A silent pulse revolution
Improved varieties of chickpea, spread through farmer-to-farmer exchange, brought in a whiff of fresh air into the lives of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, southern India. "Chickpea is a boon to us. It brought us prosperity. When cotton cultivation turned a gamble, chickpea came in as a saviour. It is now our guaranteed crop" says a young farmer, Mr Velivelli Ramakrishna heaving a sigh of relief. Many farmers in Guntur and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh share his view.
Earlier he was growing cotton as a cash crop. But with the continuous growing of cotton year after year in the same field, his problems also grew. The cost of cultivating cotton rose beyond his means. The yields diminished. Cotton was no longer profitable. His investment in cotton cultivation was Rs 25 000 to 30 000 (US $ 1 is approximately Rs 36) per hectare. Its yield averaged 2.25 tonnes per hectare. Cotton was sold at Rs 17 000 per tonne. By comparison, chickpea cultivation costs him only Rs 7500 per hectare. It produces a minimum of 1.75 tonnes per hectare and is sold at Rs 12 500 per tonne. "Cotton farming gave us a lot of problems. We fought battles with resurging pests. We had sleepless nights. Our resources were drained. In the neighboring villages, some friends who grew cotton were driven to such desperation that they committed suicide. Those were dreadful days," recounted Mr Ramakrishna ruefully. Cotton cultivation had become a big gamble for him. Then came chickpea. It required less investment. It needed less labor and less fertilizer. It was also drought resistant. Yet it gave high returns at the end of each cropping season. He could raise two crops where only one crop of cotton was grown. Cotton took 5 to 6
months to mature, while chickpea needed only half its duration. It was easier to grow;
easier to manage; and it could be grown with minimal risk. Even under the worst
conditions, it yielded at least 1 tonne per hectare. |
Only 26
years old, Mr Velivelli Ramakrishna is a progressive farmer of Pedagottipadu village, 30
km south of Guntur town. This lean and lanky farmer owns 4 hectares of dryland on which he
has been growing chickpea in rotation with soybean for the last 8 years.
