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UDUPI: They say a farmer is a magician who tends to make his residing from the mud. But that is not accurate in the scenario of Joseph Lobo, a 44-year-old farmer from the coastal district of Udupi.Lobo hails from Shankarapura, a little nondescript village sandwiched among the mighty Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. Shankarapura is called the jasmine cash of the Karnataka shoreline and is popular for its Shankarapura mallige (mallige in Kannada indicates jasmine flowers). And like the vast majority of the people of the village, Lobo too cultivates Shankarapura mallige. A passionate farmer, Lobo has been increasing the Shankarapura mallige — which was accorded GI tag in 2008 — for the previous 15 decades.
But what sets him apart from the relaxation of the growers is that he has tried to grow his prized possession devoid of soil! Certainly, you examine it proper. Lobo turned the to start with grower in the region to undertake the novel hydroponic approach of cultivation, which in layman’s language is soil-considerably less cultivation.Lobo says he was influenced just after attending a workshop at University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, and started experimenting on the new method of cultivation. Lobo has 32 jasmine crops presently, which includes the a few developed utilizing the hydroponic method.
“I like to phone myself an agropreneur… simply because creation provides benefit to the work we do. I could have developed jasmine like some others. But I assumed why be information with what I am executing already… I preferred to be distinctive. The approach is basic. I take a netted-basket and fill it with coco peat (a multipurpose developing medium produced of coconut husks). I then just take a bucket crammed with organic liquid manure. Then I extract the jasmine sapling diligently without harmful its roots and plant it in the basket. Then I location the basket over the bucket. The roots under increase and take up the expected total of nutrition from the liquid manure crammed in the bucket,” he elaborates.
When requested about the advantage of increasing jasmine without soil, he says, “There is no chance of the plant having contaminated with any illness. Most of the health conditions that plants ordinarily get are as a result of soil. The a few jasmine vegetation I am growing in the hydroponic process started out flowering in just two-and-a-50 percent months. In the standard system, it flowers only immediately after about 4 to 5 months.”
Apart from jasmine, Lobo has also experimented rising chikoo, mulberry and all-season mango applying the hydroponic approach. He states picking out the appropriate species of plant is important to flavor accomplishment. “Those species which increase on to turn into a tree simply cannot be confined in the hydroponic method. Crops that develop like bushes are best,” he claims confidently. His spouse, Neema Lobo and daughter Janisha Lobo, a PU student, are equally enthusiastic about soil-significantly less cultivation as it aids them in shifting the vegetation from just one place to a further effortlessly.
Lobo claims several farmers from his village have approached him to find out about hydroponic cultivation. ‘‘I have orders now to change 25 acres of land in Shirva into a jasmine field. Youth are achieving out to me ahead of starting up their jasmine cultivation undertaking,’’ he provides. Lobo also has ideas to develop his location of jasmine cultivation. “I will plant extra jasmine saplings in my 400-sqft terrace,” he claims.
Apart from the essential notion he acquired from the workshop at GKVK in Bengaluru, he polished his competencies by watching videos on YouTube. His relative – Jason – who performs in Israel – also enthusiastic Lobo to take up this strategy of cultivation as it is broadly practiced there. A patroniser of extensive process of farming, Lobo also grows 11 versions of guava and other fruit-bearing crops. He also has 35 beehive packing containers and a milch cow.When questioned if he has availed subsidy from the government, Lobo replies in adverse and says, “I sense it is a more cumbersome task to do than cultivating jasmine!”
Delight OF THE Coast
Shankarapura jasmine was accorded GI tag in 2008
The flower is identified for its unparalleled fragrance, and is very a lot in need in Mumbai and abroad aside from nearby marketplaces
Apart from jasmine, Joseph Lobo has also experimented growing sapota, mulberry and all- year mango applying hydroponic process
His relative Jason, who performs in Israel, also inspired Lobo to just take up hydroponic technique of cultivation as it is widely adopted in Israel
