Practice To Improve Process:Joint Collector turns tenant farmer!

Rajamahendravaram (E Godavari): Joint Collector of East Godavari district N Tej Bharat has turned a tenant farmer. He has taken three-and-a-half acres of agricultural land on lease in the Rajavolu village of Rajahmundry rural mandal for farming.

Sounds interesting? The Joint Collector has not changed his profession.

This, according to him, is an experiment he has taken up to understand the problems faced by the tenant farmers and to study the improvements that need in tenancy system.

Bharat said he has taken the land belonging to Mallepudi Veera Venkata Udayakiran on lease and is cultivating MTU 1318 variety of paddy. He has adopted natural farming method after seed purification with Jeevamrutham.

He told Hans India that he had taken the land on lease to fully understand the difficulties faced by the tenant farmers at the field level; the investment he incurs, the yield, marketing issues and the money a tenant farmer gets after his produce reaches the market.

The Joint Collector said that he got the soil tested and examined on Thursday under his supervision at the field level. He suggested that the farmers should also go in for soil testing. If cultivation activity is taken up after soil tests are done and if they follow the instructions of the agricultural officers and scientists, high yield can be achieved. He said that the use of chemical and organic fertilisers should be based on the reports of soil fertility to prevent the possibility of damage to the crop due to the use of excessive fertilisers.

The JC said that farmers have registered about 40,000 acres of crops in the district through E-crop. While 11,039 soil tests were to be conducted in this Kharif season across the district, only 4,437 have been completed so far, he said.