Sikkal KVK Success Stories

Thiru Gnanasekaran, IFS farmer

1.	Name	:	Thiru Gnanasekaran
2.	Contact Number	:	8012963013
3.	Address	:	Vandalur, Nagapattinam
4.	Age	:	54 Years
5.	Qualification	:	8th Standard
6.	Experience	:	36 Years
7.	Land	:	3.0 acre owned and 2.5 acre leased out

Thiru. Gnanasekaran is a farmer having 36 years of experience in farming. His father is a carpenter. He was brought up by another person in the same village that is the reason he is interested in farming than the traditional work. He has a family of 8 members including 2 wives, 3 sons and 3 daughters. Two sons and a wife is also involving in farming and supporting him. One son is a 70% disabled person working in a textile factory, two daughters are got married and one daughter is studying 12th standard.

He has 3 acres of own land and 2.5 acres of land leased out from other farmers. He established farm pond in one acre. The water is utilized for irrigation at the time of water scarcity and fish rearing is also done in the farm pond. In 2015, he got fish fingerlings (Catla, Rogue, Mirgal and Common carp) from KVK, Sikkal in IFS programme. He earned Rs. 20,000/- by marketing fish from farm pond in the last season.

He attended many trainings in KVK, Sikkal mainly on Integrated Farming System, Vermicompost production, Vegetable cultivation technologies etc., He cultivated paddy or vegetables in the remaining 2 acres of land. Last season he earned around Rs. 25,000 to 30,000 by selling paddy. At present he cultivated vegetables like Brinjal, Bhendi, Greens, Tomato and Chillies in two acres of land with drip irrigation technology. In leased out land, he cultivated paddy or vegetables and earned nearly Rs. 30,000/- per year.

He is having poultry unit in his land. He always maintains 50 birds in this unit. He rears traditional varieties only (nattukozhi). Through this unit he earns profit of Rs. 25,000/- every year.    

One slated goat shed is also there in his farm. He always maintains 40 goats in this unit. He rears sheep, kodiyadu and nattu aadu. He earns profit of Rs. 50,000 every year through this unit. He earns nearly Rs. 2.25 lakhs every year through IFS component.

He also produces vermicompost in his farm. The manure is used for his land only. It is difficult to purchase cowdung from others as bulk for the production of vermicompost. So he tried to produce compost by using goat excreta as trial.

He is a resource person for IFS model and the farmers from KVK, Sikkal visited many times to his farm to learn the IFS component. He also encouraged the farmers to start IFS which is highly remunerable. His success is also documented by Doordharshan and the documentation process is facilitated by KVK, Sikkal.