The Hindu : Karnataka / Madikeri News : Growers told to take up inter-cropping

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 01, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Madikeri

Growers told to take up inter-cropping

By Our Staff Correspondent

MADIKERI, JULY 31. The need to adopt inter-cropping in coffee plantations was stressed by experts drawn from different fields at a seminar organised by Corporation Bank, the lead bank for Kodagu district, here on Saturday.

H. Ravishankar, scientist at the Central Horticultural Experimental Station (CHES), Chettalli, noted that chiku, guava, and avocado could be grown in coffee plantations to augment income.

The CHES was involved in research on Coorg mandarin (orange) for the past five years, he said.

He noted that the climate of Kodagu was suitable for growing lichee. Vegetables could also be grown in the district. Organic farming of exotic vegetables such as asparagus, celery, and cherry tomato could also be taken up, he said.

Spices

M.N. Venugopal, Principal Scientist at the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR), said the prospects of growing spices as an inter-crop were bright in the district.

As many as 63 varieties of spices were grown in the country, he said. There was good scope for growing cardamom, pepper, ginger, turmeric, nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon as an intercrop, he added.

Vanilla could also be grown as an inter-crop in coffee plantations, he said.

Indian vanilla was of a high quality and had a good demand world over. Pepper was also an ideal inter-crop in coffee plantations, Dr. Venugopal added. Five varieties of drought- and disease-resistant pepper had been released by the IISR, he said and called upon growers to cultivate it.

Medicinal plants

Ramakrishna Hegde, Assistant Professor, College of Forestry, who spoke on medicinal plants, said Kodagu provided the right climate for growing medicinal and aromatic plants, which were in great demand throughout the world.

Fruit-bearing trees such as gooseberry could also be grown for a good income, he said. The worldwide trade in medicinal plants had touched the $60-billion mark.

However, before taking up cultivation of medicinal plants, it would be advisable to tie-up with a firm or make buy-back arrangements for marketing the produce, he added.

Prospects bleak

N. Ramamurthy, Deputy Director (Research), Coffee Board, however, said that the prospects of taking up inter-cropping in coffee plantations under the present circumstances appeared bleak.

He noted that even before experts suggested inter-cropping, coffee growers had taken up cultivation of orange and pepper, but had suffered in recent times. Dr. Ramamurthy expressed the view that jackfruit and avocado could be grown as inter-crops.

Cultivating ginger and turmeric until the new plantations gave the first yield could help augment income.

Coffee growers were better judges of what to grow and when, he said and added that there was a need to create a databank on the issue.

Cardamom

Homey Cherian, Field Officer of the Spices Board, exhorted growers not to neglect the cultivation of cardamom and said there was still hope in spite of the "Katte" disease affecting cardamom plants. He listed the subsidy schemes being offered to growers by the Spices Board.

The Assistant General Manager of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Kulkarni, said the outlay for the agricultural sector for 2003-04 marked an increase of 19 per cent over that of the previous year. Loans amounting to Rs. 8 crores and Rs. 2 crores were given by the bank during the previous year to cultivate anthurium and vanilla, respectively, he said. There was scope to cultivate rubber and cashew apart from vanilla.

M.R. Nayak, General Manager of Corporation Bank's Mangalore branch, inaugurated the seminar.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section

Growers told to take up inter-cropping