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Barren farmland transformed into a fruit orchard. Has 58 varieties fruits grown without using any chemicals at Kummarigudem village, Telangana
‘I developed my farm with the aim to introduce new varieties of fruits that are commercially profitable to the farmers by practicing natural farming methods. India is the land of diversity where one single thing is available in many different kinds and everything is unique but we don’t know about it! Therefore, Spoorthi Farm should be the source of information and provide live tour of the numerous types of fruits that can be grown for profits. For example, I have 17 varieties of mango trees in my farm. These are distinctive from one another but all are apt for a money-making venture,” says Mr. S. Shouri Reddy, Farm Owner. He aims to have 100 plus fruit varieties in his farm in time to come. He manages his organic fruit orchard along with his wife Mrs. Sunitha Reddy.
Mr. S. Shouri Reddy
The original idea was to grow all the crops in a pre-planned schedule to obtain all grocery items required in everyday cooking such as vegetables, fruits, cereals, lentils, milk and chicken etc. “However, eventually we developed a fruit orchard. There are 10-12 vegetables and pulses grown for personal use. There is also have a small dairy and poultry unit,” he shares.
The first challenge was to make soil fertile hence, “30 tractor load of silt/acre was spread across the farmland in the first year. The silt is the waste removed from the lakes and irrigation tanks to clean the water. After applying silt we enriched the soil with green manure by growing 7-8 varieties of pulses and as it grew to a certain height it was mulched back into the soil,” he explains. Ghana Jeevamrutham was also applied to the soil. Second year the farm top soil was fed with cow dung based manure and then after the saplings were transplanted. To boost the growth of saplings Drava Jeevamrutham was applied. The plants grew well and started fruiting. Select vegetables were also grown. Farm has two Ongle, breed desi cows that suffice the requirement of manure and pesticides.
Majority of fruit saplings were procured from Kadiyam, in Andhra Pradesh. Kadiyam is renowned for nurseries offering best quality saplings. “The fruit plants were also brought from Bangalore and Pune depending on its forte,” he says. Mango fruit saplings are grown in large numbers but other fruits are in lesser number therefore the farm demanded a proper plantation management. “Fruiting season is different for all the trees so it requires a separate irrigation schedule. For this reason I purchase various kinds of fruits when possible and keep it in my yard till I collect atleast 15-16 saplings that yield fruits in the same season. Then these saplings are grown next to each other enabling the apt irrigation plan,” he elaborates.
When ask about the fruit specialties in the farm, Mr. Reddy responds, “I have an amazing array of fruits with commonly fruits such as green custard apple, star fruit, jack fruit, sapota, guava, coffee and grape fruit etc. Some rarely grown fruit varieties in the farm are cherry, miracle fruit, Indian fig, passion fruit, dragon fruit, olives, red custard apple, ramphal, lakmanphal and hanumanphal. I am also experimenting with litchi and rambutan. These have never been grown in Hyderabad vicinity. In order to give these fruits an additional care I soon will be having a green shade net. Further we have more than one variety of each fruit as far as possible like we have three varieties of cherry, four varieties of guava, three varieties of sapota and so on.”
Speaking of problems he shares, “In third year we faced extreme water scarcity problem. I could not grow vegetables and to safeguard the fruit trees I used to purchase water and get it delivered on the farm through water tankers. Fortunately this year we had good rains yet to be sustainable in the long run I am in process of constructing rain harvesting farm pond in 800 square feet area that would have the capacity to store 25 lakh liter water. The bottom of the pond shall have HDPE liners so that water doesn't percolates. Next I shall commence fish farming in this pond.”
Mr. Reddy is CEO, Bala Vikas Foundation. It is a Warangal, Telangana based NGO engaged in rural development. “We promote organic farming amongst the farmers in 23 villages in Warangal district. Once while interacting with farmers, as usual I was recommending them to stop using chemicals but looking into their eyes I felt they are asking me to first take up organic farming myself before preaching about it. Hence I decided to convert my barren farmland at Kummarigudem village, 8 km from Kazipet, Telangana into a model farm to showcase that chemical-free farming not only reduces the production cost but increases the profits by many folds,” he describes the drive to covert 4 acre barren farmland into flourishing fruit orchard in 2013. Now the farm receives many farmers and international visitors.
He concludes, “Organic farming practices initially might give results at a slow pace but surely is beneficial for every soul and the environment in the long run. It is the best and nothing can substitute it!”
Contact details:
Spoorthi Farms
Bala Vikasa, Fatimanagar, NIT Post, Kazipet, Warangal, Telangana
Phone: 09849165890
Email: shoury@balavikasa.org
‘I developed my farm with the aim to introduce new varieties of fruits that are commercially profitable to the farmers by practicing natural farming methods. India is the land of diversity where one single thing is available in many different kinds and everything is unique but we don’t know about it! Therefore, Spoorthi Farm should be the source of information and provide live tour of the numerous types of fruits that can be grown for profits. For example, I have 17 varieties of mango trees in my farm. These are distinctive from one another but all are apt for a money-making venture,” says Mr. S. Shouri Reddy, Farm Owner. He aims to have 100 plus fruit varieties in his farm in time to come. He manages his organic fruit orchard along with his wife Mrs. Sunitha Reddy.
Mr. S. Shouri Reddy
The original idea was to grow all the crops in a pre-planned schedule to obtain all grocery items required in everyday cooking such as vegetables, fruits, cereals, lentils, milk and chicken etc. “However, eventually we developed a fruit orchard. There are 10-12 vegetables and pulses grown for personal use. There is also have a small dairy and poultry unit,” he shares.
The first challenge was to make soil fertile hence, “30 tractor load of silt/acre was spread across the farmland in the first year. The silt is the waste removed from the lakes and irrigation tanks to clean the water. After applying silt we enriched the soil with green manure by growing 7-8 varieties of pulses and as it grew to a certain height it was mulched back into the soil,” he explains. Ghana Jeevamrutham was also applied to the soil. Second year the farm top soil was fed with cow dung based manure and then after the saplings were transplanted. To boost the growth of saplings Drava Jeevamrutham was applied. The plants grew well and started fruiting. Select vegetables were also grown. Farm has two Ongle, breed desi cows that suffice the requirement of manure and pesticides.
Majority of fruit saplings were procured from Kadiyam, in Andhra Pradesh. Kadiyam is renowned for nurseries offering best quality saplings. “The fruit plants were also brought from Bangalore and Pune depending on its forte,” he says. Mango fruit saplings are grown in large numbers but other fruits are in lesser number therefore the farm demanded a proper plantation management. “Fruiting season is different for all the trees so it requires a separate irrigation schedule. For this reason I purchase various kinds of fruits when possible and keep it in my yard till I collect atleast 15-16 saplings that yield fruits in the same season. Then these saplings are grown next to each other enabling the apt irrigation plan,” he elaborates.
When ask about the fruit specialties in the farm, Mr. Reddy responds, “I have an amazing array of fruits with commonly fruits such as green custard apple, star fruit, jack fruit, sapota, guava, coffee and grape fruit etc. Some rarely grown fruit varieties in the farm are cherry, miracle fruit, Indian fig, passion fruit, dragon fruit, olives, red custard apple, ramphal, lakmanphal and hanumanphal. I am also experimenting with litchi and rambutan. These have never been grown in Hyderabad vicinity. In order to give these fruits an additional care I soon will be having a green shade net. Further we have more than one variety of each fruit as far as possible like we have three varieties of cherry, four varieties of guava, three varieties of sapota and so on.”
Speaking of problems he shares, “In third year we faced extreme water scarcity problem. I could not grow vegetables and to safeguard the fruit trees I used to purchase water and get it delivered on the farm through water tankers. Fortunately this year we had good rains yet to be sustainable in the long run I am in process of constructing rain harvesting farm pond in 800 square feet area that would have the capacity to store 25 lakh liter water. The bottom of the pond shall have HDPE liners so that water doesn't percolates. Next I shall commence fish farming in this pond.”
Mr. Reddy is CEO, Bala Vikas Foundation. It is a Warangal, Telangana based NGO engaged in rural development. “We promote organic farming amongst the farmers in 23 villages in Warangal district. Once while interacting with farmers, as usual I was recommending them to stop using chemicals but looking into their eyes I felt they are asking me to first take up organic farming myself before preaching about it. Hence I decided to convert my barren farmland at Kummarigudem village, 8 km from Kazipet, Telangana into a model farm to showcase that chemical-free farming not only reduces the production cost but increases the profits by many folds,” he describes the drive to covert 4 acre barren farmland into flourishing fruit orchard in 2013. Now the farm receives many farmers and international visitors.
He concludes, “Organic farming practices initially might give results at a slow pace but surely is beneficial for every soul and the environment in the long run. It is the best and nothing can substitute it!”
Contact details:
Spoorthi Farms
Bala Vikasa, Fatimanagar, NIT Post, Kazipet, Warangal, Telangana
Phone: 09849165890
Email: shoury@balavikasa.org
