Abdul Rauf Abdulkarim Shaikh is a progressive farmer, residing near

Banavasi Banavasi is an ancient temple town located near Sirsi in Karnataka. Banavasi was the ancient capital of the Kadamba dynasty that ruled all of modern-day Karnataka state. They were the first native empire to bring Kannada and Karnataka to pro ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

who is known for innovative cultivation of

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...

and he is conferred with honorary doctorate by

University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UASD) is a state agriculture university established by the Government of Karnataka which imparts education, research and extension activities in the fields of agriculture, forestry, food science, a ...

, for his achievement in horticulture.

Early life

Due to family problems, he could not continue his education and started working in agricultural farms at the age of 14 and gradually purchased agricultural lands and at the age of 62, he owned more than 150 acres of land, in which he cultivated various crops like banana, pineapple, pepper, vanilla, coconut etc. in innovative way. He died on 16 October 2020.

Pineapple king

Mr. Shaikh is nicknamed as ''Pineapple king of Banavasi'', for his innovative cultivation methods and crop yield in and around Banavasi town of

Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a fifth largest district in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belagavi districts to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shivamogga District, and Udupi District to ...

district of Karnataka. He adopted the method of drip irrigation for pineapple and fertilizer is supplied through drip tubes and harvested about 30 tonnes of pineapple per acre through this method. He got inspiration to adopt this method by horticulture practices adopted by farmers of Hawaii and Philippines. He has earned name and fame as he is the first farmer to adopt this method and achieved success in producing pineapple, which he directly sold at

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. He bought dry land at Hallikoppa village during 1972-73 and started growing pineapple, which is the turning point in his life. He has adopted scientific methods in growing other horticultural crops like coconut, areca, pepper, g-9 banana, venilla etc. and he has grown some of the crops including pineapple as inter cultivation crop. He has also established a pineapple canning unit at Banavasi, with a capacity of 10 tonnes or 6000 fruits in eight hours.

Honorary doctorate

Considering his contribution in agriculture and its importance to society, Mr. Shaikh was awarded an honorary doctorate by University of Agricultural Sciences,

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the northwestern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merged ...

, in 2006. He has also been honoured with ''Kayaka Ratna'' award and ''Dr M H Marigowda Best Horticultural Farmer Award''.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indian horticulturists {{India-bio-stub