Agriculture
“There is no Wasteland, only wasted land”
Past BCT Agriculture Projects:
- Nursery Program
- Drilling of community boreholes
- Calf exchange program
Wasteland Development
BCT has come to believe that there is no waste land, it is only wasted land, in other words, man not utilizing the appropriate technologies for bringing the land into production. In order to demonstrate this point, BCT has taken a 50 acre wasted hill slope, in the rain shadow region of Ponchardarla Hill which as about 24 inches of annual rainfall. With proper soil conservation and water management techniques, the area is a blooming greenery with about 100 species of plantations in a matter of 3 years. The fodder is being developed in three tiers as a semi-pastoral system. Even growing of the flowers is demonstrated to be yielding 1000 rupees per acre annually. (Excerpt from BCT's 1982 Souvenir Book)
 Following the success of Panchardarla, three more such projects were undertaken—at Haripuram, current home of BCT, Gokivada, and Gorle-Dharmavaran.
The idea caught on and the previously desolate areas around Yellamanchili now abound with plantations of cashew, mango and subabul. An estimated 5000 acres of wasted lands have been reclaimed.
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BCT- KVK Partnership
BCT-Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) started I 1995 with the support of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), Government of Indiam, in the district of Visakhapatnam. ICAR is mandated to start one KVK for every district in the country. The KVK’s are mainly given to the State Governments and Universities and a few to reputed NGO’s. BCT-KVK is one of those given to NGO’s. It’s main thrust is in: - Need based on-campus and off-campus vocational trainings for practicing farmers, rural youth and extension functionaries.
- Need based diagnostic and advisory services on specific cropping and allied problems as and when required by the farmers.
- On farm research and Front Line Demonstrations in the farmers field for transfer of technologies to improve the yields and income of the farmers. In the majority of cases, the technologies developed were found appropriate only in the area where they were generated. Even slight variation in conditions turn the technology irrelevant. Keeping this in view a new approach is being experimented for technology assessment and refinement through On-farm research trials.
- Action in Small Agri Business Development (SABD) for promoting small entrepreneurs among rural youth and farm women. Rural womenare given prioritized treatment by BCT-KVK and organized into Self Help Groups for employment and income generation.
Firm Linkages
The strength of the BCT-KVK lies in collaborating with various district, state, national and international institutions in the process of its development efforst addressed towards the farming community.
 The KVk is endowed with a well developed instructional farm with crop diversity to work and demonstrate with a team of qualified and experienced Scientists in the areas of Agronomy, Horticulture, Plant Production, Home Science, Animal Husbandry, SABD, Agriculture Extension and Soil Science.
The Scientists have organized, during the year 2003, Front Line Demonstrations and introduced pre selected and promising variety along with improved management practices in Groundnut, Sesame, Redgram, Greengram, Blackgram, Niger, Chick Pea, Ragi, and Paddy in the mandals of Rambili, Achyutapuram, Yellamanchili, S. Rayavaram, K. Kotapadu, Chodavaram, Kasimkota, Munagapaka, Chintapalli and Hukumpeta of the district to increase the productivity in these crops.
(By P. Sujatamma, MSc., PhD., lead scientist of BCT-KVK)
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