Mysuru: State Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil inaugurated ‘Raitharondige Ondu Dina’ (A Day with Farmers) programme organised by the State Agriculture and Horticulture Departments yesterday at Talur in Jayapura Hobli.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that agriculture is becoming a neglected sector. The farmers are considering it as financially non-viable. “To infuse confidence among farmers and encourage them to take up agriculture, the State Government has implemented various programmes and ‘Raitharondige Ondu Dina’ is one among them which intends to know the problems faced by the farmers from the ground level by spending a day with them,” he said.

The Minister disclosed that he is spending a day with the farmers of all districts and said that he has already visited 15 districts and advised the farmers to make use of all the facilities provided by the Government.

The Minister urged the farming community to take up integrated farming which includes poultry, fish rearing, livestock and decorative flower growing  instead of depending on one or two traditional crops so that they can be financially strong and also to make use of the financial assistance schemes initiated  by the Union and State Governments in this regard.  

Later, Patil interacted with farmers and also visited the farm lands of T.S. Somashekar, a progressive farmer of Talur and his brother T.S. Shivanna and evinced keen interest in knowing the integrated farming being practised by the two brothers. He expressed his happiness after seeing the integrated farming of the two brothers.

The land cultivated by the two brothers is surrounded by many new and upcoming residential layouts and the brothers have so far successfully thwarted the efforts of the land mafia to acquire their land and have introduced and implemented a progressive agriculture system which is a good mix of tradition and technology.

The two brothers are growing papaya and mango in addition to the banana plantation. Bee-keeping (apiculture) is also being successfully carried out here. Making use of the rain harvesting facility, pisciculture (fish farming) is also done using water ponds apart from using the rain water for crops.

 ‘Gerbera,’ a decorative flower, used for wedding ceremonies, which has good commercial value is also grown. Farmer T.S. Somashekar said that by growing ‘Gerbera’ alone, he is earning Rs. 5 lakh per month as the flower has huge demand during wedding season and various other functions. 

District in-Charge Minister S.T. Somashekar appreciated Minister Patil’s effort of visiting every district and interacting with farmers and solving their problems.

The Minister distributed tractors, rotavators and other agricultural equipments to the farmers on the occasion. Chamundeshwari MLA G.T. Devegowda, CADA Chairman N. Shivalingaiah, MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajeev, Agriculture Department Director Dr. C.N. Nandini Kumari, KVIB Chairman N.R. Krishnappa Gowda, farmers and other officials were present.