SUSHIL KUMAR IS NOW A LAKHPATI FARMER, THANKS TO VEGETABLES PEA

Mr. Sushil Kumar Bind is a marginal farmer in village Bahuti, block Marihaan District Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. He has about one hectare land for cultivation. Earlier, he was a worried farmer and was unable to fulfill his family’s requirement. A transformation happened in his life when he attended Kisan Mela at the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi and interacted with the vegetable scientists. He came to know about early varieties of vegetable pea matching very well in rice-wheat cropping system prevailing in eastern parts of UP. Further, help was provided to him under the NAIP Sub Project- livelihood security in disadvantaged districts of Purvanchal. Under the project, he obtained quality seeds and fertilizer.

He initiated vegetable cultivation under the supervision of scientists of IIVR. Scientists of IIVR told him to cultivate pea in his whole land, he agreed. He began with land preparation, first of all, he examined his land and did deep plowing of the farmland. He applied organic fertilizer (Gobar Khad) and irrigation of his land to destroy unnecessary weeds and pests. After land preparation, he did seed sowing of Kashi Uday and Kashi Nandini in the last October. Seeds germinated very soon. He started taking care of the plant and destroyed all unwanted weeds. After one month, flower blooming started and fruiting started profusely. Mr. Sushil Kumar Bind started picking peapods in the month of December and sold to the market @ of 25-35 Rupees per kilogram. In the month of December, he earned about Rs. 40.000 by sale of 1200 kilograms of pea pod.

In the month of January, production of the crop was very high and through four picking of pods, he collected about 3500kg fresh pea pods. At that time he earned about 57,500 rupees by selling produce @ Rs.15-20 per kg at Mandi.

In the month of February, the price of pea pods declined, so he did only two pickings of pea pods. He harvested about 1500kg and sold it @ 5-10 Rs. per kg and got about 11,250 rupees. After that, he left the crop for seed production. At last, he collected about 2500 kg in the form of seed. He earned another 15,000 rupees by the sale of seed.

pea.Mr. Sushil Kumar has earned approximately 1,23,750 rupees by sale of pea. He spent 5000/- on seed, 10000/- on transportation, 1000/- on irrigation and 2000/- on land preparation and 5000/- for fertilizer. In brief, he spent about Rs. 23000/- and earned about one Lakh Rupees in a short time period by cultivation of pea. Now, he is planning to cultivate sweet pea in his whole land. He is regularly in touch with vegetable scientists for getting more information. He also motivates other farmers for vegetable cultivation.

Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi has brought prosperity to Purvanchal farmers through the cultivation of vegetable pea. Scientists of IIVR have done rigorous experiment on vegetable pea and developed two high yielding varieties Kashi Uday and Kashi Nandini. These varieties are not only early but having high yield also. Kashi Uday gives production about 750-900 kg/hectare whereas yield potential of Kashi Nandini is about 900-110kg/hectare. These varieties possess a high degree of disease resistance also.

Article Written By -Dr. Shubhadeep Roy (Scientist, IIVR)