Chittor’s farmer’s ‘date’ with innovation!
The Hindu
First date palm in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district comes to harvest.
When the local farmers end up in losses by hitting the beaten track, here is a farmer who has the ability to take forward his out-of-the-box thinking with courage. C. Bhaskar Naidu decided to have a ‘date’ with a new plant after shunning the idea of planting mango saplings, as Chittoor district is already saturated with mango trees in over a lakh acres. His farm in Pedda Thayyuru village in Sri Rangaraja Puram mandal is the first in the district to grow and harvest fresh date fruits. A resident of Bengaluru and a civil contractor by profession, Mr. Naidu chose this unique crop by clearly estimating its market potential. The decision was backed by solid commitment and careful study of the crop. “We visited tissue culture farms in Rajasthan and Gujarat States where the date plants are grown in a large extent. By this August, my plants are completing four years”, Mr. Naidu told The Hindu. Nearly half of the 140 trees planted in his farm came to harvest, but the first yield, as is the case for any crop, was less then expected. “I got 50kg per tree this time, but every tree will give me 200 to 250kg in three years”, says the confidence-personified Mr. Naidu.More Related News