Winning Respectability Dry parched land with not a patch of green on it. Every morning when Chandrakant Kolekar woke up to this sight, his heart quailed for he knew he and his wife were doomed to be wage laborers for yet another day. They would probably have to migrate to a nearby town yet again, taking their little children with them and leaving his aged parents to fend for themselves. This constant migration meant that his three children could never go to school. The hard work as a manual laborer was taking a toll on his health too and he could see that his wife was getting tired of the never-ending poverty in their lives. Yet there was little Chandrakant could do to change his family's life – in the absence of adequate irrigation water, their 1 and ½ acre plot hardly yielded anything.
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... One day, while working as a wage laborer in the nearby town, he saw low cost Drip leaflets being distributed. Curious, he took one and was immediately struck by how well suited this product was to his specific needs. He borrowed some money and immediately installed low cost drip in 1/3rd of his land. He and his wife planted egg-plants and tomatoes. For the first time, with the low. cost Drip, they were actually witnessing growth on their dry land. They had a good harvest and made a profit of US$ 110 selling the produce. After returning part loan, he installed low cost Drip on 3/4th of his plot and began cultivating a variety of vegetables. From his second crop he made a profit of US$ 350. The customers are always happy to pay a good price for his crops as thanks to assured and timely irrigation, they are of better quality and taste. Chandrakant and his wife no longer need to work for others and take pride in working for themselves. Working on their land is a labor of joy for them. With the additional income, the family has been able to do things they always wanted. The children are now going to school and the family owns cattle. They don't have to go to bed hungry anymore – their kitchen is filled with vegetables from their farm and milk and milk products. Today, they can happily shop for personal and household goods at the village store instead of being afraid of being debt-ridden always. “Low cost drip promoted by IDEI is my lucky charm” says a smiling Chandrakant 'Only because of this drip, I have transformed myself into a farmer from a wage laborer. I have won respectability finally”.
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Using Drip to Ensure Maximum Yield M Nagaraju, farmer hails from Loddhipalli village of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh. His family comprises of his wife, 3 sons and 1 daughter. His wife, daughter and one son help him in cultivation and two other sons are working elsewhere. Agriculture is their main source of income. He owns 4 acres of land. Earlier, he was cultivating groundnut, onion, chili, beans, corns and okra and using furrow irrigation for. But he felt that the productivity from his field could definitely be increased. However, he did not know how to go about it.
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... When a short campaign vehicle passed through his village, he followed it and had to wait for the van to park itself. Once parked, IDEI representative laid out the drip system demonstration and started to explain to the famers about the Drip Irrigation System. Nagarjuna learnt about low cost system. He was impressed with the aspect of how with less labour, time, cost and water one could achieve more production, weed control, highly uniform water distribution etc. Nagaraju decided to get IDEI promoted drip irrigation system and installed on 0.50 acres of his land for eggplant cultivation. Since the market had offered better rate for egg plant in the earlier season, Nagaraju decided to cultivate them instead of his regular okra. Using this drip irrigation system, Nagaraju got a total produce of 3 tons from his 0.50 acres of land and was very happy with the yield and got a good return. He had invested about $286 on sourcing seeds, and labor and other input costs. His profits were $ 857 and therefore net profit was $ 571. “I would like to thank IDEI for introducing me to this water, labor and cost-effective technique of drip irrigation”, he says. “I will definitely install drip irrigation system further on my land and the best part is that low cost makes it possible for me to add smaller parts of field to drip systems”, he added.
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