Mr. Sameer Srideshpande
Alka Amla Products
Hailing from an agricultural family, Mr. Sameer never had any second
thoughts about his career path. His passion for agriculture shows in
his research and the value-added products he comes up with at his
farm.
Myself
I am Sameer Akhil Sridehspande. I hail from the Ramdurg area of Belgaum district. I am
the son of a farmer and passionately continue the family farming tradition. I did my B.Sc
Horticulture from KRC College of Horticulture, Arabhavi in 2004. My post-graduation
was in post-harvest technology. The other courses that I have attended is Agriclinic and
Agribusiness Management from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.
I am the third generation farmer from my family. My grandfather was an agriculturist and
so was my father. My father had moved from agriculture to horticulture to some extent.
Today, we are in agriculture, horticulture and forestry.
Ramdurg has arid and dry climate. We have 26 acres of irrigated land in my name and
my father has 20 acres of non-irrigated land. In the irrigated land, we have 16 acres of
perennial crops. We grow sapota (2 varieties) in 10 acres, amla (2 varieties) in 2 acres
and banana (G9 variety) in 4 acres.
Apart from this, based on the availability of water resources, we grow agricultural crops
like sorgum, sunflower, maize and at times bajra as well.
Value Added Amla (Gooseberry)
We have ventured into amla processing because we could get a market for amla. After
suffering tremendous loss with banana cultivation my father, in consultation with the
Director of Research from Dharwad Agricultural University, decided to go for perennial
crops which includes horticulture and forestry. So, he took the initiative of adding crops
like sapota, bamboo, jamun, amla and fig. Out of all those we could succeed with amla
and sapota.
Back then it was on 5 acres of land. We thought of marketing the amla to big companies
like Kisan, Dabur etc. When we consulted them, the result was very poor with respect to
its market because they were expecting us to sell it at Rs 3-4 per kg, which was
unacceptable from our end.
So, my mother took the initiative of going in for a value addition for amla. With the basic
knowledge from CFTRI Mysore and Dharwad Agricultural University, she processed
the amla into Amla Murabba, which is a sugar-based product. After that we started with
Amla Supari. The one we process is widely acceptable by even BP patients. The
distinguishing factor of our product is the quality. The ones available in the local market
is black-coloured amla supari. Ours is a white-coloured product. We use black salt, rock
salt and asafoetida and buttermilk. The buttermilk is again from our farm.
We are researching on adding new products to our list like dehydrated amla and jamun
juice. At present we have:
1. Amla preserve - grated amla dipped in sugar syrup in which we use cardamom
as an essence. It is recommended for people suffering from acidity.
2. Amla powder - One can consume it with honey for health benefits - it controls
acidity. Amla powder combined with jamun seed powder and turmeric powder is
very good for diabetic patients. Also, amla powder along with mehendi can be
used for dandruff treatment.
3. Amla juice – it contains lemon and ginger juice along with sugar.
4. Amla and lemon pickles which is sweet to taste.
5. Sweet and salted amla candies. Salted version is called amla supari and the
sweet version is called amla candy.
For drying the amla for amla supari and amla candy, we have got a drying unit the roof
of which is covered with poly carbonate sheet. The size of the drying unit is 78ft length
and 28ft width. The benefit is that the bottom surface of the polycarbonate sheet is
treated with UV light. So, the quality of the product remains extremely suitable for
consumption.
We also use machinery for shredding, juice extraction, amla chopping etc.
Integrated Farm Management
With respect to cultivation of other agricultural and horticulture crops, we follow an
integrated management system. This is good for nutrient, disease and pest management.
With respect to the nutrient management, we focus on our own raw material which we
develop on the farm. I use farm animal manure. We have got our own bio gas slurry.
We procure poultry manure and we have got a small scale vermicompost unit as well.
We also grow Gliricidia, etc. as our boundary crop and green manure. These are the
organic materials we use on our farm. These are mixed with bio fertilizers and fed to the
plant as per requirement.
For horticulture crops, we dig the pit during the off season and mix all the biofertilizers
along with the manure available with us and we do a complete soil application. Other
than that the cow urine obtained from the dairy unit is stocked and stored for a month
and then extracted, purified and is used for soil application.
DISEASE AND PEST MANAGEMENT
We use things on the farm to rectify farm diseases. For example, we once had leaves
spotting on sapota and amla. With respect to consultation of agriculture scientist, Mr C
R Patil - a microbiologist, we sprayed cow urine along with some bio fertilizers and it
gave wonderful results. This has been practiced widely for all the crops available at my
farm.
With respect to pest management, in my agricultural tenure, for the first time I have
successfully used bio pesticides towards the control of weevil, nematodes etc. For
nematodes in banana, I used bio pesticides and saw wonderful results. Although
banana was infested with nematodes 3 years back, by using bio pesticides, I could
maintain the farm for at least 2-3 years. I don't think any chemical fertilizer or chemical management would have given me such lasting results.
Another thing I am really happy is the compost culture. Compost culture is nothing but degrading materials that is available at your farm. It contains 4 decomposing organisms. It helps in preparation of manure that is available at your farm. Whatever trash I get from sapota, amla and banana is dumped in a place and sprayed with compost culture. I mix it with bio gas slurry and some cow urine is also sprayed on it. Within a span of 2
months you get amazing organic matter. By using these products, I have reduced input cost by 50-60%. In agricultural life today, whatever you save, is earned. So, if you are saving 50-60% input cost from organic material your profit goes up by 50-60%.
WATER
Recently I have dug out a palm pond. The size of the palm pond is around 110 ft. length
and 100 ft. width with a depth of 16 ft. This can accommodate 40 lakh litres of water at a
time. That is my basic source of irrigation.
MARKETING
We have got a shop outside Ramdurg itself. My products are marketed through mouth to mouth publicity. Honestly, I couldn't market the products well because of the drought here. The plantation was reduced from 5 acres to 10 acres within a span of 2-3 years. So I have very limited quantity raw material right now.
Now, I have started another 2 acres of fresh amla plantation. In another 3-4 years I will
begin harvesting. The amla variety that I am processing is very specific to Ramdurg
area. The person who supplied amla plants to us, Mr K B Manjunath, asked us to supply
him with the seeds and he distributed it to entire Karnataka. Nowhere in Karnataka
could he succeed with the cultivation. Either there was a flower drop or there was no
fruit set. This species only grows in Ramdurg area. It is called the Sureban variety.
It doesn’t grow even in 40 kms radius from Ramdurg. The sad part about this is if I don’t
get the raw material for this from my farm, I can’t source it from anywhere in India.
INTERCROPPING WITH AMLA
We did try intercropping amla with green gram and it was successful. Pulses are good
for intercropping.
Talking about intercropping, reminds me of an incident. We once noticed dieback
symptoms in our amla plantation. This was when our plantation was around 15 years.
One Swamji suggested that we intercrop custard apple. There is a symbiotic
relationship between amla and custard apple. Custard apples’ roots controls the wilting
of amla. We planted custard apple along with tulsi as well. That way we could control
the wilting to a large extent.
Also, I use natural fungicides which gave me good results.
Ficus tree is also good but it is a big tree so in the long run, the amla will be under the
shade which is not good for the crop. Amla needs dry weather and open sunlight.
Intercropping with tulsi and custard apple is the best. You can go for any of the 4
varieties of tulsi. In fact in our area you can grow very good quality Ramphal version of
custard apple, the market is very good for it. I am trying it but so far haven’t been
successful - I am still trying to crack it. The size of the fruit that I get is quite small. I
have got around 30-40 Ramphal plants.
Mr. Srideshpande’s farm is an example of farming against the odds. In a dry and
arid area such as Ramdurg, he creates magic through sheer hard work and the
willingness to explore. We wish Mr. Srideshpande all success.
Alka Amla Products
Hailing from an agricultural family, Mr. Sameer never had any second
thoughts about his career path. His passion for agriculture shows in
his research and the value-added products he comes up with at his
farm.
Myself
I am Sameer Akhil Sridehspande. I hail from the Ramdurg area of Belgaum district. I am
the son of a farmer and passionately continue the family farming tradition. I did my B.Sc
Horticulture from KRC College of Horticulture, Arabhavi in 2004. My post-graduation
was in post-harvest technology. The other courses that I have attended is Agriclinic and
Agribusiness Management from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.
I am the third generation farmer from my family. My grandfather was an agriculturist and
so was my father. My father had moved from agriculture to horticulture to some extent.
Today, we are in agriculture, horticulture and forestry.
Ramdurg has arid and dry climate. We have 26 acres of irrigated land in my name and
my father has 20 acres of non-irrigated land. In the irrigated land, we have 16 acres of
perennial crops. We grow sapota (2 varieties) in 10 acres, amla (2 varieties) in 2 acres
and banana (G9 variety) in 4 acres.
Apart from this, based on the availability of water resources, we grow agricultural crops
like sorgum, sunflower, maize and at times bajra as well.
Value Added Amla (Gooseberry)
We have ventured into amla processing because we could get a market for amla. After
suffering tremendous loss with banana cultivation my father, in consultation with the
Director of Research from Dharwad Agricultural University, decided to go for perennial
crops which includes horticulture and forestry. So, he took the initiative of adding crops
like sapota, bamboo, jamun, amla and fig. Out of all those we could succeed with amla
and sapota.
Back then it was on 5 acres of land. We thought of marketing the amla to big companies
like Kisan, Dabur etc. When we consulted them, the result was very poor with respect to
its market because they were expecting us to sell it at Rs 3-4 per kg, which was
unacceptable from our end.
So, my mother took the initiative of going in for a value addition for amla. With the basic
knowledge from CFTRI Mysore and Dharwad Agricultural University, she processed
the amla into Amla Murabba, which is a sugar-based product. After that we started with
Amla Supari. The one we process is widely acceptable by even BP patients. The
distinguishing factor of our product is the quality. The ones available in the local market
is black-coloured amla supari. Ours is a white-coloured product. We use black salt, rock
salt and asafoetida and buttermilk. The buttermilk is again from our farm.
We are researching on adding new products to our list like dehydrated amla and jamun
juice. At present we have:
1. Amla preserve - grated amla dipped in sugar syrup in which we use cardamom
as an essence. It is recommended for people suffering from acidity.
2. Amla powder - One can consume it with honey for health benefits - it controls
acidity. Amla powder combined with jamun seed powder and turmeric powder is
very good for diabetic patients. Also, amla powder along with mehendi can be
used for dandruff treatment.
3. Amla juice – it contains lemon and ginger juice along with sugar.
4. Amla and lemon pickles which is sweet to taste.
5. Sweet and salted amla candies. Salted version is called amla supari and the
sweet version is called amla candy.
For drying the amla for amla supari and amla candy, we have got a drying unit the roof
of which is covered with poly carbonate sheet. The size of the drying unit is 78ft length
and 28ft width. The benefit is that the bottom surface of the polycarbonate sheet is
treated with UV light. So, the quality of the product remains extremely suitable for
consumption.
We also use machinery for shredding, juice extraction, amla chopping etc.
Integrated Farm Management
With respect to cultivation of other agricultural and horticulture crops, we follow an
integrated management system. This is good for nutrient, disease and pest management.
With respect to the nutrient management, we focus on our own raw material which we
develop on the farm. I use farm animal manure. We have got our own bio gas slurry.
We procure poultry manure and we have got a small scale vermicompost unit as well.
We also grow Gliricidia, etc. as our boundary crop and green manure. These are the
organic materials we use on our farm. These are mixed with bio fertilizers and fed to the
plant as per requirement.
For horticulture crops, we dig the pit during the off season and mix all the biofertilizers
along with the manure available with us and we do a complete soil application. Other
than that the cow urine obtained from the dairy unit is stocked and stored for a month
and then extracted, purified and is used for soil application.
DISEASE AND PEST MANAGEMENT
We use things on the farm to rectify farm diseases. For example, we once had leaves
spotting on sapota and amla. With respect to consultation of agriculture scientist, Mr C
R Patil - a microbiologist, we sprayed cow urine along with some bio fertilizers and it
gave wonderful results. This has been practiced widely for all the crops available at my
farm.
With respect to pest management, in my agricultural tenure, for the first time I have
successfully used bio pesticides towards the control of weevil, nematodes etc. For
nematodes in banana, I used bio pesticides and saw wonderful results. Although
banana was infested with nematodes 3 years back, by using bio pesticides, I could
maintain the farm for at least 2-3 years. I don't think any chemical fertilizer or chemical management would have given me such lasting results.
Another thing I am really happy is the compost culture. Compost culture is nothing but degrading materials that is available at your farm. It contains 4 decomposing organisms. It helps in preparation of manure that is available at your farm. Whatever trash I get from sapota, amla and banana is dumped in a place and sprayed with compost culture. I mix it with bio gas slurry and some cow urine is also sprayed on it. Within a span of 2
months you get amazing organic matter. By using these products, I have reduced input cost by 50-60%. In agricultural life today, whatever you save, is earned. So, if you are saving 50-60% input cost from organic material your profit goes up by 50-60%.
WATER
Recently I have dug out a palm pond. The size of the palm pond is around 110 ft. length
and 100 ft. width with a depth of 16 ft. This can accommodate 40 lakh litres of water at a
time. That is my basic source of irrigation.
MARKETING
We have got a shop outside Ramdurg itself. My products are marketed through mouth to mouth publicity. Honestly, I couldn't market the products well because of the drought here. The plantation was reduced from 5 acres to 10 acres within a span of 2-3 years. So I have very limited quantity raw material right now.
Now, I have started another 2 acres of fresh amla plantation. In another 3-4 years I will
begin harvesting. The amla variety that I am processing is very specific to Ramdurg
area. The person who supplied amla plants to us, Mr K B Manjunath, asked us to supply
him with the seeds and he distributed it to entire Karnataka. Nowhere in Karnataka
could he succeed with the cultivation. Either there was a flower drop or there was no
fruit set. This species only grows in Ramdurg area. It is called the Sureban variety.
It doesn’t grow even in 40 kms radius from Ramdurg. The sad part about this is if I don’t
get the raw material for this from my farm, I can’t source it from anywhere in India.
INTERCROPPING WITH AMLA
We did try intercropping amla with green gram and it was successful. Pulses are good
for intercropping.
Talking about intercropping, reminds me of an incident. We once noticed dieback
symptoms in our amla plantation. This was when our plantation was around 15 years.
One Swamji suggested that we intercrop custard apple. There is a symbiotic
relationship between amla and custard apple. Custard apples’ roots controls the wilting
of amla. We planted custard apple along with tulsi as well. That way we could control
the wilting to a large extent.
Also, I use natural fungicides which gave me good results.
Ficus tree is also good but it is a big tree so in the long run, the amla will be under the
shade which is not good for the crop. Amla needs dry weather and open sunlight.
Intercropping with tulsi and custard apple is the best. You can go for any of the 4
varieties of tulsi. In fact in our area you can grow very good quality Ramphal version of
custard apple, the market is very good for it. I am trying it but so far haven’t been
successful - I am still trying to crack it. The size of the fruit that I get is quite small. I
have got around 30-40 Ramphal plants.
Mr. Srideshpande’s farm is an example of farming against the odds. In a dry and
arid area such as Ramdurg, he creates magic through sheer hard work and the
willingness to explore. We wish Mr. Srideshpande all success.
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