Amai Mahalinga Naik’s farm has become a model farmland and has over 1,000 visitors a Year including foreign tourists
Amai Mahalinga Naik, age 77 years, an innovative farmer from Adyanadka village of Coastal Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka has been conferred with the Padma Shri Award – 2022 for transforming an arid sloping hill into a fertile farm through the Innovative Zero-Energy Micro-Irrigation System.
Naik single-handedly dug six tunnels of 315 Ft length to bring over water to his farm. He also constructed 300 percolation trenches alone in the hills surrounding the farm with around 5,000 large laterite stones that he carried himself to his farm. Naik built two revetments (15-Ft long, 30-Ft wide and 5-Ft high) and a tank of 12,000 Litres capacity to fill up the revetments. He turned a deserted and barren plot of land into a lush oasis comprising 300 areca nut palms, 75 coconut trees, 150 cashew trees, 200 banana saplings and pepper nines.
In addition to this, he also keeps bees and produces Azolla for his cows as a dietary supplement. For all his efforts, he is also known as the ‘One-Man Army’ and ‘Tunnel Man’ in his surrounding areas. Naik’s farm has become model farmland and has over 1,000 visitors a year including foreign tourists.
