The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : ICRISAT initiative boosts sorghum production

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Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

ICRISAT initiative boosts sorghum production

K. Venkateshwarlu

High-yielding seed varieties and expert advice do wonders

Farmers of 14 villages form Sri Ramalingeswara Ryhtu Samakhya to take the project forward
Thanks to the project, dramatic changes are now visible in some villages of the district

UDITHYAL (Mahabubnagar dt): Life for sixty- year-old Bhashiah Goud, typifying farmer of rain-fed tropics, has come a full circle.

He and his ancestors used to raise nutritious sturdy jonna (sorghum) before quirky Government policies induced a switch to vari (paddy) and makka (maize).

Decline in cultivation

The rice-centric policy shift symbolised by subsidised rice scheme in Public Distribution System not only triggered change in food consumption pattern but a decline in cultivation of sorghum.

With no support price and rising input costs, growing sorghum and pearl millet grains was not so fetching and then there were problems of productivity.

But for home consumption, no farmer including Bhashiah dared to raise the crop.

Turnaround

That was four years ago. Through a four-season project initiated by Global Theme on Crop Improvement wing of the ICRISAT, with funding from Common Fund for Commodities and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, interest among farmers to grow sorghum was rekindled.

Poultry feed

Dramatic changes are visible now in this and surrounding 13 villages of the perennially drought-hit district with more farmers like Bhashiah again growing sorghum and pearl millet grains to meet not merely domestic but poultry feed industry’s demand reeling under shortage of maize.

“Thanks to the supply of improved seed varieties and constant advice from ICRISAT team, the per-acre yield improved from five bags of a quintal each to 14 bags now.

With the entire production taken over by Janaki Poultry Feeds, I got a price of Rs.670 per quintal against Rs. 540 in the local market”.

Expert advice

“The intervention began with distribution of high yielding seed varieties.

It was followed by expert advice on ways of treating seed, using optimum dosage of fertilizer, weeding and thinning, checking pest attack and top-dressing with nitrogen coinciding with good rain.

We also created storage space, arranged crop loans and worked out a tie-up with poultry feed industry. It has worked wonders,” said Ch. Ravinder Reddy, visiting scientist of the project.

Flourishing clusters

Not just at this cluster and the one at Gadwal in the same district, three clusters in Beed and Parbhani in Maharashtra, one cluster in Liaoning province in China and another one in three provinces of Thailand, have reported similar positive results.

The farmers of fourteen villages have now formed a Sri Ramalingeswara Ryhtu Samakhya to take the project forward.

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