Bhimgani Balanarsaiah of Raghunathapuram in Nalgonda district is a happy man today.  The cause of his happiness is none other than acquiring a crossbred animal through AI.  artificial insemination which is a ray of hope that has lit up his life and also the lives of many other marginal farmers like him. His experience in dairy farming dates back to 1989 when he first took up dairy cattle rearing starting with the single milch cow of Jersey crossbred which used to provide 5 litres of milk every day.

However, due to long inter calving periods and a meagre 1.5 acres of land to till, his hardship continued till 2000.  A cattle development centre was launched by BIRD-AP in association with Mother Dairy. He could avail of their quality doorstep AI services which had been so far been out of his reach.  Today, he beams with pleasure informing us that the inter calving period has reduced from 25 months to just 18 months and that his income from the sale of milk has doubled. He also declares that the milk yield has increased from 6 litres/day to 16 litres/day during the peak period.

In his words “BIRD-AP has brought a ray of hope in the eyes of farmers who await change in the existing dairy technology”.

Fodder Cultivation -  Sustaining Livestock Development

Assured availability of fodder is critical for the success of the cattle development programme. The self employed youth operating BAIF’s cattle development centres promote fodder and health care activities rather than restricting to AI services alone. One such example is the establishment of fodder in drought prone areas like Nellipaka by Ramoji Srinivasa Rao. He has set a trend for sustaining livestock development with the assistance of Kiran, the BAIF AI technician. He has developed an unique backyard model for year round fodder production by growing a combination of Co-1 (perennial grass) and Sesbania (leguminous tree). He received 100 slips from BAIF for establishing this plot. The fodder has shown luxurious growth up to 9 feet height. His average monthly earnings from sale of milk is nearly Rs.6000. His cost of production has come down drastically because of abundant supply of quality fodder for milking animals. He has become a motivating model for other dairy farmers in the area. Seeing the benefits of this farmer, 10 farmers have established fodder plots by availing of slips from Ramoji.  In this way, fodder has been promoted in 10 other farmers’ plots. Due to availability of fodder even during summer, the sale of animals has reduced significantly.

Custom Hiring – A boon for farmers

To assess the impact of pipe hiring scheme under agricultural trading by the group, some of the transactions are described below.

Subbaiah, a farmer of Marreddypalli village owns a dry land of 6 acres of which 5 acres has been brought under tobacco cultivation and 2 acres under Red gram.  He joined the Sri Venkateshwara Agri Business Centre in 2007 by paying a nominal membership fee of Rs.600.

Since shortage of water was constantly felt, particularly for tobacco crop, before joining the group, Subbaiah used pipes supplied by traders from Darsi Mandal at a cost of Rs.400-500 towards transportation apart from paying a rent of Rs.5 per pipe per day. The supply was subject to uncertainties and fluctuating rates based on the demand.

Once he joined the group, he was able to hire the pipes at less than half the cost he used to spend on this item, excluding cost of transportation.

Study on use and costs

From the above figures, it is observed that there is a net saving of Rs.5918 apart from saving in the cost of transportation of Rs.1750 paid for 5 irrigations and capitalizing 10 man days which were earlier lost in the process of securing the material for 16 days of watering.

Collective Procurement – A way towards self reliance

The case of Sri. Ramalaya Rythu Vyapara Kendram, a ABC Group formed by Kummaripalem village is a good example of agri business centre rescuing its members from high cost of inputs.

Financial implications

It may be noted that the prices mentioned above relate to purchases made in lean period and hence appear to be a nominal (Rs.10,000) margin for a total purchase of 400 bags. However, during the peak seasonal demand, the prices increased steeply along with shortage. Thus, the members were saved while ensuring saving in price and transportation and loss of man days.

The other support activity of renting out 15 PVC water drums generated an income of Rs.6800. Looking at the demand, the ABC recently acquired a tobacco stitching machine from ILTD which is being rented out by the group. 

Food Security through NRM Works

As a part of NAIP Component–3, NRM activity was taken up on 50 ha in a watershed mode in Pampanur Thanda and Anantapur clusters during 2007-2009.  10 farm ponds, 12 mini-percolation tanks, 600 rmt continuous contour trench and 8 gully plugs have been executed. Several farmers belonging to scheduled tribes have benefited from these activities. One such farmer is Surya Narayana Naik of Pampanur Thanda who owns 5.5 acre of land with an open well which often went dry. He normally grew groundnut that too only in Kharif.  As a result of NRM, his well has been recharged and provides water for 5-6 hours every day. 

He also adopted micro irrigation. As a result, his cropping has changed significantly and crops like groundnut and rice in both Kharif and Rabi seasons, sunflower during summer are being cultivated by him now.  Naik who was mainly dependent on the market for foodgrains is now able to cultivate  his  own food crops and to some extent generate cash surplus from commercial crops. 

He can now afford to send his 3 children to a private school and can also ensure sufficient fodder for his livestock. He is leading a happy life because of food, fodder and livelihood security. He is grateful to NAIP for creating an excellent opportunity to enhance the productivity and profitability of his farm land.

Yield from NRM

K6 gives Oxygen

Anantapur is a typical drought prone district in Andhra Pradesh. Groundnut is the major crop occupying about 80% of the cropped area. Traditionally farmers have been growing varieties like TMV-2, JL, Vemana etc., which are losing prominence. As a part of NAIP in Pampanur cluster of Atmakur mandal, improved varieties such as K-6, Narayani and ICGV 91114 were introduced mainly for seed production. These varieties have given an average yield of 8.4 quintals per acre compared to the traditional varieties which gave an yield of 5-6 quintals per acre.

Mechanization of various groundnut operations like sowing, harvesting and threshing have made the farmers’ work simpler. Some good management practices followed by the farmers include penning of sheep prior to preparatory cultivation, seed treatment, water conservation through sprinklers during dry spells, etc. The efforts of the Agriculture Research Station (ARS), Anantapur have resulted in making the improved varieties popular among dryland farmers.  Among these varieties, K-6 has proved to be a boon for the groundnut belt. 

More than 100 farmers are cultivating K-6 in the NAIP cluster of Pampanur since its introduction by the project in Rabi 2007.  Today 80% of the area under groundnut has been replaced by K-6. Some of the data recorded for yield in the project are:

Data on Yield