In the sleepy villages of Sirsi in Karnataka an economic revolution is taking place. In just four years, farmers have tripled their income by growing pepper, the king of spices. Word of pepper’s potential has spread to five districts of Karnataka — Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Chikmagalore, Hassan and Kodagu — and here too farmers are making money by growing the black spice.
The man behind this silent transformation is 68-year-old Dr Madhugiri Narayana Rao Venugopal, a retired ICAR scientist, affectionately called ‘Pepper Doctor’. By assiduously sharing his knowledge with farmers he. . .
