Sarguja (Chhattisgarh): Young vegetable grower Pratik Banik's experiments with Israel's drip irrigation technology and plant grafting methods yielded desired results. Pratik hailing from a village in the Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh has for sometime been cultivating tomato crop on his farmland. He is now a joyous man as the tomato plantation has grown to a height of more than seven feet, laden fully with fruit and already yielding 18 pluckings.
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Shedding light on his achievement, Pratik Banik while speaking to ETV Bharat said, "Earlier, hybrid method of farming was popular among farmers. Now, people are switching over to grafted techniques of cultivation to increase production. The use of drip irrigation technology of Israel aided me to get the desired results. The knowledge of using fertilizers, medicines, and other required input materials - is necessary for securing a good outcome."
Speaking about young people joining the farming profession, he said, "Instead of working on others' farmland, land plots are available on lease. So better take land on lease and start cultivating vegetables using grafted technique and drip irrigation technology."
Giving information about the tomato crop yield so far, he said, "This is the eighteenth round of plucking tomatoes and the process is continuing for the past more than two months. Plants are still laden with tomatoes and they will be plucked a few more times."
