Before I forget once again ...

I am posting a link to another agricultural graduate turned farmer.
A bachelor of agriculture science from Bapatla develops ‘Brindavanam' by Ramesh Susarla

Excerpts from the article:
Mallina Ravindra Prasad, a resident of Boddavara in S. Kota mandal of Vizianagaram district, who produces several vegetables and fruits at less production cost...

A bachelor of agriculture science from Bapatla, he chose not to take up some lucrative jobs in banks, but give back to society the knowledge he has acquired by cultivating his 70 acres at his ‘Brindavanam' orchard at Boddavara.
He uses bio-waste like copra, teak leaves, ‘tunga' grass from his own garden to preserve moisture content in the soil.

This allows decomposition of the material and sustains several life forms that help maintain porosity and restoring organic carbon, he explains.

Motorcycle Made to do Many things

Following is an extract/abstract from an article in Hindu dated February 11 2010. I got the link through my linkedin updates from Venkat.
Mr. Mansukhbhai Jagani an ordinary, not well educated farmer (a school dropout), in Mota Devaliya village, Amreli district, in Gujarat developed a machine system called Bullet Santi for small farm holdings, with attachments for tilling, sowing, inter-culturing and spraying. The motorcycle’s engine was converted to a 5.5 HP diesel engine and the rear wheel replaced with an attachment with two wheels.
Several farmers in the district have caught on to the idea, and there are now close to 40 Santis in the district. It costs between Rs. 14,000-18,000, making it much cheaper than other mechanical ploughs and it performs several functions such as weeding, ploughing and sowing for an acre. The bullet tractor ploughs an acre of land in just half an hour with only two litres of diesel.
With the help of National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Ahmedabad, Mr. Jagani got a patent in India and in the U.S. for this device. Mr. Jagani’s innovation was also displayed at the Indian Science Congress at Pune and at the Swadeshi Vigyan Mela at IIT, Delhi where he got an excellent response. He also got the opportunity to display his innovation in South Africa in an exhibition organized by the Department of Small, Medium & Micro Enterprises (SMME) of the Northern Provinces jointly with Commonwealth Science Council (CSC), London.

Rice on Roof tops (My news)

A farm query that appeared in Hindu made me aware of this interesting farming feat.

Mr. S. Vishwanath from Bangalore has proved that paddy can be successfully grown on rooftops making use of grey water and wastewater. On a 400 sq. ft roof area one can raise 80 kg of rice in a year. For details you an contact Mr. S. Vishwanath at Rainwater Club, No. 1022, 6th Block, 1st Floor, HMT Layout, Vidyaranyapura Main Road, Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore - 560 097, phone080-41672790 , website: www.rainwaterclub.org, email: zenrainman@gmail.com , mobile: 9901992690.

Source: Growing rice on rooftop

You can watch the video at Rainwater-Rice on the roof

Farmers Innovate - Paddy Thresher (My News)

Mr. Mohammed Fazlul Haque from Assam developed a paddy thresher that does not cut the paddy chaff into bits and pieces but throws them out whole. According to Mr. Fazlul, by using his machine the whole paddy stalk can be obtained instead of chopped pieces. The nutritional value is conserved in the whole stalk and fed to cattle or sold.

The machine, fitted with a spike tooth cylinder, and semi cylindrical concave can be adjusted by changing the length of each spike.There is no sieve or shaker and the grains fall directly from the concave gap and are cleaned by the blower just below the concave.

Till date Mr. Fazlul has sold more than 75 machines in different parts of the state. He delivers the machines based on order in a week's time.

The unit priced at Rs. 35,000 (excluding prime mover and cost of transportation) was exhibited the Rashtrapati Bhavan recently at the grassroot innovation exhibition organised by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) India, which is also supporting him under the Micro Venture Innovation Fund.

Excerpt from Indigenous paddy thresher may address labour shortage crisis by M. J. Prabu

Contact Address: Mr. Md. Fazlul Haque, Moirabari village, Morigaon district, Assam-782126, Mobile: 98648 67012.

Farmers Innovate - Cycle Dante (My News)

Kotamla Krishna, a farmer hailing from Yeddumylaram village in Medak district invented a rotary weeder.

Finding farm labour has become a Herculean task after implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). This had an adverse impact on Krishna's work to tend to his vegetable farm. Even clearing weed over an acre of land daily was costing him about Rs. 2,000.

He saw a model of a plough at a Rythu Sadassu in Zaheerabad and he came up with his innovation—the ‘cycle dante'.

The model features a triangular plate fixed on the sides of a cycle rim. A dante or a plough-like instrument is fixed to it.
Excerpt from Ryot creates ‘cycle dante' by R. Avadhani

e-karshak - the mobile applications picking up momentum

I chanced to stumble upon another nugget of information while looking for Sugunamma's article in the eenadu archives - e-karshak a mobile application to monitor fertilizer distribution. In this system, the mobiles of representatives of fertilizer companies, distributors and retailers will be equipped with a special software. West Godavari district additional joint collector Miriyaala Seshagiri Babu developed this system. It is also going to be helpful for farmers and is going to be implemented soon on a trial nasis in the Tanuku Mandal of West Godavari district and will be linked to Kisan credit card service. Original artcle at http://www.eenadu.net/archives/archive-13-9-2010/panelhtml.asp?qrystr=htm/panel15.htm

SUGUNAmma surpasses in SRI vari saagu

The default channel in our house is Bhakti channel, but during a family get together our folks were surfing channels and I chanced to see this news item - One woman farmer, Sugunamma got highest yields in SRI cultivation (Sri vari saagu)and was selected as one of the participants to attend a seminar in USA and immediately I thought that it should be posted on my blog. I tried to memorise this and my own name came to my mind as a convenient mnemonic.


The following day one of my friends called me and informed me about this Sugunamma and that an article about her appeared in EEnadu's Vasumdhara page. Thanks to her! I now have a link to more information. http://www.eenadu.net/archives/archive-13-9-2010/main4.asp

She could get an yield of up to 80 kg/acre with SRI system of rice cultivation.

“Dilemmas in Agriculture: A Personal Story”

Thanks to the author of the article, "Naren's last testament" featured in Hindu, for letting us know about this committed individual and the inside account of organic farming, that is most authentic.

“Dilemmas in Agriculture: A Personal Story”. We persuaded Uma [Naren's wife]to update the volume, and add a few personal notes. The little book is ready and published by Vasudheva Kutumbukum ( kutumbukum@gmail.com). It is rich with wisdom and gentle insights about the predicaments of rural life in India today, but what makes it significant is that it is based on their own journey. The narrative begins in 1987, when Naren decided to leave his well-paid job in a Bank to return to his ancestral village Venkatramapuram in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, for a ‘life of organic farming and social work' - The author says and adds that it is "a passionate — even desperate — plea to save the Indian farmer from hunger, pauperisation and despair".

Kulsum Sayani

“Each one, teach one”, one of the most effective schemes to promote education today was popularised by a woman few remember, but who was a pioneer in the field of adult literacy in India.

Kulsum Sayani's name might not ring a bell for many but her life and work are truly remarkable ...Her experience made her a part of several committees, ....But it was in spreading the word on education that she is best remembered. ...Her days are a mad rush of dashing to schools to enthuse children into teaching adults and her nights are spent dreaming up new schemes of literacy."...Another literacy initiative she initiated was reading out aloud. School students were encouraged to gather friends and adults and each one had to read out aloud. This, she believed, was necessary to improve the confidence and interest of neo-literates. ..."

- excerpt from Many facets of an activist by
DANISH KHAN Source:http://www.hindu.com/mag/2010/08/15/stories/2010081550330500.htm

(I must try this reading aloud technique with agricultural magazines)

Cadambi Minakshi

Hey! This photo looks familiar!...looks like my mother.. rather like her in those college photographs. The same expression!! I looked intently at it ...tears clouding my eyes. As I read further the similarity continued, my mother's subject also being history. The mention of Prof. Nilakanta Sastri in the article brought back the memories of my mother talking about the eminent scholar with great reverence.

"Minakshi was an authority on Pallava history, a respected archaeologist and the first woman to get a doctorate from the University of Madras in 1936. Her scholarship was profound and her accomplishments astonishing. If only death had not come cruelly quick, when she was just 34 years old, Minakshi would have uncovered more of the precious past and be as well remembered as her teacher Prof. Nilakanta Sastri, the doyen of South Indian history" - excerpt from a tribute by A. Srivathsan.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/article571477.ece

I thought that I should send this news clipping to her, but was wondering if the idea was foolish. And then the next paragraph in the article cleared by doubt. It says:
Minakshi maintained a calico covered scrapbook with ‘made in England' inscribed on it. “Mother and daughter collected every piece of paper that had anything to do with the latter; newspaper clippings, letters, manuscripts and invitations,” explained Mahalakshmi Gourishankar, a 75-year-old relative of Minakshi, who generously shared the book.

Just then my husband called saying that he was with my mother and if I had to say something. I asked him to buy and give that day's Hindu to my mother. He did and returned with an article on Stevia in Eenadu Sunday magazine! My mother warning me indirectly to cut down on my sugar intake...?!!

Antariksha Shaamtihi

This independence day I attained freedom from a hurried morning cooking routine. I could spend two long hours reading each article in the Hindu at length. I found many articles interesting that I thought should be posted on my blog. The list got longer as I was turning to each page. I remembered the proverb `Kotta BichchagaaDu podderagadu'. Since I started the my news feature on my blog only the previous day I was rather extra enthusiastic about it. Usually what seems to be very important in the first instance ceases to be so with the passage of time. But this time although not very directly related to my current interests I could not do away with two great personalities of yesteryears..sorry decades! But should I clog my blog with all this stuff! Why not!! When so much of wasteful content over internet is polluting space and mind! Let postings about these great souls cleanse the cyber space. Let peace prevail. Antariksha shaamtihi!!!

People, Places, Pictures and Projects

When it was time to renew my subscription to Hindu daily, I just reminisced how the stories it carried enlivened each day in the past 6 months. It was a quick 15 minute escape into my world. More than the ephemeral news stories, there were interesting places which I would like to visit, books I would read and people whom I would like to meet and projects I would like to work for. Now and then I managed to rummage through them and retrieve items of my interest. I believe some of them might be interesting to others as well. Nevertheless, my own blog is the best place to store these clippings and go over them once in a while.

My News: People, Authors, Books

Driven by passion, not their degrees
Rashmi Bansal connects the dots, giving MBAs-turned-entrepreneurs a miss

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2010/07/28/stories/2010072850400100.htm

"A contemporary Indian author of instant recall thanks to her first non-fiction work, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, Rashmi loves to tell us stories of entrepreneurs who've chosen lesser known paths.

Her first book encapsulated case studies of MBAs-turned-entrepreneurs. Her second, Connect the Dots, tells you why MBA is not a pre-requisite to be a successful entrepreneur."

Rashmi herself is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad. She reflects, “MBA was just an experience; it helped as a personality changing and building experience rather than the first step to find a lucrative job,” she says. Rashmi banked on her experience of writing for newspapers and started a youth magazine, JAM (Just Another Magajine). Through Connect the Dots, she intends to make youngsters think if they really require the big investment called MBA. The book chronicles success stories of 20 entrepreneurs in different age groups from different parts of India. 

“We often hear people wondering how any business can flourish in Bihar. Interestingly, I found Satyajit Singh whose business of the makhana fruit and its products has helped many farmers in the region. Today, he is the President of CII in Bihar. Then, there is Kalyan Varma who traded a lucrative IT job for a career in wildlife photography (reminds you of Madhavan's character in 3 Idiots?),” she says. The choice of stories, Rashmi explains, is a mosaic where heads of Rs. 500 and 300 crore empires are placed against individuals. “Not everyone heads a company with 10,000 employees but can still have interesting, inspiring stories. There's a young woman who has a hand-made paper business, where the paper came from elephant dung!”

My news- Radio down to earth

Surge in FM use came after mobiles began to provide radio facilities

Narender pulloor 2008 Deccan chronicle August Wednesday 6th p. 2.
AIR introduced an exclusive programme for farmers named - Kisan vani - sponsored my Ministry of Agriculture with the assistance of ...
7.15 top.m. to 8.15 pm.

News bulletins, Phone-in programmes, quiz, weather reports, market rates and interviews of progressive farmers

Telangana dialect

Regional Sugarcane institute and Rice research station of Rudrur in Varni mandal interact with farmers through FM radio.

Mr. L. Jalapathi Rao - Senior agricultural scientist

Mass media wing of the agriculture department is provoding training to FM radio personnel

Quiz programmes and gifts to winners.