Success Story: A dream journey from Cannavis Sativa grower to prestigious ICAR Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Award Winner, 2018

1Dipankar .Dey,  2 Dipak  Nath, 3 Lord Litan Debbarma,4 Subhra Shil  5 Suresh Chandra Biswas,6 Ardhendu Chakraborty,7Rajib Das,8Nurul Islam 9Subrata Choudhury, 10Prasanta Reang
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Khowai, Chebri-799207, Tripura

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Khowai, Chebri-799207, Tripura

Introduction:

Introduction:
Shri  Charan  Debarma a Progressive tribal  farmer of North Pulinpur ADC Village has adopted the Pond Based Farming System Under the Project National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture. North Pulinpur is one of the draught prone tribal inhabited ADC village of the district Khowai under the state Tripura. There was   no perennial streams, rivers, ponds and other irrigation facilities in the village. Prevailing temperature ranges from 16°C to 37°C.  Annual rainfall ranges from 2050 to 2550 mm, but almost whole amount goes out to neighbouring lower elevated village.  Before initiation of NICRA Shri Charan   Debbarma was growing only Kharif  rice. In his remaining land he was growing Cannavis Sativa ,the of flowers (called marijuana) and leaves and preparations derived from resinous extract (e.g., hashish) are consumed by smoking, vaporising, and oral ingestion. Because of this type of use it is banned to grow the crop in India.

Under the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture(NICRA)  Project  KVK,Khowai has given training to the farmer about the climate smart agriculture and  has constructed a farm pond in his farm, harvested Water from the farm pond  provided life saving irrigation for paddy  during  kharif dry spell as well as during rabi  season. A Nano pump was Installed nearby to his Farm Pond which was utilized for providing easy Irrigation at a rate of 60 lit   of water/hour.The Pond is  also used for composite fish culture with average yield of 30 q/farmer/year/ha  during 2017-18.His Cannavis Sativa crops were demolished and mosambi plants were planted in that plot

Cultivation of Cannavis Sativa
Replacement with Mosambi Cultivation

Adaptation of SRI in paddy as first crop by Mr Charan   Debbarma  could minimize the losses due to water shortage in  Kharif paddy cultivation. Shri   Charan   Debarma    has introduced zero tillage in bitter Gourd Cultivation with Paddy Straw as Mulch Material at North Pulinpur ADC, With critical input support of KVK, Khowai. Similarly, after kharif paddy fallow land is now successfully utilized by introduction of second crops like maize var. HQPM with Furrow Irrigation method, lentil var. WBL 77 as relatively drought tolerant variety. Besides these he has also  successfully adopted  TPS presently known as Hybrid Potato Seed (HPS) technology which was previously unknown to the farmers of North Pulinpur.He is also Growing Growing Dhaincha as Green Manuring Crop after Harvesting of Winter Crops .At present  he is  Growing three Crops in his plot with adoption of Climate Smart Technologies.

Shri  Charan Debarma is also Producing   and harvesting Vermicompost in his farm,on an average of around three quintal Vermicompost along with fifteen litre vermiwash/chamber (2m×1m×0.6m×2)/cycle.

Shri Debbarma is also Rearing Ducks Breed  Khaki Cambell Which are giving him a High Retrun with Production of Eggs and meat. He is also following Pig Cum Fish farming in his Pond based farming System. The pond Embankment are utilized for Growing Fruit Trees like Drumstick,Papaya etc which are giving him an additional income.

Output:
With adoption of Pond based Farming System along with various  Climate Smart Technogies  the Cropping Intensity of Mr.Charan   Debbarma”s Farm increased from 100% to 300% and Annual Income Increased from 60000.00 to 150,000.00 within a very short Period of   time. He is now acting as a motivator for  all the Small and Marginal farmers of the Village as well as farmers  of the  the nearby Village of the District.
Key Highlights of Mr. Charan Debbarma”s Contribution:

  • First Farmer to adopt Nano Pump Technology for Supplemental Irrigation at North Pulinpur ADC Village, the technology is now accepted by eight more farmers of the Village
  • First Farmer to adopt TPS Technology at North Pulinpur ADC Village
  • Involve in the Paddy Seed Production Programme and Supplied Breeder Seeds to ICAR Tripura Centre.
  • First farmer to adopt Pond Based Integrated Farming System involving Fishery-Piggery-Duckery- Horti,the technology is now widespread to entire Village
  • Innovator of Zero Tillage Bitter Gourd Cultivation Technology, the technology is now widespread to 30 ha area of the Village.

Outcome:
Based on the inspirational work of Shri  Charan  Debbarma, he has been  awarded with  prestigious ICAR  Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Award Winner, 2018.He I also awarded with Smart Farmer award by CRIDA,Hyderabad and Best Farmer of the year award,2018 by KVK,Khowai.