Budding farmers from Bengaluru can consult UAS experts for a fee

Here is some good news for urbanites who are keen to take up farming, but do not have the expertise and experience to venture into it. With a focus on week-end farmers and those who are new to farming, the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru (UAS-B) is set to introduce paid consultancy services.

“The university’s experts and scientists will provide a cropping system plan for farmers depending upon the size and nature of their fields, as well as their requirements and investment potential. We are going to prescribe a fee for preparing such a plan,” says UAS-B Vice-chancellor Dr. S.V. Suresha.

“If necessary, experts would visit the field. It will be similar to architects preparing a building plan and visiting the site where certain amount of money would be charged for each visit,” Dr. Suresha told The Hindu. The plan would be as per their requirement and also availability of labour. Experts would also suggest mechanisation options.

Feedback during santhe

The university came up with the idea following feedback from the monthly santhes (shandies) being organised on its GKVK campus in Bengaluru where innovative farmers and farmers’ organisations are allowed to sell their produce on the fourth Saturday of every month.

“The consumers, who visit the santhes, also comprise IT and corporate employees, and other professionals from urban areas who have either recently bought farm land, or want to become farmers. Some of them are week-end farmers. They contacted us during the santhes and wanted to know if we can help them,” explained the Vice-Chancellor. “They are not traditional farmers who just want technical guidance. These are people who do not have hands-on experience. Hence, we thought of introducing paid consultancy services.”

The university has already received requests from close to 20 persons for consultancy services. “We are classifying their requirements and, accordingly, will assign relevant experts. To begin with, we are going to set up a consultancy desk at the university within a month for people to contact us online. They can submit relevant details about their land’s maps, nature and their requirements,” he said.

In five districts

The service will be for offered in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru South (Ramanagara), Chikkaballapura and Kolar districts.

The Vice-Chancellor is optimistic that the service would spur innovation in farming, particularly marketing, as such urban professionals are good in building a brand for their produce through online platforms. The university is keen to promote organic farming methods through them.

A lot of urbanites, who took to farming during COVID days, are not active in agriculture now, Dr. Suresha pointed out, and hoped that the new service would help rekindle interest.