Not an easy feat this - Transporting Red Banana Roots

Banana Roots

Getting Banana roots from across Thirumangalam.

One of my desire got fulfilled.  I have a facebook friend Thirumurthy of Sathyamangalam, Erode District. He is natural farmer. Recently he has cultivated Red Bananas. After the harvest he offered the roots to anyone of interest. I asked 250 Nos for myself.

How do I transport them from across 450 kilometers from Thirumangalam, Erode to Nanguneri, Tirunelveli ?   It has to come fresh without damage and and quick before drying up.    Finally after a week of waiting for Thirumurthy to find labor to dig the roots, we quickly coordinated each other and shifted them in 15 gunny bags overnight through a transport.  It was a new experience for either parties.  When it arrived at Tirunelveli, I coordinated with Subbu to pickup the material.  He said they are in very good condition.

Below are the details 

Description	Rate	Quantity	Amount
Digging the Roots	3	250	750
Vehicle - Auto from Sathya to Coimbatore	1	1400	1400
Root cost	3	250	750
Nellai-Kovai-Transport	1	1950	1950
Lorry Nellai-Nanguneri	1	1400	1400
			6250
	Per Root		Rs. 25

Now that the roots are on hand, we need to quickly prepare the land for sowing. We have selected the piece next to the tower so that we can put drip pipes over there from the overhead tank.

Subbu is very busy these days. He would be restless to close the call. Asked him why?. He said overall the work has increased. I can understand.  With so many pipes and butterfly valves to open and close, Kandan is unable to understand their relations. Everytime Subbu has to come to operate them.  Perhaps I have to do something for this.  Subbu has got fedup educating kandan on this.

Presently he was irrigating banana plantsr. There is power cut issue. He borrows water from nearby well. I asked why should we depend on a neighbor for water and pumping. He said he was conserving our own water.  He is obsessed that fishes should have plenty of water.  The bananas require liberal water towards the end.  The existing banana trees are just 2 months away for harvest and require more water.  Hopefully once that is harvested we can focus on these red bananas.

I already gave around 30 roots to another farmer enroute  by again coordination and sending their person to collect them.  Another 25 Nos I asked Subbu to give his father. He hesistated. I said it will create a competition.  I want to start a competition. So that we can bench mark each other. he is using fertiliser and it will be reference point for me to compare how it grows in natural and fertiliser environments.

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