Daulatpur, a place, which one has to really look up for on the map, is slowly making its place there, all thanks to this man—Ram Saran Verma. About 30km from the city of Lucknow, is this village where this ‘Banana King’ resides. Why banana king? We tell you.
Verma’s family has been toiling their four-acre land since three generations. They grew staples like wheat and rice, alongside sugarcane and mustard. He saw his father work really hard but get very little profits in return. This stuck with him and he decided not to go the conventional way. Today, the produce on his farms is in manifold compared to any other regular farm. How did he do it?
Back in 1984, he travelled to a number of states, spoke to farmers, agricultural scientists, and experts. And with all the knowledge that he had garnered, he set up a banana plantation on one-acre of his land. He started earning profits in the first year itself. But what really set him apart was the fact that he was the first one in the state to use tissue culture for growing bananas.
Tissue culture is basically a lab process where tissues of selected crops are used for cloning. It can be then used for the mass production of quality crops that ensure a higher yield in a short time. This method ensures that the bananas are identical in size, look and quality. His reddish-maroon bananas produced with this method take 18 months to grow and is sold at ₹80-100 per kg. While the traditional variety took 14 months to grow and fetched just ₹15 per kg. He also uses crop rotation to maintain the fertility of the soil and after bananas he grows potatoes for 90 days, followed by hybrid tomatoes for 120 days and then mint for the next 90 days. The tomatoes grown traditionally produced 200 quintals per acre, whereas Ram’s yielded 400 to 500 quintals, earning him ₹4 lakh per acre. Today, 10 lakh farmers have visited his farm till date. Not only this, people from the cities are migrating to this little village to do related work.
Ram has travelled to more than 30 countries to impart his knowledge, and also held demonstration seminars to help the community. One man can really change the destiny of so many people. If you wish to connect with him, check out his website here.
Or get in touch at vermaagri@gmail.com or contact him on +91-9839376028/ +91-9415142408.
Image: Facebook
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