Transformational Stories

"The KrishiVigyan Kendra, Baramati operating under the watchful eyes of the Agricultural Development Trust has implemented the use of polythene mulching in Tomato on the fields of 30 farmers. The challenges were to overcome the shortage of labour during transplanting and weeding stages, higher incidence of pest infestation during rainy season, and increased viral vulnerability. Their solution was Polythene mulching, that helps control weeds (lower spends on pesticides), minimizes labourrequirements, conserves soil moisture, and in case of heavy rains reduces crop losses from wilt & fruit rot diseases. Another practice introduced by them is cover banana bunches with skirting bags of a thickness of 80 micron at full emergence. These bags are tied to the upper end of the petiole of bunch with the lower end kept open. The same being tried on the farms of 300 farmers. This helps protect the banana bunches from scorching sunlight, preventing formation of black spots, in the process also protecting them from pest attacks and fungal infections. Also, during rainstorms bunches are sheltered against mud. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of KrishiVigyan Kendra by awarding them with KrishakSahyogSamman 2012 (National Award)".

"Andhra Pradesh Crop: Rice Mr. Chintala Reddy invented a seed-sowing machine with adjustable spaces for multiple crop seeds. The gains from his invention were a 1200 kg per acre increase in yield, a drastic fall in seed rate from 30 to just 2 kg per acre, reduced cultivation time, less weed management costs, and cutting down on labour costs and hours. Using his 39 years of agricultural expertise, he also attempted applying naturally available sub soil nutrient to the plant in place of fertiliser. He did so in two ways: digging a dench to collect sub soil from 4 foot depth and then replacing the top 4 to 6 cms from the field, replacing it with the subsoil and using the scrapped top soil to fill the drench. His second method being alternatively putting the sub soil in the water tank for it to be mixed with irrigation water, followed by, using the water 3 times at 10 day intervals during flowering stage. Overall, making the best use of his knowledge and creativity he realiseda amazing 125.64% increase in benefit to cost ratio (yield/ cost of cultivation). He has filed patents with European Patent Office to patent this technology and has been mentioned by 'The Hindu' for his efforts. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of Mr. ChintalaVenkatareddy by awarding him with Krishak Samrat Samman 2012 (National Award)"

"KVK, Dehradun, one of the KrishiVigyanKendras of GBPUAT (Pantnagar), took to the villages to help them gain commercial benefit from growing vegetables. They did so by developing poly tunnel technology for commercial nursery production of vegetables, identifying high yielding varieties in the area, helping farmers raise poly tunnels on their fields, supplying quality inputs (10 lakh vegetable seedlings of Brinjal, Tomato, Chilli, Cabbage and Cauliflowerdistributed to farmers), and also helping farmers market their produce. The result was savings on labour, input costs and abridged crop duration. The Brinjal (Eggplant) varieties like Anamika and Chaya showed a remarkable 64% rise in produce as compared to traditional varieties, with even the Cabbage varieties displaying a marked improvement in output (604 q/ha as against 455 to 500 q/ha) as seen by the 16 farmers who adapted this technology. The KVK also sought to help Litchi farmers. They did so by introducing farmers to canopy management. Canopy management helps maintain optimum plant density, is an effective way of rejuvenating old litchi orchards, improves shelf life of the fruit, makes application of agricultural inputs easier, lessens thelabour requirement, and even the post-harvest losses are reduced. The resultis an astounding 100% increase in productivity (from 4000-6000 to 12000 kg/ha) as witnessed by 100 farmers who put the method to practice. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of KVK Dehradun, a subsidy of GBPUAT (Pantnagar) by awarding them with KrishakShikshaSamman 2012 (National Award)"

"The Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, PUSA sought a solution to the limitations of basmati rice production. Basmati rice is known to be highly susceptible to Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB). Their solution: a variety of basmati that’s resistant to Bacterial Leaf Blight. Branded “Improved Pusa Basmati1”, this variety is developed by linking two genes Xa21 and Xa13 and transferring them on to Pusa Basmati1. The result was an 11.9% increase in yield owing to complete resistance to Bacterial Leaf Blight as seen by the farmers of Western UP, Rajasthan, and Gujarat where this innovation was implemented. Another one of their innovations tested successfully is the world’s first mustard developed through tissue culture – PUSA Jai Kisan. With itssomaclonal variations, it is preferred by farmers over the parent variety, Varuna due to its bold (larger than usual sized) seeds and a higher yield potential. The outcome was a 40% increase in oil content, maximum yield (36 q/ha) as observed by the farmers of Western UP, Punjab, and Haryana where the innovation was tested. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, PUSAby awarding them with KrishakSansthanSamman 2012 (National Award) CLOSE"

"The Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, PUSA sought a solution to the limitations of basmati rice production. Basmati rice is known to be highly susceptible to Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB). Their solution: a variety of basmati that’s resistant to Bacterial Leaf Blight. Branded “Improved Pusa Basmati1”, this variety is developed by linking two genes Xa21 and Xa13 and transferring them on to Pusa Basmati1. The result was an 11.9% increase in yield owing to complete resistance to Bacterial Leaf Blight as seen by the farmers of Western UP, Rajasthan, and Gujarat where this innovation was implemented. Another one of their innovations tested successfully is the world’s first mustard developed through tissue culture – PUSA Jai Kisan. With itssomaclonal variations, it is preferred by farmers over the parent variety, Varuna due to its bold (larger than usual sized) seeds and a higher yield potential. The outcome was a 40% increase in oil content, maximum yield (36 q/ha) as observed by the farmers of Western UP, Punjab, and Haryana where the innovation was tested. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, PUSAby awarding them with KrishakSansthanSamman 2012 (National Award) CLOSE"

"Mr. Rahul Kumar took it upon himself to change the fortunes of the farmers in his village. He used intercropping with pulses and optimum spacing to add value to his produce: 125 cm between rows, alongside, ridges of 30 cm width each, with two rows of sugarcane planted on either side of the ridge. The outcome was clear: savings on weed management and fertiliser costs, improved length and girth of sugarcane, and the wider spaces resulted in less rotting of sugarcane. Intercropping with pulses helped conserve moisture content and minimise weed growth. The Pulses upon harvest were ploughed back in to the soil as green manure. The overall result was a staggering 246.29% rise in benefit to cost ratio (yield/ cost of cultivation), savings on weed management, lower labour and fertiliser costs, and compressed crop duration. He has been previously presented the ‘Mahindra SamriddhiSamman’ in 2009 -10. There are as many as 10 farmers, who now endorse his way of thinking. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of Mr. Rahul Kumar by awarding him with KrishiYuvaSamman 2012 (National Award)"

"Tamil Nadu Crop: Rice Mr. V Krishnan was the first to introduce tray nursery and mechanised transplantation in his village. The results were a nursery duration of 14 days as against 30 under normal transplanting, savings on land preparation costs,a rise in the number of productive tillers to 60 from 15 under normal transplantation, increase in yields by 2000 kg per acre, significant drop in seed rate to just 5 from the earlier 30 kg per acre requirement, healthier produce, and reduced incidents of pest infestation. Another practice implemented by him is mechanised weeding through conoweeder and use of green leaf card for applying urea. The use of both these techniques resulted not only in increasing rice productivity, but also had a positive impact on cultivation costs and crops duration. These practices resulted in an astounding 163% increase in benefit to cost ratio (yield/ cost of cultivation). Mr. V Krishnan has been ex-President of Nehru Yuva Kendra and has the distinction of 'Best Farmer of the District Award' presented by the District Collector. He has also won 'Farmer Registering Highest Yield' contest from Joint Director of Agriculture, Madurai. After seeing the amount of success he had by being this pioneer, 25 farmers took to his ways. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of Mr. V Krishnan by awarding him with Krishak Samrat Samman 2012 (National Award)."

"Ms. VeikhochongMisao believes in being the first. She is the first farmer from Dimapur to adopt intercropping in that area with turmeric and upland rice, along with planting bananas on the boundaries as a border crop. This has helped her earn a steady income even inthe off-season. She has also seen success in planting on slopes in double rows. This move not only ensured more produce, butalso helped keep soil erosion in check and save on labour time and input costs. All this hard work resulted in a whopping 414.29% rise in benefit to cost ratio (yield/ cost of cultivation). Her contributions have been acknowledged with the ‘Best Farmer Award’ from ICAR during 2011 East Zone regional agricultural fair. She has influenced the mindset of 4 women who have decided to take strides in her direction. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of Ms. VeikhochongMisao by awarding her with KrishiPrernaSamman 2012 (National Award) Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of Mr. UmeshBhai by awarding him with Krishak Samrat Samman 2012 (Regional Award - West)"

"Mr. Vijay Kumar Avti is an inventor. He invented an implement for harvesting, and another machine for boiling, drying and polishing his crop. With the use of these ingenious creations, he has been able to successfully enhance the quality of his produce, minimise processing losses, improve work efficiency (boiling time reduced from 2.4 hr/q to just 0.3 hr/q and polishing efficiency increased from 1 gtl/hr to 10 gtl/hr), and reduce processing costs and time. He also put to use drip irrigation, raised seedbeds, and fertigation through drippers, which has not only helped keep the land fertility intact, but also resulted in a healthier crop yield owing to uniform availability of water and an increased nutrient intake by the plant, alongside, reduced threat of pests. He has been involved in agriculture for the past 18 years and his success is marked by the fact that over a period of time his operations have scaled up 20 acres from just 3. Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Awards is proud to acknowledge the remarkable achievements of Mr. Vijay Kumar Avti by awarding him with Krishak Samrat Samman 2012 (National Award)"