Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Sep 21: Meet this man whose monthly income hovers around Rs 65,000, who has a car and fertile agricultural land. He is able to provide quality education to his children. You are wrong if you imagine him to be a white-collar worker.

He is K Vittal Gowda from Murulya, Sullia taluk. He has mastered the skill of scaling coconut and areca nut trees with the help of a machine.

In the past, Gowda used to go up the areca and coconut trees in a traditional manner and did jobs like spraying of insecticide and other work. He used to eke out a living of whatever money he earned. In the year 2013, he got interested after reading a piece of news which appeared in a newspaper in the year 2013. Encouraged by the idea he participated in a six-day training camp organised at the Krishi Vijnana Kendra in the city. There was no looking back thereafter.

Gowda, who has turned 52 now goes up 80 trees per day on an average. If a particular plantation has 100 trees, he scales all of them within a day. The highest number of trees in a day he has scaled was 124. His average income is Rs 2,500 per day. He is not strict about holidays and takes off when it is absolutely necessary. There is no dearth of work for him now.

Vittal Gowda is the chief resource person to train others in the skill of scaling coconut trees. He has held training camps in tree scaling skills in Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Campco, Krishi Vijnana Kendra and other organisations not only in Dakshina Kannada but also in other districts. Radio stations have conducted his interview twice or thrice. He does not charge any fee for going up the trees in schools and also in case of poor families. Some visit his house to learn the skill and he teaches them for free.

Dr T J Ramesh, head of Krishi Vijnana Kendra here said that as per last year's figure coconut is grown in 21,772 hectares of land in Dakshina Kannada district and there is a shortage of people skilled in the art of scaling the trees. He said that about 3.10 lac coconuts are grown here annually and Vittal Gowda stands out as an example for how this technology can be turned advantageous and profitable by anyone.

Vittal Gowda said that the skill he acquired seven years back at Krishi Vijnana Kendra changed the course of his life forever. He said it has made him financially independent and commands respect from the community. He says he is grateful for Krishi Vijnana Kendra for this.