Netravali women farmer uses technology to boost farm output. Gets a chance to interact with the Prime Minister of India
PANAJI: Pratibha Velip, a woman farmer from Netravali who has been using system of rice intensification (SRI) technology to grow paddy in her fields, got the opportunity on Monday to engage in a virtual interaction with PM Narendra Modi, who lauded her work, especially for using the new tech for cultivating several crops in addition to paddy.
“We received training from the directorate of agriculture, and we are able to produce more yield by spending less money using those skills,” she told Modi. “A total of five acres of land is used in farming, and my husband and children help me cultivate the crop.” Velip has been successfully carrying out a coconut-based mixed cropping system, wherein she grows arecanut, cashew and banana along with the nut.
Velip has been following the SRI technique of paddy transplantation for the past five years, and is able to enhance the yield of her crop.
She has also been credited with training other women farmers from her village and other talukas in the techniques, following which the technology was replicated by them.
Besides lauding her work in the farm, Modi also complimented her for her Hindi-speaking skills despite belonging to Goa. He asked her how she knows to speak such good Hindi. “You must be watching a lot of Hindi films,” he said to her. She said she speaks Hindi, and has also taught Hindi to her daughter.He also enquired about her children.
Every year, under the PM-Kisan scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 a year is provided to eligible beneficiary farmer families annually, payable in three equal 4-monthly installments of Rs 2,000 each. The funds on Monday were released as part of the ninth installment of the PM-Kisan yojana to farmers across India, wherein Velip was one of the beneficiaries. The fund is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
“Every time these funds are released, the PM interacts with the farmers. Velip was among the farmers from other states like Manipur, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, etc,” said Gauri Prabhudesai, the Sanguem zonal agriculture officer who helped identify Velip.
The directorate of agriculture, through its ZAOs, had identified some of the most promising farmers in Goa that had success stories in the past year. Velip’s name was one the few names that were selected at random for the interaction.
