How soil testing can benefit coffee and cardamom farmers in Karnataka’s Coorg
With an aim to promote soil health and ensure its conservation, a collaborative effort between Krishi Tantra, a Hyderabad-based social impact start-up, and Gaon Connection has launched a nation-wide campaign to raise awareness about soil testing and soil conservation.
Shabana Shaikh, joint adirector (agriculture), Coorg district at the event. Photo: Gaon Connection
Madikeri, Karnataka
Coorg in Karnataka is synonymous with coffee and cardamom. A large number of farmers in the region depend on these two crops for their livelihood. But inclement weather and poor soil fertility often affects their crop productivity.
To address this issue, last month on March 20, an event was organised by Krishi Tantra, a Hyderabad-based social impact start-up, and Gaon Connection — India’s biggest rural media platform.
The event, held at Madikeri in Karnataka’s rural district of Coorg, was attended by 50 such cultivators who were informed about the benefits of testing soil before growing plantations so as to know the nutritional requirements of a soil sample. The participating farmers rode bicycles for a stretch and informed other farmers in the nearby areas about the benefits of soil testing and its conservation.
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“In order to get optimum yield from a crop it is important to assess the soil sample in a certain field. Not only it helps in improving the yield but also helps in knowing which nutrients are needed in the soil. Hence, it is vital for the farmers to get their soil samples tested regularly,” Shabana Shaikh, joint adirector (agriculture), Coorg district said in the event. The programme focused on testing soil samples before addition of fertilisers.
Sandeep Kondaji, CEO of Krishi Tantra, has developed a device that can test 12 nutrients in a soil sample in 50 minutes. Previously available techniques detected only three nutrients and it took days for the results to arrive.
The farmers’ cycle rally in Madikeri is part of the country-wide cycle rally being jointly organised by Krishi Tantra and Gaon Connection.The cycle rally was inaugurated from the premises of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology in Jammu on March 3 and will culminate in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
Flagging off the rally in Jammu, Kondaji had said: “We should conserve the soil as a gift from our ancestors. But we have polluted the soil, water and air. If the soil could speak, it would protest against the injustice and exploitation being meted out to it. Even then, future generations will have to suffer the consequences of what is being done now.”
The cycle rally will cover a distance of almost 3,500 kms and pass through 11 states in its journey that is expected to be 40-day long.