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A la one-straw revolution
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The Varanashi Research Foundation has transformed horticulture into a lucrative proposition by promoting organic farming methods
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THE DAKSHINA Kannada district may have lost its place on the agricultural map of Karnataka, but has made significant gains in the horticultural map of the state. Today, it is one of the few areas that has prompted the Government to declare it as a horticultural district. Thanks to various private initiatives in research and inter-horticultural farming experimentation around the district, it can now boast of beating the vagaries of nature that had badly affected farming.
The Varanashi Research Foundation at Adyanadka, Bantwal Taluk, has blazed a success trail in transforming various horticultural crops into lucrative ones for the farmers. Spread out on a sprawling 80 acres of land, the Varanashi Foundation has experimented successfully on vanilla, arecanut, cocoa, coconut, black pepper, cashewnut, banana, and vegetables, not just with the help of organic farming, but also with optimum water usage.
Recognised by the Government of India, the Varanashi farms is also engaged in developing eco-friendly inputs, which are manufactured and supplied to the farmers by Varanashi Agro Sustainable Technology Centre. About 30 per cent of the farms are covered with rich plant diversity of the Western Ghats including teak, jackfruit, wild jackfruit, acacia, mangeum, mahogany, casuarina, bamboo, and rattan.
Vanilla beans grown with organic fertiliser at the Varanashi Farms and Research Centre.
It was started by Varanashi Subraya Bhat, who is known for his path breaking work in the field of co-operatives, for which he was awarded the "Sahakari Rathna". His kin, Dr. Varanashi Krishna Moorthy and Ashwini Krishna Moorthy, are now at the helm of affairs. The farms and the research centre has inspired many thousands of farmers not just in Dakshina Kannada, but also in the neighbouring state of Kerala.
Since the research unit and the farm provides academic inputs they are now become a place of interest to scientists, students, and researchers as well. Over the last few years, the farm and the research centre has organised a number of academic programmes including seminars, workshops, symposia, and crash courses in horticulture.
In one particularly outstanding research, the Varanashi Research Foundation has shown to the world that vanilla beans could be of better quality under the application of organic fertilisers. The Foundation has also found out better ways of processing vanilla, which yields more value. Organic farming was the key for sustainable farming, says Dr. Krishna Moorthy. Compost preparation was essential for organic farming. Assured water supply for cropping was possible only if rainwater harvesting and conservation practices were adopted systematically.
During the last one decade, Varanashi farms has been adopting organic farming along with water conservation techniques, making it a model farm. For these achievements the Karnataka Government has bestowed on Dr. Krishna Moorthy the Krishi Panditha award. Dr. Moorthy and Ms. Ashwini Krishna Moorthy were invited to deliver talks at the World Organic Congress held at Victoria, Canada in 2002.
M.R.
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