Credit: DH Photo
Like hundreds of youth, Varun Moodithaya had returned to his village, Kavu, in Dakshina Kannada district to take up farming during the pandemic. When the lockdown and restrictions were lifted, Varun did not return to the city. Instead, he continued farming in his three acres of ancestral land.
The land had been fallow for the last 28 years, until Varun returned. In his first year of cultivation, the entire process of paddy harvesting was done manually. “In the second year, I switched over to a mechanical process, which is not very labour-intensive,” says Varun.
Today, he gets a total yield of 27 quintals of paddy from three acres of land and 17 quintals of rice after the cleaning process. “There is not much profit. But I take pride that I grow my own food from a land which was uncultivable for decades," he beams.
Such efforts of cultivating in fallow land gained momentum in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts during the Covid pandemic.
Students have increasingly been introduced to such programmes. For instance, Murali Kadekar, a retired headmaster from Nittur in Udupi spearheaded cultivation efforts through his school in 2021. The Nittur School celebrated its 50th year by cultivating 50 acres of land left fallow for decades.
There have also been several organised efforts to restart cultivation on land that has been vacant for many years. Umesh, of the Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project in Puttur taluk, says they have been identifying fallow land and motivating farmers to resume paddy cultivation for the past three years. “This year, we have identified 20 acres (for cultivation),” he says. The group also plans to collaborate with youth associations to carry out cultivation projects.
Yekkaru Sadashiva Shetty, president of the ‘Siri Kural’ farmer producer organisation says, “Besides cultivating paddy in 20 acres of fallow land in Yekkar near Kateel, we guided farmers to raise crops in 100 acres of land.”
Land in Shiroor in Udupi district rendered fallow for over 10 years, is being cultivated with as many as 30 paddy varieties by the Admar math at the Udupi Krishna temple. They intend to raise an organic seed bank and disburse seeds free of cost to farmers in the region.
The efforts of several similar groups and the pandemic-induced return of young people to their villages have led to the reduction of fallow land in both Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.
“Owing to the work of individuals, youth groups, temples and schools, many abandoned fallow fields in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts are now buzzing with farming activities,” says H Kempegowda, joint director of the Agriculture Department.
Fallow land has decreased by 450 acres since 2021 in Dakshina Kannada. In Udupi district, fallow land decreased by nearly 400 hectares since the previous year. 1,388 hectares of land that were previously fallow have been cultivated in Udupi, according to sources in the Agriculture Department.
The greater the area under paddy cultivation, the lower the district's dependence on other districts for procuring rice, Kempegowda points out. “When fallow land is cultivated, the level of water in wells in surrounding areas was found to have increased too,” the official says.
Benefits of cultivation
Considering these benefits, paddy cultivation was introduced in Udupi’s self-help groups (SHGs) three years ago. The programme is aimed at promoting financial independence through paddy cultivation.
Malati, an SHG member from Shivapura, says that she and her fellow members first began cultivating on three acres of barren land. They cultivated 15 acres last year, but unfortunately lost the yield to untimely rain. However, they made up for the rabi season losses by cultivating again, she adds. This season, they are cultivating 30 acres of fallow land.
Once harvested, the paddy is sold to rice mills or stores for a fair price. The paddy grown pays for the overhead costs. The profit comes from the grass, which is in high demand as cattle fodder.
“It was difficult at first, but we enjoy it as it is a team effort,” Malati adds. After the training under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, 10 self-help groups have initiated paddy cultivation in 1,000 acres of fallow land this year, says Udupi Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Prasanna H.
Post the pandemic, many people have started to return to cities and land has been left barren again. “But temple management committees, youth associations and clubs, with support from the agriculture department, have embarked on a campaign to address this,” says Kempegowda.
Youth sustain efforts
One such example is that of the youth group Shri Adi Janardhan Seva Yuvaka Mandala in Shimanturu in Mangaluru. The 50-odd members of the group had been organising a rural sports fest for the past three years. The games were conducted in slushy fields, using water borrowed from a local farmer Anantraj Rao's pumpset. This year, the elderly farmer requested them to till the field.
The group obliged, and in a matter of a few hours, Rao’s plot in Shimanturu received a new lease of life. The enthusiastic young people came together, tilled and planted paddy saplings on the 1.5 acres of land.
Praveen, a member of the yuvaka mandala, explains that the land had been vacant for several years as Rao’s children resided in far-off cities.
He adds that the experience was not without challenges. Their first round of saplings was washed away in flash floods. The team refused to give up and replanted paddy saplings in the field. It eventually began to flourish.
The youngsters meet during the weekends to till the land and plant saplings. These saplings and seeds are procured from the Department of Agriculture. They hope to expand to work on more fallow land in the region.
Inspired by such initiatives, Praveenchandra Jain, a mid-career entrepreneur also decided to cultivate paddy on his ancestral land this year. It is spread over three acres in Padangady in Dakshina Kannada.
“For the first time, I planted Kaje Jaya and Bhadra (Mo4) varieties of paddy,” says. These varieties are known for requiring low levels of maintenance, as they are rainfed crops. Despite incurring a large amount of expenses in the paddy cultivation process, he enjoyed a sense of fulfillment.