecticides,it also has the advantage of not killing predatory insect that provide natural control of pest insects.Neem cake serves as organic fertilizer high in Nitrogen.
Apart from Neem, other solutions include spraying chilli-garlic solution on cotton,mixture of cow dung and urine to combat leaf hoppers and aphids,planting trap crops like sorghum,marigold,castor etc.
By doing this we have almost saved 10000-12000 Rs per acre till now.
3) Irrigation and water resources: We do not have alternatives here to reduce the cost of water as a resource. In fact new technologies like drip irrigation are more costlier than our traditional methods.
4) Changing the pattern of farming: Using traditional method of farming is one of the biggest reason behind farmer's deplorable condition today. Crop rotation is a much needed approach here. Cereal crops in one season and leguminous in other season will not only benefit farmer economically but for soil as well.
On an average per acre wheat yield is 21 quintal and pulse yield is 2-3 quintal. If both the crops are grown back to back and for a minute inefficiencies and flaws in MSP system is forgotten then income of farmer per year would be around Rs 44000 plus.
In this manner,commercial plants and trees can also be grown on the boundaries of the field.
To be continued........
There are two ways to get farmers income doubled. One is to minimize his input cost and second is by maximizing the output. There is a need to follow both at the same time.
How to minimize input cost?
1) Fertilizers: In general it costs around 4000 Rs per acre of fertilizer. Phasing out of chemical fertilizers and replacing them by bio fertilizers will save our cost significantly. We can use vermi-compost with a mixture of cow and buffalo manure,dried leaves and rice straw instead of chemical fertilizers. The cost is negligible to get these things ready. So we have saved around 4000 Rs as of now.
2) Pesticide: It costs around 6000-8000 Rs per acre for purchasing pesticide.
Farmers in Andhra Pradesh have adopted NPM(Non-Pesticide Management) solutions where the usage of chemical pesticide is phased out completely. Government has played a huge role here.
Instead of chemical pesticides they are using Neem seeds. Neem seeds are ground into a powder that is soaked overnight in water and sprayed onto the crop. Neem doesn't directly kill the insects on the crop.It acts as a repellent,protecting the crop from damage.The insect starve and die within a few days.Neem also suppresses the hatching of pest insect from their eggs.Neem is not only much less expensive than chemical insecticides,it also has the advantage of not killing predatory insect that provide natural control of pest insects.Neem cake serves as organic fertilizer high in Nitrogen.
Apart from Neem, other solutions include spraying chilli-garlic solution on cotton,mixture of cow dung and urine to combat leaf hoppers and aphids,planting trap crops like sorghum,marigold,castor etc.
By doing this we have almost saved 10000-12000 Rs per acre till now.
3) Irrigation and water resources: We do not have alternatives here to reduce the cost of water as a resource. In fact new technologies like drip irrigation are more costlier than our traditional methods.
4) Changing the pattern of farming: Using traditional method of farming is one of the biggest reason behind farmer's deplorable condition today. Crop rotation is a much needed approach here. Cereal crops in one season and leguminous in other season will not only benefit farmer economically but for soil as well.
On an average per acre wheat yield is 21 quintal and pulse yield is 2-3 quintal. If both the crops are grown back to back and for a minute inefficiencies and flaws in MSP system is forgotten then income of farmer per year would be around Rs 44000 plus.
In this manner,commercial plants and trees can also be grown on the boundaries of the field.
To be continued........
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