It is not very often that one sees bonhomie between sugarcane growers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, with the contentious issue of Cauvery water sharing playing the spoilsport. But an agricultural research institute in Mandya district, often the hotbed of Cauvery agitation, is currently hosting 20 small farmers for a course in farming practices, water conservation being part of it.
In a first, 20 farmers from Erode district of Tamil Nadu are attending a five-day training programme on integrated sugarcane cultivation methods, at the Zonal Agricultural Research Station, V.C. Farm, here.
An enthusiastic J. Mylathal, a homemaker from Bhavani Block of Erode district, said the course was teaching her how modern agricultural practices could transform sugarcane cultivation from a loss-making business to a profit-making one.
S.P. Sellappan, who owns two acres of land in Erode and supplies sugarcane to a mill at Sathi, underlined the need for frequently organising such programmes, and said, “Systematic sugarcane farming could lessen the production cost significantly and increase the yields notably.”
The attendants are being taught about the significance of preserving water, dangers of overdose of fertilizer and pesticides, crop management, seeds production and seed treatment, integrated cultivation practices, nutrition management, effects of harvesting immature/overripe crops, harvesting and post-harvesting works, and so on. Experts enhance the knowledge theoretically through lectures and practically at fields. Varieties of sugarcane breeds are grown at the V.C. Farm and attendants are allowed to study them, Suma, Assistant Director, said.
All the attendants are extremely enthusiastic and enhancing their knowledge, K.V. Keshavaiah, professor and plant scientist (Sugarcane), told The Hindu.
The training has been organised under the Agriculture Technology Management Agency, a State-sponsored programme to promote research and agricultural extension activities. An Erode-based NGO had selected the farmers and sent them to Mandya through the Tamil Nadu’s Department of Agriculture.