Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Maheswar Dey, who earns a livelihood from farming, was quite distressed when his paddy field was attacked by pests.
His fellow farmers advised him to use pesticides on his pest-infested field. When Maheswar consulted a local chemist for pesticides, the shopkeeper told him that he needs to spend Rs 1200 for the chemical.
Shelling out Rs 1200 for pesticides was a huge expenditure for the poor farmer, who had to feed a family.
During this crisis, Maheswar approached Reliance Foundation for assistance. He called up the toll-free helpline number 18004198800, which he had received via a Voice SMS advisory from Reliance.
An agriculture expert from Reliance Foundation advised him to use acetamiprid (5 gram per 15 litres) along with some shampoo as a paste in his fields to drive away the pests.
The remedy given by the Reliance Foundation expert was not only useful but also pocket-friendly as the total expenditure for the remedy was just Rs 120.
The timely advice from Reliance not only helped Maheswar in getting rid of pests from his field but also saved him from shelling out Rs 1200 on pesticides.
Then, again in the Rabi season when there were issues of algae in his paddy field, Maheswar participated in the multi-location audio conference interactive programme of Reliance Foundation and shared his problem with the experts.
They advised him to use copper sulphate (3kg per acre). Maheswar followed this and the algae in his field were controlled.
The preventive measures and practices suggested by the Reliance Foundation experts not only helped Maheswar, a native of Odisha’s Balasore, in controlling the pests in his field, but also improved the crop yield than the previous years.
