South Farm

South Farm

Farms

Farms have a crucial role in the agricultural industry. It is the spine of every agriculture college. KIA nurtures and maintains two farms – the South Farm (47.96 acres) and the North Farm (55.26 acres). The students receive field practical sessions and hands-on training here. It improves the skills of our students and enhances their ability to understand and employ innovative practices. The farms are equipped with an ample number of tractors, farm implements, tools, and other types of machinery for the students to learn.

South Farm

South Farm area spreads over an area of 47.96 acres. The soil is of irregular series red sandy loam irrigated by bore wells. Drip irrigation has been installed besides ware harvest structures in this farm. Different instructional units such as crop cafeteria and IFS unit (comprising farm pond (fish + duckery), dairy, poultry – broiler / layer and quail and elevated goat rearing are in place for instructional purpose and imparting training to the farmers.

Crop Cafeteria

KIA maintains a Crop cafeteria on 0.5 acres for nurturing a variety of ﬁeld crops as part of agronomy and plant breeding courses. The crop cafeteria serves as a learning resource to study the phenology and morphology of different crops. It raises cereals, millets, pulses, oilseeds, green manures, fodders, and ﬁbre crops.

Integrated Farming System (IFS)

The farm has a Wetland-based integrated farming system (IFS) model unit on 2.5 acres with a poultry shed of 8 ft x 8 ft above the ﬁsh pond. The rearing capacity of the poultry is around 25 numbers. It uses poultry dropping as a supplement to the feed requirements of ﬁngerlings. Crops are raised in the adjacent ﬁelds during the Kharif-rabi seasons. Paddy straw from the rice crop is used for growing mushrooms. Different fodder crops (tree fodder + grasses+ legumes) are also raised in the area. It also helps in rearing dairy and goat units.

Azolla Production Unit

KIA has an Azolla Production unit which consists of a shed with six tanks of dimension 6’×3’ each. The unit has taken up the mass multiplication of Azolla pinata. The productivity of Azolla is 100 gm per sq. inch. Every day 5 kg of fresh Azolla is harvested from each tank, washed thoroughly and fed to poultry and ﬁsh.

Vermicomposting Unit

In KIA, the agricultural wastes are used as organic manure in the farms by dint of vermicomposting. The vermicomposting unit in KIA consists of a shed with six beds of size 6×3×1 feet each. It serves as an instructional unit for the course Vermicomposting Technology offered as an experiential learning programme. The unit operates with the available farm wastes and crop residues. The earthworm species Eudrilus eugeniae is used for vermicomposting of the agro wastes.

VAM production unit

KIA executes the mass multiplication of VAM fungi in pits of size 2’×3’. There are a total of 48 pits for the purpose. Maize is raised and the inoculum is mixed with carrier material vermiculite before supplying to farmers.

Mushroom

Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ﬂorida) Production is an ongoing activity in KIA, to provide training to students and for commercial selling. The mushroom shed spans over 50×20 sq. ft. Students are given hands-on training on spawn and mushroom productions as a preparatory step to entrepreneurship. The training reveals that 120 kgs of mushroom can be produced from 100 beds in 70 days. It is vented at a price of Rs.140 / kg.

Sericulture

Sericulture or Silk farming is another breakthrough achievement for KIA farms. A commercial cocoon production unit is preserved to train the students on mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing, cocoon production, and similar areas of study. The sericulture unit consists of a rearing shed of 22×20 ft with a capacity of 30 DFL per batch. Mulberry variety V1 is raised in the 1.5 acres area.

Bio control Production unit

The standard cultures of Pseudomonas ﬂuorescens and Trichoderma viride were obtained from ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insects Resources (NBAIR) Bengaluru. The unit uses it for mass multiplication at the rate of one ton/month each. The biocontrol agents are sold to farmers at Rs.100/kg. These agents are the natural enemies of pests that intervene in the life cycle of insect pests minimising the crop damage.

Veterinary clinic

The south farm includes a Veterinary Clinic of dimension 25×20 sq. ft. It provides proper medical care to the animals on the farm and of the general public. The veterinary doctor serving the institution as a faculty member attends to the needs of the animals on the campus and treats the animals brought by the farmers on speciﬁed hours.

Farm Pond

A farm pond has been established in an area of 5 acres in the North farm for rain water harvesting.

Threshing Floor

Threshing Floor is located in the South Farm of KIA with an area of 100×50 ft. It is mainly used for drying, threshing, cleaning, packing and grading the farm produces.

Workshops

Farm machinery workshop is equipped with tractors, thresher, power tiller, engine cut models, bucket elevator, screw conveyor, spiral separator, inclined belt separator, thin layer dryer, grain cleaner cum grader, two gasiﬁers, pyrolysis unit, solar dryer, surveying and levelling equipments and hitching machineries / implements which are the learning aids for students to enhance ﬁeld oriented knowledge on machinery operation and maintenance procedure.