EFFECT OF VERMICOMPOST

VERMICOMPOST IS VERY EFFECTIVE IN INITIATING FLOWERING. YOU CAN SEE IT IN THE PHOTO TAKEN IN MY GARDEN. IT TOOK 2 MONTHS TO INITIATE FLOWERING. EVERY TIME ,I APPLY VERMICOMPOST TO THE ROSE PLANT @ 200 GRAMS NEARLY 20 FLOWERS WILL BLOOM. SOON AFTER PRUNING OLD BRANCHES AFTER ONE MONTH ANOTHER 15-20 FLOWERS WILL APPEAR. VERMICOMPOST IS A BIG LEAP TOWARDS ORGANIC FARMING . FARMERS CAN RELY ON IT AND COMPLETELY STOP CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS AND THERE WILL NOT BE ANY REDUCTION IN PRODUCTIVITY.

regional conference

MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE AND STATE LEVEL OFFICERS WHO ATTENDED REG. CONF.

REGIONAL CONF. DIGNITORIES

Sri N. Raghuveera Reddy, Hon’ble for Agricultural Minister
Sri B. Appala Naidu, Chairman, Z.P., Vizianagaram
Smt Botsa Janshi Lakshmi, M.P., Bobbili Constituency
Sri K.Veerabhadra Swamy, M.L.A.,Vizianagaram
Sri Sujaya Krishna Ranga Rao, M.L.A., Bobbili
Sri Vasireddy Varada Rama Rao, M.L.C.
Sri A.R. Sukumar, I.A.S, Commissioner and Director of Agriculture, A.P., Hyderabad.
Sri B. Kishore , District Collector, Vizianagaram.
Sri Mohammad Ariz Ahmad, I.A.S., Managing Director, A.P.S.S.D.C.Ltd.,
Sri Raghava Reddy, Vice Chancellor, ANGRAU, A.P., Hyderabad.
Sri Yella Reddy, Consultant A.P.M.I.P., Hyderabad.
Sri B.Rosiah, Associate Director of Research, R.A.R.S., Anakapalli.
Sri Dr.Giri Rao, Director of Extension.ANGRAU,HYDERABAD
Additional Directors of Agriculture & Allied Departments
All Scientists Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam & Srikakulam Districts.
Joint Directors of Agriculture, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam
Regional Joint Director, Marketing
Joint Directors of Agriculture from commissionerate and Allied Departments.
Lead District Manager, Vizianagaram.
Deputy Directors of Agriculture and Allied Departments
Asst. Directors of Agriculture and Allied Departments
Mandal Officers of Agriculture and Allied Departments
Extension Officers of Agriculture and Allied Departments.
SRI D.RUSHYENDRANADH,ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE, AND
SRI SUBRAHMANYAM ,JD ( FERTILIZERS),, FROM COMMISSIONERETE GUIDED US TO ORGANISE THE CONFERENCE IN A GRAND MANNER

REGIONAL CONFERENCE AT VIZIANAGARAM

SORRY FRIENDS FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS I COULD NOT BLOG.
THOUGH I HAVE TRIED A COUPLE OF TIMES MY SLOWEST INTERNET CONNECTION FROM BSNL HAS NOT PERMITTED ME TO POST A SINGLE PHOTO .WE HAVE ORGANIZED REGIONAL CONFERENCE AT VIZIANAGARAM FOR THE FIELD FUNCTIONARIES OF AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE,SERICULTURE,FIESHERIES,ANIMAL HUSBANDRY ALL ALLIED DEPARTMENTS OF 3 DISTRICTS VIZIANAGARAM,SRIKAKULAM,AND VISAKHAPATNAM.NEARLY 700 PARTICIPANTS HAVE ATTENDED THE MEETING AND DISSCUSSED VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITIES OF THE GOVERNMENT AND OFFERED VALUBLE SUGFESTIONS. HON'BLE MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE GOVT. OF AP SRI N.RAGHUVEERA REDDY,OUR COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE SRI Ar.SUKUMAR ,
VICE CHANCELLOR OF ANGRAU ( AGRIL . UNIVERSITY)SRI RAGHAVA REDDY , OUR M.P OF BOBBILI PARLIAMENTCONSTITUENCY SMT. B. JHANSI LAKSHMI, HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE CONFERENCE .
A GREAT THING IS THAT THE OUT COME OF THE CONFERENCE IS SEEN ON THE SAME DAY.
MANY DECISSIONS STARTED IMPLEMENTING FROM THE SAME DAY.

RKVY (RASTRIYA KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA)

FOR THE PAST 5 MONTHS I HAVE BEEN PREPARING A COMPREHENSIVE AGRICULTURAL AND ALLIED DEPTS.,ACTION PLAN FOR VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICT. WE PREPARED IT AGAIN AND AGAIN TILL IT WAS PERFECT ,UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF SHRI RAMAKRISHNA D.D.A(PLANNING) COMMISSIONERATE OF AGRICULTURE AND OUR JOINT DIRECTOR SRI A . KRUPADANAM.WE ( MY SELF, MAHARAJAN, LAKSHMANARAO (ADAs) RAMAKRISHNA( STATISTICAL ASST.) WE WORKED 15 HOURS A DAY FOR NEARLY 20 CONTINUOUS DAYS AND PREPARED A DETAILED ACTION PLAN FOR EACH DEPARTMENT . WE HAVE COLLECTED DATA FROM ALL DEPARTMENTS AND SENT IT TO THE COMMISSIONERATE . IT WAS REALLY A HEAVY TASK.THANKS TO ALL THOSE ( SRINIVAS,KOTESWAR RAO, NARASINGA RAO AND SUHASINI) WHO HELPED ME A LOT.

REPUBLIC DAY AWARD 2008

A SECTION OF ADARSA RYTHUS

A.Rs WHO ARE UNDERGOING TRAINING ON WTO AT FARMERS TRAINING CENTRE,VIZIANAGARAM
RESOURCE PERSONS ARE G.RATNA KUMAR, ADA
G.V.VIJAYA KUMAR AGRIL.OFFICER,
K.MAHARAJAN , ADA BOBBILI,
B.BHANULATHA, A.O,FARMERS TRAINING CENTRE,VIZIANAGARAM.

WTO TRAINING TO GRADUATE ADARSA RYTHUS

A TRAINING PROGRAMME TO GRAUATE ADARSA RYTHUS IS CONDUCTED ON 22-1-08 TO ENLIGHTEN THEM ON VARIOUS IMPLICATIONS OF WTO ON INDIAN AGRICULTURE. IN THE PICTURE SRI A. KRUPADANAM ,JOINT DIRECTOR IS SEEN GIVING INAGURAL ADDRESS

SANKRANTHI PURASKARS

SANKRANTHI PURARSKAR -A UNIQUE FALICITATIONS TO HONOUR BEST FARMERS AND FIELD FUNCTIONERIES AT DISTRICT AND STATE LEVEL HAS BEEN INTRODUCED BY THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH. IN THE PICTURE HON'BLE MINISTER FOR CIVIL SUPPLIES SHRI KASU VENKATA KRISHNA REDDY IS SEEN ADDRESSING THE FARMERS AT A GRAND FUNCTION HELD AT COLLECTORATE AUDITORIUM, VIZIANAGARAM .19 FARMERS AND 9 FIELD LEVEL OFFICERS BELONGING TO AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED DEPARTMENTS HAVE BEEN AWARDED . THE FUNCTION WAS SUCESSFULLY ORGANISED IN A GRAND MANNER UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF DISTRICT COLLECTOR SRI B. KISHORE ,IAS.SRI B. JHANSI LAKSHMI,MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT ,AND MLAS AND PEOPLE REPRESENTATIVES AND 490 FARMERS HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE EVENT.THE EVENT WAS CONVENED BY SRI A.KRUPADANAM ,JOINT DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE,VIZIANAGARAM

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION

MEETING OF DISTRICT FOOD SECURITY MISSION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE HELD UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF DISTRICT COLLECTOR SRI B. KISHORE I.A.S. VIZIANAGARAM, SRI A.KRUPADANAM, JOINT DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE CONVENED THE MEETING ON 7-1-2008. THE COMMETTEE APPROVED THE ACTION PLAN OF NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY MISSION -RICE ,PROGRAMME OF RABI, AND KHARIF 2008.

SRI A. KRUPADANAM, OUR JOINT DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE

PADIPANTALU- AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENTAL MAGAZINE

Sri Ramaraju, A progressive farmer watching the magazine.

ADARSA RYTHUS

ADARSA RYTHUS(A.Rs)- TO SPREAD THE AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY IN VILLAGES
A.Rs are employed in villages @ one per 250 families . ARs are already trained in various agril. and other issues by Agril. and all line departments at district level and mandal level . they will meet on every 3 rd monday at mandal head quarters and inturn go to their villages and enlighten the farming community on developmental activities and subsidy programmes of govt.This will certainly ensure spread of latest technology and enable more farmers to know about GOVT,. progarmmes and ensures its effective utilization. A.Rs are supplied with literature on AGRICULTURE . PADIPANTALU a magazine published by dept. of agriculture andhrapradesh,is also being supplied every month free of cost to them.An amount of Rs. 1000_ is paid to each AR as honourarium.

DEMONSTRATION OF LATEST FARM IMPLEMENTS CONDUCTED BY DEPT.

FARMERS WATCHING A DEMONSTRATION OF LATEST FARM IMPLEMENTS CONDUCTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, AT AGRIL RESEARCH STATION ,GAJULAREGA .VIZIANAGARAM. GOVT OF AP. HAS BEEN PROMOTING FARM MECHANIZATION IN A BIG WAY.

FIELD DAY OF SRI PLOT AT GURLA MANDAL

Attended A Field Day of SRI at GARIKA VALASA VILLAGE OF GURLA MANDAL.

MY OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSIS ON HIGHER YIELDS

HIGHER YIELDS IN VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICT of Andhra Pradesh
TIMELY SOWINGS ,APPLICATION OF OPTIMUM NITROGEN and
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL ENEMIES - the REASONS behind the success



RICE –NORMAL YIELD - 1848 kg/ha.
EXPECTED- 3700 kg/ha DURING KHARIF 2007 (REVISED)
( EARLIER EXPECTED IS 2992 Kgs)

The farmers of vizianagaram district are going to reap bumper harvests of paddy crop during kharif 2007. Thanks to natural enemies, who played a major role.

During kharif 2007, the seasonal conditions are very favorable for crop production. Higher yields expected in all the crops.

PESTICIDE CONSUMPTION REDUCED BY 75%.
· Pesticide consumption during current year up to October, 2007 is only 4.01 M.Ts. of Tech.Grade while the consumption during last year, up to October, 2006 is 16.0 M.Ts of Tech.Grade.
· Campaigns against pesticides by various agencies worked.

Paddy-Subsistence cultivation:
Paddy crop is cultivated in 1, 17,724 Ha., during kharif season . Majority of the area(70%) is under small rain fed tanks. These tanks need to be filled at least thrice by southwest monsoon rains, during the season to cater the needs of the paddy crop. In general, per Acre yield of paddy crop ranges between 1100 to 3712 kgs in various farming situations with a normal of 1848 kgs per hectare in the district ( All figures are in terms of Rice.)
Problems of paddy cultivation:
Small and scattered holdings, cultivation under small tanks, lack of supplemental irrigation facilities, erratic rain fall, late onset of monsoon, prolonged dry spells, and light textured soils low in organic carbon and nutrient contents, economically backwardness, poses serious problems on the productivity front, by which the paddy cultivation often lands into troubles.
Rain fed cultivation often leads to delayed sowings with over aged nurseries due to which application of excess ‘N’ by distressed farmers is a common phenomenon observed in the area. This situation causes severe pest problems, leading to indiscriminate use of pesticides, like Monocrotophos,Chlorpyrephos and Methyl parathion dust and some NEW GENERATION PESTICIDES and raise in cost of cultivation.
Ultimately low productivity of crops and low net returns, making farming community resource poor year after year, have become a characteristic feature of this North coastal district.

What happened in 2007?
Timely summer showers helped in good land preparation and sowings of Gingelly crop were taken up during May.
How ever, Sesamum crop failed due to heavy rains and water logging conditions during June 07. This helped in adding up of considerable quantities of organic matter and no depletion of soil nutrients took place. Farmers generally apply Farm yard manure to sesamum crop only which precedes paddy in early kharif and do not apply FYM to paddy.
Rains during June were so heavy that they helped in complete recharging of irrigation tanks on which the paddy cultivation predominantly takes place in the district.
Timely nursery sowings took place and transplantations in maximum area completed with early nursery. This has given ample time for the crop to put forth tillers. Further, during July and August months dry spells prevailed and deficit rain fall recorded in the district which led only to prevailing of I.D.condition in paddy fields resulting in heavy tillering.
Normally the tillers vary between 15-22 in which productive tillers are 11-12 in all paddy farming situations of the district. How ever in the current year the No. of tillers varied between 25-28 and the productive tiller percentage also increased. On an average each Paddy hill contained 20-22 productive tillers which is very interesting to note.
Early sowings, good No. of sunshine hours during July- Oct period, development of beneficial insects to control the pest complex and good growth might have helped for this.

OPTIMUM ‘N’ AND SOIL ORGANIC CARBON CONTENT PLAYED IMPORTANT ROLE:

Farmers applied first dose of UREA fertilizer (some DAP) during 2nd and 3rd weeks of July’07 and second dose in August month. Later there was no chance to apply 3rd dose due to continuous heavy rains during September and as the crop attained P.I stage, no fertilizer application was taken place in October. As a result of this, reduction of urea application was also taken place.
(How ever as the soil organic carbon content was maintained at higher levels due to incorporation of sesamum crop and no loss of nutrients occurred due to failure of sesamum crop, non application of 3rd dose of urea couldn’t show much difference on crop growth.) As the crop growth is satisfactory, farmers have not resorted to application of urea for the 3rd time.
This condition has led only to optimum plant growth and production of more no. of tillers and more over the leaf folder pest which develops mainly at places where urea application is high could not find its entry in the fields.

NATURAL ECOLOGICAL BALANCE MAINTAINED:

Though BPH and Jassid infestation started during early September, it only helped in availability of sufficient food for their natural enemies and never crossed economic injury levels due to which beneficial insects developed in sufficient numbers in paddy fields. The pests which occurred in epidemic level during 2005 (i.e. Leaf folder) and 2006 (BPH and Jassids) could not find their place during current year. Owing to the low nitrogen (say optimum) levels in the fields no pest has attained dangerous levels.
For example, the populations of Mirid bug, a natural enemy of BPH, have never been observed in previous years at these levels at light traps and street lights near the fields. Only Jassids and BPH were seen along with 1-2% Mirid bugs then.
(In fact I had to wait days together to catch a miridbug’s image in my camera last year. But during current year hundreds and even thousands of them are found at lights during night time.)
It is a fact that more than 75% of the farmers have not sprayed pesticides in the district, which resulted in non elimination of beneficial insects from the fields and their populations increased enormously which could easily suppress pest populations.
All these conditions have helped in rising of paddy yields by more than 100%. Now the farmers are very happy as they got higher yields with reduced cost of cultivations. Now a time has come to analyze this situation and learn from our own experiences. Farmers must realize that excess application of Nitrogenous fertilizers (Especially UREA) is the root cause of many pest problems and pesticides are not a solution for managing pests.

G.V.VIJAYA KUMAR,M.Sc(Ag)
Agricultural Officer,
Office of the Joint Director of Agriculture, Vizianagaram
PIN-535003

Large no. of Predators -A GOOD SIGN

The seasonal conditions during kharif 2007 are most favourable for paddy crop.
Though incidence of BROWN PLANT HOPPER is observed in many places
The development of predator population was enormous which could easily suppress the pests.

In the picture MIRID BUG a beneficial insect is seen in large numbers at a light

GOOD PADDY YIELDS ANTICIPATED

FARMERS OF VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICT ARE GOING TO REAP GOOD PADDY HARVESTS DURING KHARIF 2007.

THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS HELPED A LOT IN GETTING GOOD YIELDS.

EARLY TRANSPLANTATIONS

DRY SPELLS DURING AUGUST 07

•Excess rainfall (190.6 m.m) during June 2007 resulted in complete charging of Irrigation Tanks, which lead to timely transplantation of Paddy.
•Paddy area increased by 9%
•Dry spells occurred during August helped in excess tillering due to irrigated dry conditions in Paddy fields due to which nearly 25% excess tillering is observed


•Due to availability of sufficient water in Tanks, timely sowings, low pest problem, the Paddy yields are likely to increase by 20-25% (Normal-2397kgs. Expected 2876 to 2996 kgs per Hectare in terms of RICE.)


•Pesticide consumption reduced by 75% due to favourable seasonal conditions .
• Pesticide consumption during current year upto October, 2007 is only 4.01 M.Ts. Tech.Grade while the consumption during October, 2006 is 16.0 M.Ts Tech.Grade.

LOSS TO SESAMUM-
SESAMUM CROP IS RAISED IN AN AREA OF 707 Ha. IN KOTHAVALASA MANDAL AS AGAINST THE NORMAL AREA OF 684 Ha DURING PRE KHARIF.
FARMERS EXPECTED GOOD YIELDS OF THIS CROP.
HOW EVER THE CROP SUFFERED A SERIOUS SET BACK.
THE CROP DAMAGED DUE TO CONTINUOUS HEAVY RAINS DUE TO CYCLONE DURING JUNE 2007.
LODGING AND DAMAGE DUE TO WATER LOGGING OCCURED.
HOW MUCH LOSS?
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT AN AREA OF 321 Ha HAS BEEN DAMAGED IN THE MANDAL.
FARMER WISE ENUMERATION OF DAMAGED AREAS BY REVENUE SECRETARIES AND AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION OFFICERS IS IN PROGRESS.

A Good start of season is expected as monsoon has arrived timely.
we have got sufficient seeds.Farmers awareness programme
Rythu chaitanya yathras compled and soil testing also completed.
South west Monsoon is very active because of low pressure area
BAY OF BENGAL . RAIN FALL SUFFICIENT TO COVER DRY CROPS ,
HAS BEEN RECEIVED IN THE ENTIRE STATE.