by Ganesh Prabhu, The Hindu
Byndoor and Cherkady are all set to emerge as centres of banana production in Udupi district as farmers have taken to the cultivation of ‘nendranbale’ (plantain) and ‘puttabale’ ( poovan varieties) bananas in these two villages, respectively.
Though many farmers have cultivated bananas in these places earlier, it got a further boost after the Department of Horticulture decided to give subsidies and better techniques for cultivation of these two varieties of bananas last year under the Integrated Horticulture Development Scheme.
The department expanded the area under nendranbale cultivation to 101 acres in Byndoor by creating a cluster of 62 farmers and providing them subsidy to the tune of Rs. 37.92 lakh. The department pushed puttabale cultivation by 50 acres in Cherkady village by giving subsidy of Rs. 19.75 lakh to 43 farmers.
This strategy has paid off and the farmers have got good returns this year. The nendranbale farmers have been selling their produce not just in Mangaluru but also in Kerala and Mumbai.
Aliyas Abraham, a farmer, who grows 2,500 nendranbale plants in 3.5 acres of land in Byndoor, said he spent about Rs. 150 per plant for water, fertilizers and maintenance. Each plant yielded about 20 kg of bananas. “I make a profit of Rs. 650 per plant. If there are no strong winds or unseasonal rains, I should make a profit of about Rs. 13.5 lakh,” he said.
Another farmer Manjayya Poojary from Yelajit near Byndoor, who cultivated bananas in five acres, said the departmental officials had shown him techniques of getting better yield and proper usage of fertilizers. “This has improved the yield,” he said.
Govinda Marathi, who cultivated bananas in his 2.8 acres in Byndoor, said he had made a clean profit of Rs. 1.2 lakh. “I could have made more money. But I was cultivating it for the first time,” he said.
The story is no different in Cherkady. Baburaya Acharya, a farmer who cultivated puttabale in an acre of land, said he had got 400 kg of banana from the present crop. He hoped to get 600 kg of banana from the next crop. He sold puttabale in the local markets, he said.
According to Reshma, Assistant Horticulture Officer in-charge, at Farmers Contact Centre, Byndoor, said farmers were earlier reluctant to use drip irrigation for banana cultivation. “But after a lot of coaxing, they used it. After seeing the results, they got hooked to it,” he said.
Besides proper care to the crop, the other factors which affect the yield are improper use of water, strong winds, unseasonal rains and wild animals. “Ninety banana plants in my field were destroyed by wild boars recently,” said Mr. Marathi.
Source: The Hindu