Collector praises Ramannapeta farmer for growing four vegetable crops instead of paddy

District Collector Garima Agrawal visited the farm of Mittapalli Kamalakar Reddy in Ramannapeta, Boinpalli mandal, on Tuesday and praised him as a model farmer.

Instead of the usual paddy, Kamalakar Reddy grows four vegetable crops: ash gourd on one acre, chilli on one acre, bitter gourd on one acre and ridge gourd on 20 guntas. He uses mulching and drip irrigation for the chilli and bitter gourd. He sells his produce in the Vemulawada and Karimnagar markets.

He told the Collector that, after all expenses, he earns about ₹2 lakh from chilli, ₹1 lakh from bitter gourd, ₹80,000 from ash gourd and ₹30,000 from ridge gourd.

The Collector asked about his yields and markets, inspected the crops and congratulated him. She urged other farmers to move from paddy to crops that are in demand in the market. District Agriculture Officer Afzal Begum and District Horticulture Officer Sharath Babu were also there.