This former banker used MGNREGS to become agro-entrepreneur

Mangaluru: Sadashiva Kuppepadavu, a resident of Kilenjaru village in the Mangaluru taluk, worked as a banker for over 10 years but found contentment as a farm businessman.

While working in the bank, he found out the myriad schemes offered by the government for farmers to improve their farm produce and increase their farm income.

Kuppepadavu, owning about 15 acres of arable land, decided to put one of the schemes – the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) – to his good use.

He started with chicken rearing by procuring funds under the scheme. Presently, he rears more than 3,000 chickens, which he rears on contract from companies for 45 days and then returns it to them.

After being successful in poultry farming, he moved over to goat rearing and using facilities provided in MGNREGS he built a goat shed where he rears 8 goats of two different species.

With more aid from the scheme, he planted 100 coconut trees in his farm and in between the trees planted papayas, brinjals, ivy gourds, ridge gourds, bottle gourds and bananas.

The manure for all of the plants and trees comes from his reared animals.

Most of the farm work was done by him and his family members, however, he also utilised the MGNREGS to hire three labourers from northern India to do a few works in his field.

Kuppepadavu has more plans using the facilities of the MGNREGS – a cowshed, a soak pit, areca plantation, apiculture farming and pisciculture farming.

He says that MGNREGS is a good scheme to supplement one’s income through farming. Adding that many young people visit his farm to learn to farm and lead a contented life.