Navikram RC originally belongs to Lakshmidevipura village of Doddaballapur Taluk in Bengaluru Rural district , who is a very happy peasant today, thanks to expert and scientific advice. In fact, there has been a complete turnaround of his situation in comparison to how he was around ten years back.
Navikram RC is a Commerce graduate and took up to farming soon after his graduation. However, the path was not a rosy one. His father had inherited seven acres of ancestral property apart from acquiring six more acres on his own. But he was facing an uphill task when it came to availing loans from the banks as his brothers had filed cases. Although Navikram’s father had divided the ancestral property equally among his brothers, it was no solace as the envious brothers still continued with their cases. It was a tough time to get out from the legal battle once for all.
Once, Navikram began farming the first thing he did was to remove the existing grapes crop. He experimented with some horticultural and flower crops, with the help from the staff and scientists of the Agriculture, Horticulture Departments and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK).
Navikram RC reminisces-“I am really grateful to the officials of state governments and Scientists of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) for the assistance rendered to me during my stint as an organic farmer. The help and training offered by one Sreenivasappa for grafting a variety of plants is memorable. Whenever, I visited the KVK in Hadonahalli, near Doddaballapur the officials were so kind enough that they used to stop the prescheduled meetings midway to offer expert advice. Thimmegowda and Mrs Anusuyamma Madam were very kind enough in advocating the needful for whatever problems”.
The bore well drilled by Navikram yielded only ½” of water but, such a paucity of required amount of water was no hindrance for him to continue his organic experiment in a big way. In order to make the best usage of available underground water, he utilised government subsidy to dig a farm pond to store rainwater.
Thanks to his incessant efforts, Navikram has started reaping rich dividends. He has planted 10 varieties of Jackfruit and they include the grafting’s from Narasimaiah of Kachahalli variety. This tree is said to be 500–years old while the fruits from this variety weigh around 28 kg each! He has also got a bumper crop of grapes, even though it is just 10-11 –Months –Old.
Navikram has planted 200 saplings of Teak, 35 Coconuts, 4,000 Sapotas, Five pickle variety mangoes, Orange, Red sanders, 2,000 Sandalwood, Black Plum, and many a other.Not just organic crops, plants and flowers, Navikram has also proved himself to be a success story when it comes to rearing of sheep, poultry birds, cows, buffaloes, pigs, rabbit, honeybee and fishes. He has the poultry birds on the bank of the farming pond wherein the fishes are fed with the excreta of hens, hence no expenditure on the fish feed.
All his produce is organic as no fertilizer or chemicals are made use of. His hard work is also well recognised if you glance at the innumerable awards he has bagged so far. They include Taluk, District and State level awards. Initially, he refused to divulge the proportion of monetary benefit annually. But, when insisted that his story would be an inspiration to many others, he opened up. Navikram is making an annual profit of around Rs 10 lakhs after deducting all the expenditure.
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