The agriculture has changed with time due to the inclusion of technology. From providing insights and data through Artificial Intelligence to sowing seeds with drones, ag-tech has consumed a major part of agriculture in the world. Farmers from Europe and North America are at the helm of the world’s Agro-tech adoption. Due to this, the traditional farming methods are driven towards exile. To showcase the importance of traditional agriculture methods, a planting festival was held at Saraswati Farm of Unchalli in Sirsi city of Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka. It was organised to remind people of the old customs in agriculture.
The planting festival held at Saraswati Farm was reminiscent of traditional farming practices. It was organised by the Departments of Code Ways, GIZ and Agriculture. It began at noon and concluded in the evening. More than 200 people participated in this planting program. The attendance of young people was the highest in the event.
The program started with cow pooja, followed by offering grasses to cows. It continued with plough and plantation of seeds. About 59 kg seeds of 22 varieties were sown on the five acres of land. The seeds of Gaja Mini, Shobini, Mysore Magaj, Kagga, Rajamudi and Manjuguni were sown.
In Unchalli, it is expected to yield about 12 quintals from all these seeds. Many varieties of rice, including Manjaguni Small, were grown here. They are cultivated in a purely natural way using organic fertilisers. Also, the Scod Ways organisation aims to collect the seeds from these and make a rice seed bank. If this is successful, it will not be a new experiment in Sirsi.
The remembrance of old customs in agriculture by the young people will help revive the practice of traditional agriculture. India has always been known as the land of agriculture due to the adequate conditions for sowing crops. With new technology at play, the traditional means of agriculture are beginning to erode as feared by many farmers of India.
Comments
0 comment