Success Story: Digital agriculture helps Khargone farmer earn Rs 6L profit in 3 yrs

Khargone (Madhya Pradesh): With digital technology's growing importance in the world's food supply, a farmer from Khargone district has adopted new-age technologies and telematics to improve crop yield and earn more than Rs six lakh profit in the last three years.

A 46-year-old Anil Verma, an enthusiastic farmer from a small Raibidpura village situated about 20-kilometre from Khargone district headquarters has been pioneering 'drumstick' farming thanks to the knowledge he got from YouTube.

Narrating his journey from an ordinary to a tech-savvy farmer, Anil says that during the first lockdown, he got information about drumstick seeds and beans from a farmer in Maharashtra.

After this, he continued to gather information about this crop on YouTube. At the same time, his interest towards its cultivation increased. After joining MNREGA in the year 2019, till now he has already taken five crops and is ready to take his sixth crop. This has earned him a profit of up to Rs 6 lakh so far.

With the help of modern cultivation of drumsticks, we are also promoting intermediate crop as well, he said.

Anil, who has taken up agriculture after completing his BA education, is always learning new techniques with the desire to do something new.

He said that Surjane or Moringa has a good demand in the country as well as abroad. Apart from its nutritional value, it has been considered of great importance in Ayurveda. It contains four times more potassium than milk, 7 times more calcium and 7 times more vitamins than oranges.

Anil is also doing business by making powder from its leaves and mixing it in an appropriate quantity of wheat flour. It is useful in bone ailment and eradicating malnutrition in children.

Saplings planted under MNREGA

Senior Horticulture Development Officer PS Badole said that DPR was prepared for planting saplings under MNREGA on Anil's farm of Raibidpura.

In this, an amount of Rs 1,10,704 has been provided for labour for 1,200 saplings and Rs 21,600 for the material. Anil has started farming in about 2.50 acres with the help of his own resources and has a drip system in place for watering. He also practices intercropping between sunflower crops.