Introduction

Vrushabh Mandave has had an inclination towards agriculture since childhood. Being born and raised in the Nagache Kumthe village of Satara’s Khatav taluka, Vrushabh finished his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Biotechnology (B.Sc. Agri Biotech). Later, he worked with an agricultural service centre in Vaduj, Satara. There, he got to closely see and understand the problems faced by farmers. He decided to work on alleviating the issues faced by farmers. 

While he was a student, he met Prasanna Karandikar as one of his teachers at the degree college. Prasanna invited Vrushabh to join TWJ-TSR’s agricultural wing as a researcher. Vrushabh moved to Chiplun to get trained and pursue his goals. 

Background

While at Chiplun, Vrushabh was introduced to the various phases in the development of Indian agriculture after Independence in 1947.  Having seen the plight of local farmers closely through his work at Vaduj, he was able to better understand the issues faced by farmers at the national level during his training and research at Chiplun. He was also introduced to various farming techniques and processes at an international level. He understood the key issues faced by Indian farmers revolved around poor crop management, low crop- productivity and yields and huge post-harvest losses. The rampant use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides deteriorated land productivity.  Furthermore, given the fact that most farmers in India are small landholders, he came to the conclusion that farmers in India need to gain maximum output in a small pocket of land and that they want to earn regularly through their agricultural practice. 

Success case 

After 5 months of research, he started conducting 4 different experiments on his 1-acre farm. It focused on mixed cropping and multi-layer farming. In a 1-acre plot, he grew 27 crops with minimal chemical fertilizer and water use.  He was able to recover 20,000- 25,000 Rupees per month in this technique. 

Future 

Vrushabh is of the opinion that if good post-harvest practices are adopted, this income can be raised to 30,000- 35,00 rupees for a one-acre plot. He is currently working towards practical techniques to increase sales revenue and minimise post-harvest losses.