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“Earlier we worked like slaves in our own farms,” said Madappa of Bidarahallihundi village in Heggadadevana Kote taluka of Mysuru, standing in his chia farm, adjusting the green shawl – a must-have clothing accessory of most Kannada farmers – thrown over his white shirt. “But now we are like kings.”
As the climatic conditions of Mysuru district favored crops like rice, sorghum, ragi, pulses, sugarcane and tobacco, farmers here have been growing them for generations. Farmers of Mysuru, known for the pomp and gaiety of its traditional 10-day-long Dasara festival, are writing a new chapter, growing this popular crop that retails for Rs 100-odd for 100gm in metros.
Among Mysuru’s horticulture crops are Nanjangud Rasabale banana, Mysuru betel leaves, Mysuru mallige (jasmine) and Erengere brinjal, which are however vanishing due to the state’s indifference and the changing preference of the consumer. In recent years, it’s the chia seeds that have brought the district into limelight.
Chia seeds have been available in health and lifestyle stores in the country’s metros, having been imported from Mexico. It was the team of Ram Rajasekharan, former director of Mysuru-based Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and his colleagues, biochemist Malathi Srinivasan and plant breeder R V Sreedhar that introduced chia as a crop among Indian farmers.
Growing it in the 38-acre Bengaluru campus of CFTRI, researchers began work on chia seeds in 2012. Through pure line selection, CFTRI developed a pure line with blue flower and white seeds, and a high yielding line of white flower and white seeds and have tested them through five generations.
Unconvinced by the claims of the researchers, some of the farmers discarded the seed pouches; but a handful of Mysuru farmers planted them. Farmer Madappa (62) sowed chia in a quarter-of-an-acre while in the rest of his 15 acres he continued with tobacco, sugarcane, cotton and millet. After three-and-a-half months, he harvested 80 kg of chia seeds and gifted it back to CFTRI.
On an average, farmers harvest about 8-10 quintals of ragi (finger millet) per acre with cultivation costs ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15, 000.
The cultivation costs of chia is a couple of hundred whereas the yields are 3 quintals an acre for the white variety and about 5 quintals for the black variety. While ragi fetches around Rs 2,500 per quintal, white chia brings Rs 22,500.
A plant of South American origin, chia (Salvia hispanica), a popular nutraceutical, is a rich source of Omega-3 fatty acids and is gaining popularity across the world because of its nutrition value. Chia seeds contain slightly fewer calories compared to flax. It has more fiber and contains 1.5-2 times more of the bone-strengthening minerals calcium and phosphorus, as well as slightly more iron.
“We encountered stiff opposition from the public at large and the research community for introducing an alien crop, and not promoting traditional millets,” recollected Rajasekharan. “These are the people who don’t know that millets originally came from Ethiopia.
“It’s a crop that hardly needs any inputs or fertilizer; cattle and wild animals do not prefer them,” Kurubur Shantakumar (58), founder of Raithamitra Farmer Produce Company (FPC) and one who has been growing chia in three acres in Bidarahallihundi village, told VillageSquare.in.
Most farms in the district are on the periphery of forests or what is known as the Mysuru Forest Division. Though not a part of an elephant corridor or migratory route, it witnesses incidences of human-elephant conflict as herds destroy crops. The farmers said that chia farms have not been affected.
Assisted by CFTRI, chia growers formed the Raithamitra FPC in 2014 and presently have 1,200 members. It promotes cultivation of chia, with a buyback offer. From vegetables and food grains to fruits, Raithamitra buys produce from farmers and sells them to entrepreneurs. Having recently launched chia seeds for supermarkets, it plans to launch chia oil, which is likely to retail for Rs 6,000 for 100gm.
Almost all the villages have about 250 families. Every village has a high school. For further studies children travel to nearby towns, commuting in state transport buses. On completion of studies, they seek jobs in towns, unwilling to work the family-run farms. With chia promising handsome returns, elders hope that the youth would return to farming.
Puneeth’s family owns a 10-acre farm plot and traditionally grows tobacco, ragi and sugarcane. The success stories of chia farmers have motivated him too. He has set aside two acres for growing chia and plans to increase its acreage in the coming years.
(This article was first published on Village Square and has been republished with permission.)
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