Call it the ‘Kalam touch’, farmers of Paliganj village in Patna district are reaping the benefits of the science of agriculture taught by former President APJ Abdul Kalam. From owning cars and TVs to refrigerators, the farmers of Paliganj are a well-to-do lot today, their income from agriculture having registered a three-fold increase in the last decade or so.
The villagers attribute their burgeoning wealth, commensurate with the increase in agricultural yield, to Kalam’s several visits to the village over the years.
Between 2003 and 2011, the former President visited the village four times and during each visit he sat with the farmers to teach them how to increase the yield, secretary of Paliganj Bitarni Krishak Samiti (PBKS) Balmiki Sharma said.
The sessions with the President were not confined to his visits only, the farmers met him also at the Rashtrapati Bhawan four times to gain wisdom from the scholarly scientist, he said.
Sharma said, “The villagers have planned to offer ‘citizenship of Paliganj’ to Kalam due to his dedicated service to the region.”
Gopal Singh Yadav, a farmer and president of the PBKS, said the farmers earlier harvested about nine quintals of paddy from an acre, but after the scientific tips from Kalam the productivity has gone up to 27 quintals per acre — a three-fold jump.
“Similarly, the yield of wheat has also risen from about five quintals to 12 quintals per acre now,” Yadav, who owns three acres of land, said.
Paliganj MLA Usha Vidyarthi said the State government through a sincere distribution of subsidy on seed and agricultural equipment is providing help to keep the momentum of growth going. Kalam visited Paliganj in 2003, 2005, 2008 and 2011 to provide valuable tips to farmers as part of a project by TIFAC (The Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council), which is a registered society under the Union Science & Technology Ministry.
“Kalam Saheb taught farmers importance of certified seed, duration of sowing the seed and proper storage of the crop,” Sharma, whose organisation has membership from 55 villages in and around Paliganj, said.
Kalam had also taught them to cultivate medicinal plants in between Rabi and Kharif seasons, a young farmer Arvind Kumar Singh, engaged in cultivation of lemon grass, said.
Other farmers such as Rameshwar Yadav and Om Narayan Singh Chandaus said the former President had taught them how to maintain fertility of the soil and also importance of education for their children. Though the TIFAC project ended in 2011, the farmers follow the teachings of Kalam and keep in touch with scientists of the organisation, Sharma said.
They all, however, negated any government role in their relative prosperity, saying though the State government had many agricultural schemes to offer, their delivery was nothing to write home about mainly due to lackadaisical approach of the field officers.