TNAU Agritech Portal

Need-based crops ensure increased revenue

S. Samuel from Kazhuneerkulam in his mint farm.

An exposure visit organised by the Department of Horticulture has come in handy for the small farmers, who can meticulously decide on the crops to be cultivated and its season so that they can get attractive revenue throughout the year by using small quantity of available water.

“If the crops being selected by the farmers are need-based and market-led crops, it will certainly fetch a comfortable revenue, besides the good yield and revenue from perennial crops,” according to S. Raja Mohamed, Deputy Director of Horticulture, Tirunelveli.

Horticulture crops have turned out to be a viable source of income generation for rural farmers in the district after monsoon let the agriculturists down for the past five years.

One of the successful small farmers S. Samuel from Kazhuneerkulam in Alangulam block in the district is cultivating mango on about half an acre, curry cucumber (‘sambar vellari’) and snake gourd on 2 acres under drip irrigation after getting 100 per cent subsidy from the Horticulture Department and mint (‘pudhina,’ Mentha virides), a spicy green with strong pleasant odour in leaves and stems mainly used for flavouring food items, on an acre.

Till ‘thai pattam’ (January), he gets revenue from mint, followed by curry cucumber and snake gourd from April to May. From June onwards, he gets revenue from Mango.

“It’s this style of cultivation that fetches good revenue as he cultivates crops based on market needs.

The exposure visit became an eye-opener for this farmer,” said Mr. Mohamed, who visited the ‘smart’ farmer’s holding recently.

“Now, I get Rs. 1,000 to 1,200 every day through selling 30 to 40 kg of mint leaves at the rate of Rs. 30 per kg at Alangulam market. I can maintain ‘pudhina’ for more than a year. Hence, I get this revenue up to ‘thai pattam.’ By that time, my curry cucumber will be ready for harvest,” says Mr. Samuel.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/needbased-crops-ensure-increased-revenue/article6617121.ece