Agriculture department principal secretary N Vijayalakshmi inspects the pumpkin crop and (above) a farmer shows her his produce at Sohdih village in Nalanda on Tuesday

Patna, Sept. 6: Organic farming has held out fresh hopes for farmers of Baburbanna village in Nalanda district who are inspired by the success of the agricultural method adopted in Sohdih, its neighbouring village.

At present, residents of Baburbanna are learning the ropes of making bio-compost under the expert guidance of Agriculture Technology Management Agency, a farmer-friendly autonomous body, registered under the Societies Act, responsible for the extension of agricultural reforms at the district-level.

Around 150 farmers of Baburbanna, who have been given tips on organic farming recently, would be cultivating the first cabbage crop through organic farming on 100 acres.

Jaspal Kumar (25), a farmer of Baburbanna, was happy to see the villagers carving out a better growth path, similar to those of Sohdih, for themselves.

“We are now learning how to make organic compost. We all (the villagers) are very excited about being able to cultivate vegetables through organic farming like our counterparts in Sohdih,” Jaspal told The Telegraph, with a shine in his eyes. He also pointed out at the first leaves of cabbages that have started appearing.

He added: “I saw the success of organic farming in Sohdih. It is great. I got to know from other farmers that they made almost twice or thrice the profit through organic farming as compared to farming through chemical fertilisers. I am anxiously waiting to similar results in my fields.”

Bihar Agricultural Management & Extension Training Institute director R.K. Sohane said: “The state government wants to usher the second green revolution. It wants to discourage common farming by chemical fertilisers and wants to ensure that every farmer adopts organic farming. Vermicompost is very costly in the market. So we encourage the farmers to make it at home. For this, expert guidance is being provided to them. The state government is also providing a subsidy of Rs 10,000 per hectare for organic farming.”

“We all know what impact the green revolution had in Punjab and Haryana. We have made a five-year agricultural roadmap on which we would inculcate good and innovative practices of agriculture production,” said N. Vijayalakshmi, agriculture secretary.