Vijayanagar dynasty has permanently reserved its share in Indian history. This Kingdom originated at Hampi, a place that existed even during the Ramayana and Mahabharata periods. Since then, this region has been rich in minerals and still attracts big firms to settle under its shelter. Having heard about the grand history of Vijayanagar, a farmer from a small village near Hampi was inspired to dream big. He started developing an interest in agro-entrepreneurship. He no longer waited to invest more than 30 lakhs on dragon fruits. His interest and inspiration failed to oversee the future water needs of his crops. Mid-August (2024) was the most terrifying time for his family. Talur received the highest rainfall this year. The Panchayat never estimated that their drainage would ever run full. But it resulted in putting Basavaraj under stress. The uncontrolled inflow of water into his farmland was a point of concern for his family. No one came forward to help him when required.
Today, let us understand more about this farmer and his trust in hard work and determination. Basavaraj is always fascinated by the successful experiments made by farmers. He came across the dragon fruit success story and visited a few places outside Bellary to understand dragon fruit cultivation in detail. His interest in dragon fruit started increasing, so he planned to stretch his pocket. He took a crop loan from banks and began his journey with this new crop. Dragon fruit cultivation is totally new in Sandur taluk; probably he is the first person to try this. He started adopting new techniques to increase his yield. He introduced solar fencing around his land to protect the plants from monkeys and installed a music system in his farmland. He used a combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers. He invited school students to his place and delivered a small talk about his plants. At the end of the session, he carried out Shramadhan with the students. He had another 2 acres of land at the entrance of Talur, in which he decided to cultivate other horticultural crops.
But the initial stage of cultivation was not very easy for Basavaraj. In 2023, Karnataka faced a very hard drought situation. Rainfall in Bellary district was 50% less than usual. So, he had a tough time arranging water for his crops. This was not the only case for Basavaraj. Every farmer in Talur had a tough time in 2023. Most of the wells and borewells were dried up. The water pond was empty. Even the water streams in Talur were running dry. But to my surprise, the attitude in the community towards water conservation was very poor. No one bothered to turn off the water taps after use. All 300 public taps were damaged, and water leakage was considerably high. Discharges from water purifiers were never regulated.
Many times farmers felt that all these water wastages could have been converted to irrigate their farmlands. But none of them came forward to take any action. All the drainage water was actually getting wasted. Neither the village has proper plans for water recycling nor are people interested in it. My voice was not really loud enough to talk about this. Every time after my session, I found people appreciating my public speaking skills and talking positively about my ideas, but no support from the community was assured.
I discussed this issue with Basavaraj, but even he was clueless. This is when I realized how stressed people can become. He always pointed at water wastages and kept saying it would be better if there were any mechanism to divert that water onto needy farmers’ land. Water belongs to all, but its responsibility belongs to none. Everyone is busy in their own lives, and nobody has time to do anything for society.
He was right. No one wants to take any responsibility. By the time I conducted PRA activities and began my baseline survey, 2023 was ready to say goodbye.
People anticipated that 2024 would also be similar to 2023, but nature had its own strategy and game plan. Karnataka received very high rainfall; in fact, Bellary received the highest rainfall compared to previous year’s data. Nobody estimated that the Talur drainage would be running full. The Panchayat hardly put any efforts into repairing them. This is when Basavaraj and his family were in trouble. One fine night it rained heavily, and all the water from the drainage rushed into his farmland. By the time he realized the leakage from the drainages, it was already late. He had to spend the entire night in the rain trying to pump out the excess water. To his bad luck, there was a power cut due to heavy rain. No one came to help him; it was just Basavaraj and his brother who had to struggle. All he heard from others was regarding the losses he had to face.
It was the same water he wanted a few months back, but today the same water is damaging his efforts. The pump set that was used to feed the crop is now being used to drain out the water. People who spoke about his losses were the same ones who suggested diverting the excess water to farmland. Things changed very quickly. Everyone who wanted rain was cursing the same rain today. Basavaraj, along with his brother, was successful in minimizing the losses. But this problem of unrepaired drainage or a leaky drainage system troubled him throughout 2024. Despite all these challenges, he didn’t lose trust. He strongly believed in his efforts. With God’s grace, he even got satisfactory yield. But this particular story helped me to talk more about the importance of a water budget.
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