Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Apr 6: The deputy commissioner (DC) of Udupi has been a busy man always, as he has to attend his office work and participate in video conferences, meetings and functions, as well as government programmes and interactions. Still, he has taken a lot of interest in growing organic greens and vegetables around his residence at Ajjarkad here. He has emerged as a role model for the citizens of the district and also the officials because of his efficiency and love for farming.

Anyone who takes a walk around the DC's house is sure to fall in love with the lush green plants tended by the DC and his wife with care.

The deputy commissioner, G Jagadeesha, hails from a family of farmers in Sorab taluk, Shivamogga district. It has become his hobby to grow a garden full of vegetable plants wherever he is transferred, near his residence. He also has grown some fruit plants. He even has planted guava plants and mango saplings which he brought from Kolar.

The DC grows the vegetables his family needs in an organic way instead of relying on vegetables grown by using chemical fertilisers. Even though he is busy most of the time, whenever time permits, he joins his wife, Soumya, in manuring or watering the plants, weeding etc with a pickaxe in hand.

People who approach the DC's residence come across okra plants, different greens like fenugreek, amaranth, radish, spring onion etc. There are also plants of Mattu Gulla, ridge gourd vines, tomato plants, spinach, cilantro, snake gourd, long beans and ash gourd creepers etc.

The DC's family uses aerobic manure for feeding the vegetation. Instead of throwing vegetables, peels and other wet waste, Jagadeesha's wife makes aerobic manure from this waste and uses the same to grow the plants in the garden. As organic manure is used, the plants grow in a robust way. The aerobic manure is prepared by storing the wet waste in three containers that are used by rotation.

Recently, under the guidance of the apiary experts in the department of horticulture, Jagadeesha has started beekeeping. He says that he has undertaken this measure to get pure honey.

The DC says that the vegetables grown by ourselves are tasty besides giving us a kind of pleasurable feeling. "Moving around the garden raised by us gives us a sense of happiness and fulfilment. Even when I reach home late at night, I go to the garden with light to watch it. My farming background and interest in raising plants have inspired me to do all this," he confesses.