ONGOLE: At the age of 27, K Rajitha, who grows 10 different crops in her one acre of land at Naguluppalapadu, has become a role model for the local farming community. Reason: She has adopted the Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) to grow crops in demand, which enables her reap a profit of about Rs 3 lakh every season. She took up cultivation after her marriage with Sadananda Rao, who hails from an agriculture family of the same village, soon after completing her Intermediate.
Around the same time, the DRDA had invited applications to provide training in Non-Pesticide Management (NPM) and she applied for it. After getting training, she started growing crops using the NPM method and became a successful farmer. She is now a ‘cluster natural farming’ activist attached to AP Community Managed Natural Farming project, and creates awareness about NPM and ZBNF methods among farmers in Naguluppalapadu and other Prakasam mandals.
“I promote natural pesticides and manure. Many who have been farmers for decades, did not believe me at first as they were not aware of the new methods. Some of them even laughed at me when I explained the efficacy of natural farming. Only when I started getting good yields, they evinced interest in NPM and ZBNF. Now, several farmers are following the new methods,” she said.
She cited the example of one Sambasiva Rao from Raparla, who despite farming in only 5 cents of land, grows 12 different crops and makes good profits. Last season, Rajitha grew ‘Navadhanyalu’, which included foxtail millet, finger millet, pearl millet and little millet, chilli, onions, radish, cabbage, cauliflower, sweet corn, coriander, marigold and red gram.
After harvesting, she got an output of 20 quintals of chilli, three quintals of onion and radish each, one quintal of red gram, and leafy vegetables whose combined market value is `45,000 to `50,000. “As a matter of fact, many who grew chilli in the traditional way this season had to face pest issues, which resulted in less yield. However, due to NPM and ZBNF, I got good yields in almost all varieties, including chilli. This has motivated me to experiment growing 15-20 varieties of crops in the one acre of land,” she said.