Karnataka - Mangalore   

Couple engaged in ideal farming to be feted today

Recognition: Suresh Gouda and Shobha who will be honoured on Saturday by Varanashi Research Foundation in Mangalore.

MANGALORE: Suresh Gouda and his wife Shobha of Otetadka near Pariyaltadka of Punacha village in Dakshina Kannada district, stand out as an ideal couple when it comes to organic farming, according to Varanashi Research Foundation.

The foundation, which has organised a convention at Adyanada, about 50 kms. from here, on Saturday, has decided to honour the couple. Its founder, Varanashi Krishnamoorthy, said in a statement here that the couple had reaped “the benefits of perfect understanding”.

Dr. Krishnamoorthy, who has earned a name for his experiments in organic farming, and is a part of a State-level committee for its propagation, said it was difficult to make progress in farming unless there was good understanding among family members.

At a time when it was difficult to get labourers, everyone in the family would have to work to ensure that projects taken up on farm lands yielded results. The couple stood as examples. Dr. Krishnamoorthy said the small family had a decent little house and it earned its living through dairying, at a time when animal husbandry was no longer considered to be a lucrative occupation. “Timely action is important in animal husbandry. Be it feeding, cleaning or caring for the animals,” he says. Their little garden produced green fodder with the slurry from the biogas unit, he said.

Their well-planned farm supports dairying. The discipline and cleanliness are visible all over. Cashew, coconut, arecanut, cocoa, rubber and plantain in their small land depended on the slurry from the “gobar gas”. Wherever slurry cannot be reached, the couple feed the plants with compost fertilizers.

The family uses biogas for cooking and lighting in their house. The use of firewood is minimal. They grow vegetables too. During the rainy season, they harvest rainwater to recharge groundwater.

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