Traditionally, I used to sow black gram and pigeon pea along with paddy or finger millet in two acre of upland area. The sowing proportion for pigeon pea was very low in the traditional practice and I used to get only 10-15 kg of grain yield per acre. I was mostly dependent on the local market for meeting my household requirements. As the market price of pigeon pea was high, we used to consume lentil and horse gram instead of dal. In 2015, I got to know about maize and pigeon pea intercrop...
Voices of Change
New variety of Zinc fortified paddy
Published Date : Monday, October 8, 2018I have 0.20 acre of medium land where I grow paddy. I also work as an agriculture labourer in other fields to meet my family’s requirements. Sometime in March 2017, staff from M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation under the LANSA project told me about a farmer growing a new paddy variety in Balia village and arranged an exposure visit to his field. I could not go, but in the evening some of my fellow farmers who were part of the group shared information that the paddy variety has high zinc...
Our Health is in our Hands
Published Date : Monday, October 8, 2018In 2013, the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) demonstrated different crop trials on farmers’ fields in our village under the LANSA project. I have engaged with the interventions on improved cultivation of finger millet, intercropping of maize and pigeon pea and orange flesh sweet potato cultivation along with nutrition garden and fish farming since 2014 and benefited from it. Nutrition awareness is an integral part of the project; my village community nominated me and three...
Fish Farming for household consumption and a source of additional income
Published Date : Monday, October 8, 2018I dropped out from school after five due to family problems and have been working on my lands. I have 3.5 acres of upland, 1 acre of medium land, 2 acres of low land and a small pond - 300 square feet in size. I cultivate rice, finger millet, groundnut, green gram, black gram, pigeon pea in my land, and also do fish farming in my small pond. I have learned many things from the LANSA project of M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, such as - line transplanting of finger millet, establishing a...
Experience of growing orange coloured sweet potato: Kamala Sundari
Published Date : Monday, October 8, 2018I have 3 acres of land where I grow paddy, finger millet, sweet potato and different types of vegetables. In 2014, staff of the LANSA project from M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) came to our village and discussed about an orange coloured variety of sweet potato called ‘Kamala Sundari’. Some of my fellow villagers and I underwent training on cultivation of Orange Flesh Sweet Potato (OFSP) at the MSSRF regional centre in Jeypore. They also provided the planting materials...
Backyard poultry for Self employment
Published Date : Friday, July 13, 2018I am landless and my family depends on wage labour. Staff from the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation encouraged me to take up backyard poultry as part of Faming System for Nutrition and provided information about it. I learnt that eggs, chicken, pulses provide proteins and consumption of iron rich vegetables will reduce malnutrition. I decided to take up backyard poultry activity. In 2016, I received 16 chicks of Vanraj, Giriraj, Swarnadhara and RIR breeds, an iron cage of size 3 x 2...
Household Nutrition Garden
Published Date : Friday, July 13, 2018I have been engaged with Farming System for Nutrition activities with the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation from 2014. The project conducted blood sample survey and the result showed that my wife was anemic. Seeing the village community nutrition garden, I was motivated to develop a nutrition garden at home with support from the project. The area of the garden is 72 sq. meter. I applied cow dung manure and sowed spinach, fenugreek, coriander, amaranthus, carrot, radish, turmeric, sweet...
Re-introducing sorghum in the existing cropping pattern
Published Date : Friday, July 13, 2018I am a small farmer with 7 acres land. I had stopped cultivating sorghum due to wild boar attack. M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation under the Farming System for Nutrition Study called a meeting of farmers and said that if area under sorghum increased, crop damage due to wild boar attack will come down and loss will be reduced. They also gave information on importance of consuming sorghum and that if we cultivate at home, availability for home consumption will increase. I got 3 kilogram CSH-14...
Farming System for Nutrition
Published Date : Friday, July 13, 2018I am engaged with the M.S. Swaminthan Research Foundation in Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) activities since 2016-17. I got seeds of Durga variety of red gram on 50 percent cost and sowed one kilogram in 3 acres as an intercrop with cotton. I got technical guidance by the Foundation staff and did weeding, harrowing and fertilizer application as recommended. I harvested 2 quintals of red gram. From this, I kept one quintal for household consumption and seed purpose and sold one quintal in...
Experience of growing micronutrient fortified wheat variety
Published Date : Friday, July 13, 2018I am a marginal farmer with 6 acres of rainfed land; I also do lease farming on 4 acres of irrigated land. My family depends on farming. The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation started work on Farming System for Nutrition in the village from 2013. In the first year, I received Netravati – 4210 variety of wheat seed as a part of on farm trial on 1 acre. The next year (2014 – 15), I got 16 quintal production from 1 acre. Earlier I was cultivating Lok-1 variety; my cost of cultivation...
