Odisha’s Hirod Patel ​​constructed a novel trellis system over the pond to develop greens. At the moment, his farm has develop into an experiment lab for different farmers and agricultural scientists.

Every single day, farmers from far and huge flock to see Hirod Patel’s fields. His progressive strategy has proved to be a beacon of success for them because the younger farmer from Odisha cultivates greens, not on the bottom however on the pond!

The 32-year-old farmer has adopted an built-in farming system to domesticate climbers within the sheds and apply pisciculture in farm ponds concurrently.

Practically eight years again, Hirod joined his farmer father Shiva Shankar who had been historically cultivating paddy. Like some other Indian farmer, they might usually relentlessly toil day and evening for meager returns.

Nonetheless, Hirod adopted an progressive strategy to make agriculture worthwhile.

In 2019, the Ratanpur village resident dug up 4 completely different ponds on his 10-acre farm with the assistance of the watershed growth and soil conservation unit of the agricultural division.

So as to utilise the house effectively, he first planted large timber reminiscent of bananas, guavas, and coconuts across the pond. On the identical time, he ​​constructed a trellis system over the pond to develop climbers, which additionally eradicated the necessity for watering the greens.

“We had already been rising bitter gourds on the bamboo trellis, so I bought the concept to assemble a trellis system over the pond. Initially, I planted 120 vegetation of bottle gourds and harvested 1,800 items final September. This earned me Rs 35,000 of additional revenue,” Hirod tells The Higher India.

An electrician by vocation, he has additionally constructed a ship for himself to reap the greens, and earnings.

Learn the story in Hindi right here.

Edited by Padmashree Pande. All photographs: Hirod Patel.