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Chilly,
an unavoidable ingredient in the kitchen of several
Asian countries, is famous for its bitter taste. Even
though bitter in taste, you cannot prepare tasty
dishes without it. But for a farmer of Village
Simlavada in Ratlam district Shri Kanvra, cultivation
of chilly is a story of success.
Kanvra's
family has around 160 bighas of land. He used to
cultivate traditional crops twice a year. Along with
them he used to cultivate some vegetables too. Since
the crops demanded irrigation frequently, Kanvra often
faced difficulty in irrigating the crops due to
shortage of water. This has resulted in crop failure
and thereby increasing his family's financial burden
every year.
Some
time ago officers of the horticulture department
toured Simlavada Village. The farmers explained their
difficulty in irrigating the vegetables which needed
lot of water to grow. The officers explained the
farmers about the drip system of irrigation to
increase vegetable production. The officers explained
to the farmers how more areas could be irrigated with
less water through drip irrigation system. Kanvra
liked the idea of drip irrigation and he introduced it
in his farm land. As per advice, he prepared six inch
high and one foot wide beds in his land. He then
planted saplings of hybrid chilly plants on his land
in a distance of 40 to 60 centimeter. He followed the
advice given by the officers of the horticulture
department strictly and worked accordingly. Today,
chilly production in his land has increased
considerably.
Kanvra
said the chilly production earlier was only 9 quintals
per bigha which has gone up to 12 quintals per bigha
today. Now he is growing chilly on 140 bighas of land.
According
to farmer Kanvra if the cultivators follow the advice
given by the officers of horticulture and agriculture
departments, agriculture production will go up to a
great extent. Today Kanvra is known as a modern farmer
in the surrounding villages. His family, which was
facing financial difficulties earlier, has come out of
it now. He is adopting new and modern techniques in
farming.
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