Drylands in Darsi mandal turn hub for pomegranate

Darsi (Prakasam district): The villages in and around Darsi mandal are becoming home for quality pomegranate in the district. The farmers, who are vexed with digging hundreds of borewells, adopted the drip irrigation and nature farming methods to save water and resources and proved that money can be made even in tough conditions with hard work and innovation.

Panem Papireddy of Venkatachalampalli village in Darsi mandal, shifted to pomegranate cultivation last year after trying his luck with traditional crops. He planted about 600 saplings per acre in a total of 24 acre. As there is water scarcity, he tried to dig borewells but failed to get a promising water source even after the 100th bore well.

So, he dug a borewell in near a chunk of his land located at Lankojanapalli tank and laid a pipeline for nearly four kilometre to feed the supply tank in the farm. He is supplying the water through drip irrigation to the plants and covered the farm with a shade net to reduce the evaporation and also to save it from birds and insects. Overall, he invested a total of around Rs 95 lakh, an average of Rs 4 lakh per acre.

B Srinivasa Reddy of Chalivendram village in the Darsi mandal is also cultivating pomegranate in a similar manner. He planted pomegranate in 10 acre four years ago and supplying water from a borewell in his farm located beside the Lankojanapalli tank. As a nature farmer, he uses cow-based mixtures and solutions to fight pests and insects in the farm. About 10 farmers are now cultivating pomegranate in Darsi mandal in more than 200 acre and the number is gradually increasing after they are witnessing promising returns.

These farmers are receiving a crop of about 6 to 8 tonnes per acre, twice a year and selling the same to the merchants from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Chennai, and Markapur at Rs 40,000 to 45,000 per.

On average, the farmers are making a profit of Rs 3 lakh per acre on both crops in the year, after the investment on the maintenance and labour charges. As the produce is naturally farmed, they are receiving great demand year after year from various merchants and procurers and many more farmers are getting inspired by them.