Submitted by,

K.Shivakiran
Roll No: 47
d
PGDM RM 2010-2012

PERSONAL LEARNING PAPER


Declaration

I hereby state that the personal learning paper submitted is a compilation of various field
observations and information gathered by various focus group discussions, by personal
interviews and interaction with various information providers. Information provided is based
on the known, available information and data and there are no information made on personal
bias. The information and the sighted instances of examples are true to my knowledge and no
data presented here has been based on assumptions.

K.Shivakiran.
(Signature)
Acknowledgement

I convey my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. M.N. Dinesh Kumar fromEarth 360 Eco Ventures Pvt.
Ltd for providing me the opportunity to stay and learn with the teamin the organization. I
also thank the support provided by Mr. Maulaliya and Mr. Devendranath Reddy for their
utmost support and care during my stay in Kadiri and the nearby villages. I also take this
opportunity to thank Prof. Shambu Prasad from the Xavier Institute of Management,
Bhubaneswar for his support and guidance throughout this Rural Living and Learning
Experience and for providing a memorable and cherishing opportunity.
Introduction
The Rural Living and Learning Experience (RLLE) started for me fromthe small town of
Kadiri in the Anantapur district. I stayed in the premises of an organisation named Earth 360
Eco Ventures Pvt. Ltd. and from there I visited 12 villages in and around the Kadiri region
under four mandals. The organisation was working on all these 12 villages for the
procurement of millets from the farmers of these villages which would be processed and
marketed subsequently. I visited all the 12 villages to understand the extent of the work done
by Earth 360 Eco Ventures and more interestingly I got an opportunity to stay at some of
these villages. In this personal learning paper, I would like share some of my learning from
the visits to the villages and fromthe stay at the organisation. Even though anything and
everything can be a learning experience for anybody, I would personally hold on to those
learning that are relevant to my current academic context.
My Learning from the one months time
in and around Kadiri
Some of the learning are very interesting and some are very informative though not quite as
interesting as the others. Described below are some of the learning i found interesting and
informative.
Technology of Mulching
Mulching is the process of providing a protective cover over the soil to retain the moisture
content in the soil and to reduce the erosion of soil. To some extent it also reduces and
suppresses the growth of weeds in the soil.
In some of the farmlands near the villages of Narasapagari Palli which is located 15kms from
the small town of Kadiri had instances of mulching being used which were more advanced
and modern. The farmlands or fields there employed a concept called plastic mulching for
their fields. Like normal mulch the plastic mulch is used to protect the soil from erosion and
retain moisture in it. One of the farmers, Mr.Adinarayana, from Narasapagari palli who was
using plastic mulch gave me more insight on the use of plastic mulch.
Mr.Adinarayana informed that the plastic mulch costs anywhere between Rs.4000 to Rs.8000
per acre depending on the quality of the plastic. This cost includes the cost of installation and
the removal too. He also informed that there are reusable plastic mulches available that will
pose a threat to the environment. He also suggested that mostly the plastic mulches are used
along with drip irrigation and mostly in the cultivation of vegetables. After the process of
laying the plastic mulches the top layers of the plastic sheets are provided with small
openings to provide space for the plants to grow. Quite interesting is the fact that this farmer
was using the reusable plastic mulch and he suggested that he had been using this technology
for the past two years. As a result of this technology, he informed that he was able to obtain a
harvest that was almost three times the yield obtained without the use of plastic mulch.
This was one of the interesting and informative learning and it shows that the farmers are
willing and ready to take up and apply technology for their agricultural practises.
Application of manure from Livestock
A new way!
Nagareddy Palli is a village in the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh located at around 19
km fromtown of Kadiri. It consists of a total of more than 200 households. Majority of the
people are engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry consisting of sheep, goat and
buffalo. These livestock are managed by a herdsman and typically a herdsman manages up to
a 100 livestock. The herdsman gets paid by the owners of the livestock at a rate of Rs.50 to
Rs.60 per month per livestock to graze them on barren lands and fields.
Now, the farmers in the village of Nagareddy Palli doing agriculture under the organic
farming practise use the manure from the livestock to nourish their agricultural fields.
Interestingly in the village of Nagareddy Palli, the farmers manure the agricultural fields
quite differently. Right before the preparation of the land for the next cropping season, the
farmers request the herdsman to take his livestock and graze them on the farmers field. This
way the weeds and the grasses in the land gets cleared and thus the soil is now ready for
preparation. Additionally, the herdsmen are also requested by the farmers to stay on the
agricultural field for a couple of nights and the herdsman is paid for the stay. During their
stay in the field the droppings from these livestock are used as natural manure for the soil and
thus the farmers and the herdsman along with his livestock are benefited from this symbiotic
process.
Economical Drip Irrigation System
Mr. Devendranath Reddy is a farmer from the village of Nagareddy Palli of Mudigubba
mandal which is located at a distance of 19 km from the town of Kadiri. Mr. Reddy is
currently growing vegetables like tomato and egg plant in his agricultural field and he has
installed the drip irrigation facility in his farm land. The drip irrigation system used by Mr.
Reddy is a very economical alternative to the expensive varieties of drip irrigation. He
informed that this type of drip irrigation is called the T-Tape drip irrigation. The major
advantage of this drip irrigation system over the other conventional varieties of drip irrigation
system is that they require very less technical skills in handling the irrigation system and
besides having the advantage of being very less expensive; they can also be easily installed
and reused at different fields.
The T-Tape drip irrigation system has a motor pump which pumps the water from the source
and there are three inlet valves connected to each of the drips through which the rate of water
flow can be controlled. The drip tapes are provided with holes or openings at specified
intervals where the water is required to come out and these when laid on the field will irrigate
the field in 2 to 3 hours (per acre of land). Normally for an acre of land this drip irrigation
system costs Rs.12000 to Rs.15000 and incidentally the entire cost is waived off by the
government of Andhra Pradesh. Waivers up to a cost of Rs.50000 or 90% (maximum of
either) are provided in the case of drip irrigation systems by the government of Andhra
Pradesh.
System of Rice Intensification
On the way to a village named Katinae Palli which is located at a distance of 35 kmfrom the
town of Kadiri in Tanakal mandal, I came across a farmland having rice grown in a different
way fromthe rest of the fields there. On enquiring I came to know that the farmland belongs
to a farmer by name M.Narasimmallu. Mr. Narasimmallu informed that he is growing rice
under the method called System of Rice Intensification. As suggested by Mr. Narasimmallu,
the major differences in this type of rice cultivation from the conventional cultivation method
is that,
The rice fields are kept moist rather than fully flooding them with water. This reduces
the anaerobic reaction in the soil and supports aerobic soil activity. It further improves
the growth of the plant.
The plants are also planted at a more spacious fashion thereby increasing the exposure
of the plants to the sunlight.
The rice saplings are also transplanted very early to protect the roots from getting
damaged which would otherwise be the case in the conventional methods of rice
cultivation
Mr. Narasimmallu informed that he is obtaining good yields year after year by following the
system of rice intensification and suggests that he would continue to follow the same practise
from now on.
Sprinkler Irrigation
One of the major learning was that many farmers near the villages of Narasappagari Palli
were using sprinkler irrigation for their agricultural fields. An interview with the farmer
named Anjaneyulu revealed some interesting learning for me. The cost of setup of the
sprinkler irrigation systemwould be anywhere between Rs.12000 to Rs.15000 and out of that
the government of Andhra Pradesh provides a subsidy of 50% of the total system cost with a
ceiling of Rs.50000/- per family.
The main reasons for the use of sprinkler system as informed by Mr. Anjaneyulu are,
They can be used to irrigate uneven agricultural lands where irrigation is difficult
They also take up less land for cultivation purposes and more land is available for the
crops (additional area under irrigation)
The water used for irrigation is much less (around 30% to 40%) less than the
conventional irrigation methods
Application of fertilizers are also easy and Mr. Anjaneyulu informed that he mixes the
fertilizers in the water for irrigation which will be sprinkled on to the crops