From Vermin Compost to Broccoli Bounty ensuring steady income through Crop Diversification

Fifty-five year old Chhiddiram from Ghadi Panghor village of Kumher block in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan is no more a cereal crop farmer, something that he had been for decades. He is now recognized as a progressive and successful farmer, someone the local communities and markets are proud of. The reason-he was amongst the first farmers to embrace and adopt unconventional farming by changing his cropping pattern with the support of the Lupin Foundation.

Under the poverty eradication program, Chiddiram set up vermin compost unit with help of Lupin Foundation to minimize the use of chemicals and other fertilizers. LHWRF not only ensured that we back is decision up with the right inputs but also provided him with Broccoli seeds at a subsidized rate. He prepared his land and nursery in the month of October and planted the crop in November. He used only 200 grams of seed per acre. The total input cost for Chiddiram was about Rs. 20,000 which included land preparation, seed and irrigation not to mention labour-cost, weeding, mulching and other farming operations. He saved costs on fertilizers by using compost organic fertiliser prepared in his very own vermin compost unit. He avoided pesticides and thus, the broccoli vegetable produced by him was almost organic. He was able to harvest about 4,000 kg of Broccoli during the year which he sold at an average rate of Rs 55 per kg. Thus, he earned about Rs 2,20,000 during the year through growing Broccoli alone. Unlike cereal crops, broccoli commands a higher and better rate in the market throughout the year. This simple shift from conventional to a market friendly horticulture crop can ensure steady incomes to most farmers; an important income enhancing strategy that LHWRF is ensuring adoption for in rural communities across adopted areas of operations.