The management of Nittur High School in Udupi has decided to take up paddy cultivation on the land left fallow and barren for many years in order to celebrate their golden jubilee in a unique manner.
Accordingly, the school authorities have taken up an initiative to identify such paddy fields by convening a meeting of the farmers residing in close proximity to the school.
“We want to take up paddy cultivation in at least 50 acres left barren and fallow,” headmaster Murali Kadekar informed DH.
“The Suvarnaparva Samithi of the school will bear the expenses of the farming on the fields left fallow. After the paddy is harvested, it will be sold. Education is not learning within the four walls of the classrooms. The students should have first-hand knowledge about farming and difficulties faced by the farmers,” he added.
“For the past five years, we are involving students of class ten in transplanting and harvesting the paddy fields near to the school. More than 360 students had been trained in paddy cultivation.
As a part of the golden jubilee celebrations, we decided to involve students from class 8, 9, 10, their parents and old students in this farming initiative,” said the headmaster.
During the meeting in the school, it was decided to identify paddy fields that have been left fallow at Karamballi, Kakkunje, Perampalli, Puthur and Nittur. At Puthur, about 10 acres of land was inspected by a group of people.
Farmers, during the meeting, had highlighted problems that had forced them to abandon farming. The rivulets (thodu) located beside the paddy fields had been filled up with soil as a result and the water springs had receded.
Due to the flooding of the rivulet during monsoon, all plastic waste from urban areas is left behind in the paddy fields. The banks of these rivulets had been damaged and weeds had grown all over the barren fields.
As a first step, it was decided to desilt the rivulet using an excavator and build the banks of the rivulet.
Brahmavar Krishi Vigyan Kendra has promised to provide a tractor to till the land and ‘Chape Neji’, a novel method to cultivate paddy saplings following mat system will be taken up during the monsoon.
In this system, the seedbed is prepared using good quality of soil with proper cohesion of soil and fertilizers.
Kakkunje like many villages had fertile land in the past. Murali Kadekar said weeds have grown all over the paddy fields.
There is a need to prepare a master plan to remove the weeds. The process of identifying the paddy fields that have been left fallow is in progress and will be finalised within a few days, he said.
At Karamballi, the team identified about five acres of paddy fields that were left fallow for cultivation.