Farmers honoured with Padma Awards for promoting agriculture despite all odds

This year the President of India has approved conferment of 132 Padma Awards for the outstanding contribution to society. These include 5 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri awards. The awards, which will be presented by the President, will also honor several anonymous personalities who have made special contributions in their respective fields. These include many farmers who have made a name for themselves in farming.

Such farmers who overcame all the difficulties in the field of agriculture ushered in success in the sector. Let us know who are these Padmashri farmers.

Coconut Amma Chelammal K. 

Chelammal is known as Nariyal Amma. Coconut Amma, 69, farms organically. She cultivated pineapple, banana, cloves and ginger in his 10 acres of land by intercropping method, making it an example and inspiring more than 150 farmers.

Coconut Amma produces more than 27,000 coconuts per year. She has two hectares of coconut plantations. These have 460 palm trees of the special tall variety of Andaman. She only attended schooling only up to class six, but has been farming for the past five decades. She has found effective and inexpensive ways to protect coconut and palm trees from damage.

Satyanarayan Bellery

Satyanarayan Bellery, a farmer living in Kasaragod, Kerala, works on conservation of traditional rice varieties. Rajkayama paddy developed by him requires less water and is now grown in many states. With the last 15 years of hard work, he has developed the polybag method of seed preservation. He is conserving more than 650 traditional varieties of rice.

Satyanarayana Belery farms paddy in the remote village of Nettanige in Kerala. He is also known as Seeding Satya by the locals. They are preparing seed banks to preserve traditional varieties of rice. He promoted paddy research and conservation by providing 50 varieties of rice to research centers and distributing free rice seeds to farmers.

Sarbeshwar Basumatary

Assamese farmer Sarbeshwar Basumatary, 61, has been selected for the Padma Shri award. He grows crops like coconut and oranges from mixed integrated farming. From bring a day laborer, Basumatary went on to become a farmer and set an example of advanced farming. He passed on his experience to other farmers, not only increasing the efficiency of others but also helping them to increase their livelihoods.

Basumatary is a tribal farmer who adopted mixed integrated agriculture. He grew oranges, rice, lychees and maize along with coconuts. Deprived of formal education, Basumatary was once a day labourer. But he became an example of success in agriculture through his diligence and hard work.

Sanjay Anant Patil

Sanjay Anant Patil, a farmer from Goa, is a Green Warrior, whom people have given the sobriquet of the ‘One-Man Army’. He has turned 10 acres of wasteland into a lush natural farm.

Sanjay Anant Patil, a 58-year-old innovative farmer, has been announced as the recipient of India's fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, for his distinguished service in agriculture.

Dr. Ram Chet Choudhary

Agricultural scientist Dr. S.K. Ram Chet Choudhary has been awarded the Padma Shri. Dr. Choudhary has been involved in the conservation and promotion of 'Kala Namak' rice for a long time. Thanks to his hard work and sincere efforts, this variety of rice is reaching the world today. In recognizing thiz rice as a cash crop, agricultural scientist Dr. Ramchet Choudhary played an important role. Thanks to his efforts, Kala Namak is being cultivated in 80,000 hectares in 11 districts of Purvanchal (UP).

He spent 10 years at Pantnagar Agricultural University. Besides serving for 5 years at Rajendra Prasad Central University, Pusa, Bihar, he has served in the agricultural sector in more than 40 countries with the United Nations. He returned to Gorakhpur after retirement and engaged in the conservation and promotion of Kala Namak paddy.