It often takes a while for most of us to discover our true calling. But some are so certain about their chosen path that they pursue it with determination and attain fulfilment. Devesh Patel always knew that farming was his true calling. An IT graduate, he started expanding his farm practice in 2005 while he was still in college.

“Farming was my passion, but I took up the degree because my family believed that I should have some kind of degree,” laughs the 37-year-old farmer from Boriavi village in Anand, Gujarat.

He began operations for his brand of organic produce, Satva Organic, in 2005. Moreover, he did value-additions for fresh harvests like turmeric and ginger and started manufacturing products like turmeric pickle, turmeric latte, dehydrated ginger powder, chai masala, among others.

Now, he sells 27 products under Satva Organic, with close to 15,000 orders a month. Every year, he exports close to six tonnes of ginger and turmeric (fresh and processed) to the US and other countries in Europe. Through his operations, he earns over Rs 1.52 crores a year!

He has also trained over 200 farmers in the region and helped them practice organic farming, some of whom have gone on to become entrepreneurs. The enterprising farmer from Gujarat shares how he made the most from his organic farming practice.

How I Became a Farmer-Entrepreneur

Growing up in a family of farmers, Devesh was always connected to nature. His family owns about 12 acres of land, and he has taken an additional five acres on lease from family and friends. Although they had been practising farming for quite some time, it was only in 1992 that the family switched to organic farming.

“We believe that our land is our mother. So if this is our mother, why should we poison it? There are so many organisms carrying out different bio-activities underneath. Plus, it is our social responsibility as farmers to ensure that people eat fresh and chemical-free food. This was the idea behind pursuing organic farming,” explains Devesh.

Although the operations began full swing in 2005, the name ‘Satva Organic’ first came into use by the farmer in 1998. “When we would sell our organic harvests in the mandis, we used this name on the gunny bags which had our farm produce,” recalls Devesh.

Sometime in 2005, as Devesh was pursuing his Computer Science degree from Anand Mercantile College of Science, Management & Computer Technology, he started thinking about the farm operations since he would soon take on the reins after graduating.

“Our harvest was organic, but it fetched the same price as non-organic ones in the mandis. It made me realise that I would have to grade my produce and explore other market channels,” states Devesh.

He noticed a few banquet halls near his college and had a lightbulb moment.

“A lot of rotary clubs, society meetings, and functions would take place in these halls. It got me thinking about selling the produce from my farm to them directly. It would eliminate the middlemen and their added costs, the people would get organic produce at a lower rate, and I would also earn a higher price,” says Devesh.

And, this is what he exactly did.

He spoke directly to the presidents of different clubs, and built up his customer base, supplying them with freshly milled organic atta and vegetables. After a point, he started getting orders from individual homes and delivered those in the mornings on his way to college.

This led to the growth of Satva Organics, with the operations growing each year.

Growing Food Organically

Devesh informs that the operations for Satva Organics are very much like family-run businesses where everyone multitasks and looks after different aspects like farming, marketing, processing, and value-adding.

They practise bio-dynamic farming, where the soil is enriched with nutrients even before the seed is sown. Further, they grow plants that fix essential nutrients to the soil and enrich it by using organic manure.

“We have a small dairy farm as well, and we use it to make the farmyard manure. This is prepared by fermenting cow dung and adding buttermilk, anti-fungal powder (natural) and organic liquid bio bacteria produced by the local agricultural university. We also have large pits on the farm where we make compost by sandwiching layers of kitchen waste and dry leaves,” he explains.

But the decision to process and add value to his fresh harvest helped him become an entrepreneur and increase his income. A 1,200 sq ft processing unit on his farm washes, peels, boils, dries and processes potatoes, wheat, maize, turmeric and ginger. These are made into potato chips, flours, popcorn, and spice mixes. Devesh mentions that the operations in the unit are supervised by his wife, Darpan Patel.

“The weather conditions in our region are most suitable for growing tubers. Which is why we mostly grow produce like yam, potatoes, turmeric, ginger, sweet potatoes, beetroot, along with brinjals, wheat, and coriander,” explains Devesh.

All products sold by Satva Organic are certified by FSSAI, India Organic, and USDA.

Customers are extremely happy with the quality and freshness of the produce. Amisha Patel is a homemaker in Ahmedabad who discovered Satva Organic at an organic agricultural fair about six years ago.

“My family has been eating organic food for quite some time, and when I visited the fair, I came across their stall. I decided to try their haldi (turmeric) powder and loved it for its freshness. I could tell that no chemicals were used to grow them,” shares the 42-year-old.

Since then, she has used their spice blends, chai mixes, and some vegetables.

“During the lockdown, they could not supply us with the produce. So, I went all the way to the farm and got some potatoes, ginger, pudina, haldi and coriander,” smiles Amisha.

Farmers too have benefitted with Devesh training. Ritesh Harshadbhai Patel is one such farmer who was directed to Devesh by the Anand Agricultural Institute. Trained as an engineer, he decided to take over the farming operations on his 6-acre family-owned land when his father passed away eight years ago.

“We were growing tobacco at the time, and I decided to stop it because it is cancerous. I switched to chillies, but they weren’t growing well. That is when I thought of taking up organic farming. Devesh bhai has taught me everything I know,” he says.

Now, Ritesh is an organic farmer who grows moong, turmeric, and wheat. He also has a processing unit where the turmeric is processed (dried and powdered) and sold under his brand, ‘Harshprem Organics’.

“Devesh bhai sometimes instructed me over a video call, and I followed his directions. I am thankful to him because my income from farming has increased three times. I am also sharing the knowledge I gained on organic farming with other farmers here,” shares the dweller of Dharmaj village in Petlad taluka.

Challenges and Moving Forward

If you were to ask about challenges, Devesh happily says that there were none that he couldn’t overcome over time.

“Right now, the only challenge for us is to increase our land under farming as there is a lot of demand within India and outside. By scaling our agricultural operations, we will be able to cater to the rising demands,” he shares.

In future, Devesh hopes to work with and train many farmers. “The idea is to show them that organic farming can be profitable,” he says. He also looks forward to introducing more value-added products to his existing range.

“There is a need to create awareness on organic farming, and I hope to share my knowledge with anyone who wishes to learn. As a farmer, my life-long goal is to provide consumers with healthy food grown using the best practices,” he says, signing off.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

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A boundless white desert, acres and acres of arid land, a low-lying area where temperatures touch 50° Celsius and scattered monsoons — this pretty much sums up Gujarat’s Kutch district. But, in this very region of saline backwaters and unfavourable vegetation conditions, lies a lush farm spread over 150 acres. Blooming with orchards of fruits like dragon fruit, mangoes, pomegranate and hundreds of vegetables, it breaks the monotony of Kutch’s landscape.

The farm is owned by Haresh Thacker, a third-generation farmer, who started farming after passing out of school, and he sells the vegetation under the name Ashapura Agro Fruits, which is a business that he started along with his late brother, Jethalal.

“It was a combination of occupational genes and the joy of seeing a seed bloom into a fruit that ignited my interest in farming. I was around 14 when I first started helping my father with basic activities like watering, and every day, I would wait for school to end so that I could enter the fields to check the progress of my favourite trees. The joy of plucking fruits and vegetables was something I wanted to do for life. After schooling, I joined my father and promised myself that one day I would create a farming empire in the drylands of Gujarat,” Haresh tells The Better India.

Along with witnessing the gradual expansion of his farm, he also noticed the invariable problem of water scarcity. Realising that climatic conditions cannot be altered, Haresh focussed on incorporating technologies and innovations that would require limited water.

Building relations with other competitors was not difficult when he started out, he says. “When you are in your 20’s, you are brimming with enthusiasm, energy and will. I was always looking forward to exchanging knowledge with other farmers. Also, I kept myself aware of all the farming schemes of the government. So, in pre-social media days, I heavily relied upon my own marketing skills.”

The 53-year-old’s marketing strategies introduced him to farming techniques that can now be found on his farm. “Who would have imagined that mangoes, which are tropical fruits and need up to 100 litres of water per day would flourish in water-scarce Kutch? Or that dragon fruit can survive in freezing temperatures and sweltering heat? But I did it!” he mentions.

How? “I use a Vietnam-based farming technique to grow dragon fruit and high-density fruit tree planting for mangoes,” mentions Haresh.

In 2012, Haresh was one of the farmers who travelled to Vietnam as part of an Indian delegation, and was intrigued by the strange-looking dragon fruit, or Hylocereus undatus, which was pink on the outside, and had white skin peppered with black seeds inside.

“The dragon fruit is a tropical plant that is low on calorie content and contains antioxidants. It does not require much water to grow and can thrive in arid areas. The fascination resulted in experiments and today we grow dragon fruits in 50 acres,” shares Haresh.

Haresh has planted 98 poles per acre and each pole gives around four dragon fruit plants in a year, “In the first year it gives around five kilos of fruit per pole and it can go up to 20 kilos in the fifth year.”

Haresh has even given a desi name, ‘kamalam’ (the Sanskrit word for lotus) to the dragon fruit that fetches him Rs 100 per kilo, “The shape of the dragon fruit is very similar to a lotus, hence the name kamalam,” he says.

He had invested four lakhs to grow the dragon fruits and the costs were recovered within two years, “If you do not put enough investment then your execution can fail. Today, I earn anything between Rs 6-10 lakhs per cycle,” Haresh adds.

Seeing his phenomenal success, over 150 farmers from the district and across India have visited Haresh’s farm to learn the techniques and start their own cultivation.

One such farmer is Vinay Prajap who moved to Bhuj from Uttar Pradesh four years ago for the job of an agronomist. However, when that did not turn out to be suitable, he switched to dragon fruit farming.

“I purchased four acres of land after undergoing training at Haresh’s farm. He has added his own variations in the Vietnam method to make farming easier and more organic. I replicated that on my farm and one acre fetches me around Rs 80,000,” he tells The Better India.

High-Density Planting for Mangoes

While mangoes have been a part of his farms for a few decades now, Haresh implemented high-density planting (HDP) only a couple of years ago.

Under HDP, the aim is to increase plant population per unit area, reduce the gestation period to get early returns and thereby increase yield. This method is beneficial for trees like mangoes that have a huge plant canopy occupying wider spaces.

“We plant mangoes at a spacing of 10×10 metres, allow them to grow till 8 ft and then keep pruning them. Since the trees are kept at a short height, it allows better light interception leading to high photosynthesis. This has increased yield, from 50 trees per acre to 400. We get a revenue of up to three lakhs per acre,” says Haresh, who grows the Kesar variety on a shared land of 200 acres between the brothers.

The productivity of the orchard is inversely proportional to water usage, “Irrigation is crucial after pruning and for the same, we use drip irrigation that ensures effective water management. It can cut down water usage by almost 40-50 per cent.”

Mangoes and dragon fruits are grown organically as Haresh uses Jeevamrutham, neem, vermicompost to supply essential nutrients to the trees and kill pests.

For the rest of the vegetables and fruits, Haresh constantly experiments with different farming techniques like intercropping and multi-layer farming.

Currently, he is growing off-season strawberries and broccoli through the fan and pad technology. The system consists of exhaust fans at one end of the greenhouse and an AC cooler at the other end to control the climate and make it conducive for plants.

He has also recently installed an automated drip irrigation system across his farm that allows him to monitor water levels of each plant from his phone: “The system switches off in two hours automatically after covering the entire farm.”

Haresh supplies his vegetation across India, including to big players like Reliance Fresh and Big Bazaar. He also exports the fruits to Dubai and the United Kingdom.

When asked what is the secret behind the exponential growth and high profits, Haresh says, “I grow fruits and vegetables as per the market demand. For instance, lemons are in high demand during summers, while bananas are in high demand in the fasting season between July and August. Understand the market requirement and let your farming business flourish.”

Vietnam Method to Grow Dragon Fruit

• Haresh grows the dragon fruit sapling in a grow bag for about four months to let the roots form.
• The sapling is then transplanted around a cement pole of 8×6 ft that is placed vertically in a one feet deep soil. It is enclosed with a cement ring.
• The poles are placed at a distance of about 20×20 feet so that it can receive enough sunlight
• The dragon fruit is a climbing plant that uses the pole to grow.
• Meanwhile, fill the inside of the pole with soil, vermicompost and cow dung to provide nutrition to the plants.
• He uses the micro-irrigation technique to water the plants. This has cut down the water usage by 40 per cent.

Get in touch with Haresh here.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

Krishna Prasad, 45, hailing from Kalavoor, Alappuzha, Kerala has loved elephants since his childhood. In fact, his family has owned elephants for generations and have raised them as family members.

But it was during the lockdown that Krishna went on to discover that the dung produced by his elephants could be of use for his farming. By using composting techniques, Krishna created manure from elephant dung which quickened the growth of several vegetables in his farm and is now able to produce 500 kg of organic vegetables every week!

Krishna & His Elephant Friends

“I’m an advocate by education but my profession has always been farming. I’ve been taking care of my ancestral property of seven acres for over two decades now and my five elephants, Parthasarathy, Ganeshan, Jayakrishnan, Madhavan and Raja, have been my constant companions over the years. You could say I literally grew up with them,” explains Krishna.

Taking care of both the farm and the elephants is quite a hectic job, so Krishna employs a few people who live nearby.

“Of the seven acres of land, I grow paddy in 2.5 acres and grow vegetables like bitter gourd, long beans, okra, brinjal, snake gourd, tapioca and even plantains in the rest. I’ve adopted a drip irrigation system in the farm which has also made farming a lot easier,” he explains.

Using The Uncommon Dung

Although Krishna has had the farm for quite a while, it was in March that he really found the time to think about ways to use elephant dung in composting.

“We’ve all heard of using cow dung but elephant dung is not commonly used by farmers and one of the main reasons is the heat that it produces. A lot of steam comes out of it and although several farmers are aware of its fertility, handling the dung itself is seen as a huge task,” he explains.

So in order to use the elephant dung, Krishna decided to add it to his compost pit along with the other biodegradable waste from his farm.

“Instead of burying the dung, as usual, I moved it to my composting pit so that the heat would wear off easily while quickening the composting process,” Krishna explains.

He also explained that unlike other animals, elephants digest only 40 percent of the food they eat and the remaining 60 per cent is excreted in a fibrous form.

“It is very fertile and plants start growing faster. As a result, for the past few months, I have been able to harvest almost 500 kg of vegetables every week and sometimes even on alternate days,” he explains.

Ratheesh who has been a local vegetable vendor in Alappuzha for over a decade has been collecting Krishna Prasad’s produce for over two months now.

“I was completely astonished at the amount of compost that was being generated in that house. It is actually quite uncommon, in our area especially to see manure being produced on such a large scale. Krishna Prasad has used all of this to the benefit of his farm and that reflects in the quality and the quantity of the produce that is available there. Most of the vegetables I need are readily available in his farm in the required quantities and the best part is they are available at all times,” Ratheesh explains.

Krishna’s wife Rajitha, who is a bank manager in Alappuzha town, participates actively in the farming process with Krishna along with their two children Gadha and Meera.

“We’ve experienced a lot of difficulties due to the lockdown in terms of sales, but several local vegetable vendors have approached us for our produce,” Rajitha explains.

“Elephant dung was something that was easily available for us and today, I’m glad that we can actually put it to use and not worry about cleaning it up,” she laughs.

Krishna has also come up with a liquidised form of the manure and plans to expand it into a fertiliser business in the future.

(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)

In what is seen as a groundbreaking development, farmers across many states in India are successfully growing a cultivar of apples called HRMN 99. The variety, which can be grown in low altitudes (1,800 feet above sea level), has been developed by Hariman Sharma, a 65-year-old farmer from Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. Apple are usually cultivated at a minimum of 5,000 feet above sea level.

“After working as a labourer in other farms for many years. In 1998, I started nurturing mango orchards and began vegetable cultivation. In 1999, I purchased apple seeds from another farmer in the district and planted them. I did not have any hopes that it would grow, but I observed a small apple seedling that had sprouted. I nurtured that seedling with the little knowledge I gained from my farming experience, and let it grow,” says Hariman.

In two years, the tree started fruiting, but the fruits were small in size. To improve the quality of the apple, he grafted a stem from the apple tree with a plum tree.

“Owing to the non-availability of apple trees, I grafted it on a plum tree. It was successful, and the fruit quality was much better. They were the size of regular apples, and in an earth-shade colour with red tinges on the side. Soon, I grafted some more trees, and created a mini orchard with 8 trees. Till date, these trees continue to bear fruits, and provide a yield of 1 quintal every season which is usually in June. ” he says.

About HRMN 99

According to Hariman, this apple variety does not require chilling hours for flowering and fruit setting. Chilling hours refers to the period, when the plant is maintained at a certain temperature, usually from 0-7° C, to start producing flowers. While conventional apple trees could develop improper colour and fungal spots on its surface in case of excessive rain or fog during the fruit maturity period, the new variety is resistant to scab disease.

To study the adaptability of the HRMN-99 in various agro-climatic conditions of the country, the National Innovation Foundation-India (NIF) transplanted 10,000 saplings at 1,190 farmers’ fields and 25 organisations, across 29 states and 5 union territories during 2015-2017.

Successful fruiting was observed in Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan Jammu, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Himachal, and Delhi.

Hariman says, “To date, I have distributed more than 60,000 saplings of apple grafts across the country. Some, even out to places like Nepal, Germany, Bangladesh, and Africa. Apart from that, on my farm, I grow 205 varieties of plants such as mango trees, coffee plants, avocado trees, peach, litchis and more.”

In 2017, Hariman, who is now popularly known as ‘Apple man of Bilaspur’ was honoured by the then President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan, for his discovery.

Growing Apples in Telangana

Kendra Balaji, a farmer in Telangana, Asifabad cultivates rice, pulses, cotton, and several other fruit and vegetable plants on his 13 acre land. In 2017, he cleared two acres to plant 500 HRMN 99 saplings.

“Growing apples in tropical weather is very uncommon. It requires cooling rooms and a lot of care in the first few years. Trying to grow it South of India seemed impossible, but I always loved a challenge. I came across an apple graft variety called HRMN 99 after seeing some videos on a farming group. In that video, the farmers were successfully growing it in Odisha, and to my knowledge, the weather is not cold there. With the help of the horticulture department, I procured the grafts, and even got some tips on growing it from Hariman Sharma.”

Balaji planted the saplings and set up a drip irrigation system to water them. Today, each tree bears 30 to 40 small apples, making him the first farmer in Telangana to cultivate apples. On the Telangana State Formation Day this year, Balaji even gifted a basket of these apples to CM K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Next year, he plans to sell his produce in the local markets.

If you wish to know more about the sapling or would like to purchase it, you can contact Hariman Sharma at +91 9418867209 or visit his website.

Image courtesy: Hariman Sharma and Kendra Balaji

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

For most farmers in India, the presence of birds is a menace, but that’s not the case for Muthu Murugan from Coimbatore district’s Thondamuthur village. 

The 62-year-old organic farmer is happy to share his farm’s produce with birds. For this, he has dedicated half an acre in his 4-acre plot of land, to grow sorghum and pearl millets for birds. 

“The idea is to mimic nature and grow food the same way it is grown in a forest. No one uses pesticides in a forest or prevents birds from making their habitats. So why should we? Additionally, by killing pests with chemicals we are further depriving the birds of their meals,” Murugan tells The Better India. 

Murugan has been extremely accommodating to birds since the ‘90s and he used to sow seeds on the borders of his farm. However, earlier this year, he decided to grow millet and sorghum on 0.25 acre each. 

“Over the years, many farmers have switched to cash crops and that has also discouraged the birds from visiting our village. A few months ago, I also saw some farmers throwing stones at birds. That was my motivation to plant millets for birds, and I invested Rs 3,000 for this purpose,” he says.

The results have been phenomenal. “Birds (such as Scaly Breasted Munias and White Rumped Munias), peacocks and parakeets are frequent visitors to the farm. It is such a visual treat. During the crisis, we are so busy looking after the humans that we often forget about birds and animals. I am glad I could do my bit.” 

A few days ago, Murugan’s friend and wildlife photographer Varun Alagar visited his farm for an assignment and he was in for a surprise. 

“Murugan has dedicated his time, effort and most of his savings just so that natural history is preserved. His idea is that the animals haven’t disappeared, they’ve only been displaced by us. If every farmer dedicates a small amount of land for the birds, then there won’t be crop raids by them in concentrated areas,” he wrote on his Instagram post. 

Farming In Harmony With Birds 

Murugan is locally known for growing a living fence of tall and thorny cactus plants, jatropha and other wild trees. He believes that these leaves of the traditionally-styled fences can be used as compost or natural fertilisers for crops and help birds and animals make it their habitat. Also, droppings of birds in the bio-fence can aid soil fertilisation.

However, if farmers do not have a bio-fence, they can grow food for the winged visitors in multiple areas across their farms. This would prevent all the birds from gathering at one point and destroying crops, he feels. 

“It may not be feasible for all farmers to grow crops for birds but there are several ways in which we can allow the birds to play an integral part in preserving our biodiversity. Let us not forget them,” he adds. 

Murugan’s simple efforts are a reminder to all us that co-existing with nature may not be as difficult as it seems to be. 

Featured Image Source: Varun Alagar/Instagram

Edited by Gayatri Mishra

On any given day, Zama Organics’ warehouse in Mumbai overflows with organic colours and fresh aromas. Freshly ground yellow chilli powder from Uttarakhand is carefully placed next to the pink salt infused with jeera and hing. Meanwhile, assorted orange sweet potatoes, brown gucci mushrooms and Assamese black rice rest in another corner of the room. 

These condiments, vegetables, grains and fruits have travelled from the fields of organic farmers across India and are meticulously checked in the warehouse before being delivered to the doorsteps of their customers in Mumbai. 

Zama Organics was founded in 2017 by Shriya Naheta with the aim to make diverse foods of India accessible to people at the click of a button. In the process, Shriya has successfully managed to create a network of 50,000 farmers from all over the country and has offered them better margins for their produce. 

“The objective behind Zama Organics was to offer healthier lifestyle choices by creating a one-stop-shop for native and indigenous food items of different climatic belts and geographies. This would also mean encouraging more and more farmers to make their food-growing process completely organic,” Shriya, 27, tells The Better India. 

This food portal model is also proving to be beneficial in the wake of the pandemic. While farmers across the country are struggling to sell their produce due to movement restrictions, Shriya has managed to help close to 10,000 farmers in her network.

“The demand for organic and healthy food has certainly increased due to COVID-19, so we are striving hard to help as many farmers as possible while meeting the demand by consumers,’ adds Shriya. 

How The Organic Farm-To-Fork Model Works 

Freshness is of paramount importance at Zama Organics, and the organisation follows a strict harvesting calendar schedule. A list of spices, condiments, vegetables and fruits is prepared in collaboration with the farmers and based on their harvesting cycles, they are listed on the portal. 

“All food items on the website are ready-to-be-harvested so as soon as the customer orders, we give a green signal to our farmers. Most of the perishable food items are sourced from within Maharashtra so that they stay fresh until we make the delivery. No food lies on our shelf for more than a day. For non-perishable items, we rely on farmers outside the state,” informs Shriya. 

Food items arrive at the warehouse in Mumbai between 1-3 am. Staff the Zama Organics manually check the quality of vegetables as per taste and ripening specifications. The items are then packed and delivered at the customer’s house by evening. 

Besides, fresh produce, the firm also sells packaged air-dried herbs, hand-pounded spices and value-added products like pickles, jams, preserves, ghee, and oils. The biggest advantage in sourcing non-perishable items from farmers is the customisation of the products. For example, if some consumers want oil-free pickles, the firm replaces oil with apple cider vinegar. These products are either made by farmers or the firm outsources the production to local Self-Help Groups. 

How It All Started 

Shriya completed her graduation from the University of South California and returned to India in 2015. The idea of Zama was born during a trip with her friend, Aditi Dugar, who runs the fine-dining restaurant Masque and sources ingredients from indigenous farmers of various regions like Nasik, Coimbatore, Pune, Meghalaya and Kashmir. 

That year, Shriya accompanied Aditi to some of these places and got an opportunity to interact with farmers directly, understand their plight and also discover the hidden food gems like wild honey and gucci mushrooms. After learning about their organic methods, Shriya thought it would be a great idea if such food was available in Mumbai. 

Two years later, Shriya launched her website and thus began Zama Organics. 

“When I was coming up with a plan, I did not expect the supply chain to be challenging. I was proven wrong as the food would perish or spoil due to improper transportation and storage facilities. I even lost some customers after farmers failed to meet the deadlines. I learnt the hard way and decided to diligently follow a pre-order system.”

Building a trusted network of farmers was also difficult as no one took this young woman with no experience in selling vegetables seriously, “It took a while to convince them that their produce would directly be sold to customers and I was not a middle-person.” 

Due to fewer deliveries, in the beginning, Shriya also had to spend extra on transportation. 

While there were challenges in certain areas, getting customers was probably an easier task. She heavily relied on word of mouth and social media to spread information about Zama. It started with friends and family and in the last three years, Shriya has managed to cater to thousands of Mumbaikars.

Making An Impact

Akash Dongre, a farmer who lives on the outskirts of Pune, shifted to organic farming three years ago after his health deteriorated due to constant spraying of harmful pesticides to fasten the growth, increase the yield and make the vegetables look big and fresh. 

But switching to organic farming came at a cost. His overall input cost increased with organic fertilisers and consequently, and the market selling price also saw a rise. Coming from an area where there is absolutely no awareness regarding chemical-free food, he struggled to sell his produce for nearly a year. 

“I suffered from skin diseases due to the continuous use of chemicals. After realising the repercussions of conventional farming, I switched. However, since the produce was a little expensive, people were not willing to spend extra so I did not have the right market. All this changed after my association with Zama Organics. They cater to my kind of audience. My overall revenue has increased. Also, they have been extremely helpful in introducing new farming techniques and setting up the harvesting cycle,” Akash tells The Better India. 

Like Akash, Shriya and her team assist farmers they work with and help them get organic certification and an appropriate market. 

“By growing food sans chemicals and helping consumers eat healthy food, farmers feel happy about themselves and plus their health has also improved, says Shriya. Akash agrees and says that farmers in his village are impressed by his transition. 

In terms of revenue, the firm has kept away from giving a fixed percentage of the share as they do not work with all the farmers regularly. At a time, they engage with around 100 farmers.  

Shriya has consciously made the revenue model more farmer-centric as the prices of the products are decided based on estimates given by the farmers. On average, the farmers have a 10-15 per cent higher margin than the market rate. 

Though this model has affected the prices of the final product that are slightly on the higher side, Shriya does not mind. For her, farmers and customers are equally important. 

Fortunately, 2500 health-conscious customers of Zama Organics prefer quality over price.

Edited by Gayatri Mishra

Jaipur-based farmer Ganga Ram Sepat had always grown crops like wheat, bajra, maize, and jowar, in his family’s six-acre land. Things changed in 2013 when he read about how pesticides and chemicals had given rise to cancer cases in rural Punjab.

“I knew that there was an urgent need to change my ways. It affects the quality of the soil, the production and the health of the grower. We decided to completely do away with fungicides and insecticides immediately,” says the 43-year-old farmer who hails from Kalakh village in Rajasthan.

With a deep interest in farming, he quickly transitioned to an organic way of growing food. In 2016, the avid farmer chanced upon a new way of growing food — polyhouse (or polytunnel).

He also enrolled in a course to learn how to farm in a polyhouse. And now, in a three-acre polyhouse, Ganga Ram is growing cucumbers and earns Rs 30 Lakh in a year.

Additionally, in his six-acre family-owned farmland, he is organically growing strawberries, broccoli, sweet corn, tomatoes, chili, iceberg lettuce, wheat, okra, and wheat, among others.

In conversation with The Better India (TBI), Ganga Ram shares the unique farming techniques that have turned his business profitable and ensured that his farm yields toxin-free food for the consumers.

Passion for Agriculture

Ganga Ram was always interested in agriculture, so when it came to picking subjects in the Government Shakambhar college at Sambhar lake, he opted for Botany, Zoology and Chemistry and graduated in 1998.

In 1999, he decided to open a school in his village where he serves as the Director. “I wanted to open a school because there were issues of unemployment and I wanted the children in my village to have access to a good education that would help them get more opportunities in the future,” he says.

But over the years, his engagements in the affairs of the school were minimized as he got more and more involved in agricultural practices. While visiting his friend in the neighbouring village, Ganga Ram heard of Khema Ram, a farmer growing food in a polyhouse. Intrigued, he visited Khema’s farm.

“My family had always been very well-known in our area for the farming practices that we had adopted. The agricultural universities in the area too recognised our farming efforts but I noticed that we weren’t really adopting any modern farming techniques. This was really holding us back,” he shares.

Ganga Ram quickly visited the International Horticulture Innovation And Training Center (IHITC) in Jaipur to learn more about setting up a polyhouse and also learned techniques of preparing the soil, called ‘soil solarisation’. After finishing the three-day training, he started putting his knowledge to practice.

After receiving his training in IHITC, he finally set up his first polyhouse in October 2017.

Learning the Ropes of Polyhouse Farming

The most important method is the soil solarisation inside the polyhouse. This method makes use of solar power to kill and weaken pathogens in the soil making the technique environment friendly.

The steps involved in Polyhouse Farming are as follows:

* Mix manure (cow dung, vermicompost, seaweed granules, neem cake) with the soil.
*Moisten the soil using sprinklers.
*Set up a drip irrigation system.
*Cover the soil with a 25-micron thick poly sheet.
*Keep the soil wet and warm for 15 days.
*The temperature outside should be about 40 degrees celsius so that the poly sheet-covered soil absorbs all the heat.
*“If the temperature is not 40 degrees celsius on all days, follow this method for a few more days to make up for it,” says Ganga Ram.
*Remove the poly sheet and turn the soil again.
*Install the drip lines adjacent to the beds.
*Source a mulching sheet which is black in color on one side and silver on the other. If temperatures are too high, Ganga Ram advises to remove the mulching sheet especially in the summer months as it may heat up the soil a little too much.
*Cover the beds again with this sheet (with the silver side facing up)
*The whole objective of laying the sheet is to reflect the heat as too much heat is not needed at this point.
*Punch holes (with a diameter of two to three inches) into the sheet and through these holes, carefully sow the seeds half an inch in the beds.

“Ensure that each of the holes you make on the sheet is large enough to accommodate the growth of the cucumber plant. Moreover, plant each seed at a distance of about 1.5 to 2 feet so that they not only get enough space to grow but also that they do not have to fight for resources like air, water and nutrition,” adds Ganga Ram.

In about 35 to 40 days, your first harvest will be ready. Ganga Ram plants almost over 7,500 seeds in the polyhouse and since the crop cycle is short, he can grow them, again and again, using the same materials (reuse the same mulching sheet and the poly sheet).

Tackling the Challenge of Pest Control, Helping Others

Ganga Ram mentions that the biggest benefit of soil solarisation is that it reduces the chances of fungal disease, weeds and nematodes (microscopic species) that attack plants.

“This is one of the biggest concerns for polyhouse growers and once these nematodes attack the roots, they make a colony for themselves. This strips the ability of the plant to take up nutrition,” he cautions.

To tackle this problem, in addition to using organic manures (like jeevamrutha) that keep the soil healthy, he uses something he calls ‘Sampurna Jaivik Kadha’, (neem oil and natural bio-cultures) he sources from the National Research Centre on Seed Spices in Ajmer.

He explains that the Sampurna Jaivik Kadha is a mix of jeevamrutha (made using cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, besan and soil), dried leaves, aloe vera, tobacco, garlic, neem leaves, Datura Alba leaves (toxic against aphids).

The bio-cultures too comprise a good variety of bacteria and fungi that help in managing attack on crops. Ganga Ram mentions that he uses about 15 litres of bio-culture on one-acre land (diluting it with water in the ratio of 1:9) and sprays it through the drip irrigation system.

Seeing Ganga Ram’s unique techniques of growing these cucumbers, quite a few farmers have taken inspiration from him and Ganga Ram has gladly helped them out.

One such farmer is Babulal Mahariya who was growing bajra and wheat two years back using inorganic methods. But, he decided to switch to natural methods because he felt that could do a world of good for consumer’s health. Now, he too is maintaining a one-acre polyhouse where he grows toxin-free cucumbers as well.

“He (Ganga Ram) gives me all the information and I write it in my notebook. Together, we sit and make a schedule. I’ve also learnt how to make jeevamrutha and use bio-cultures in my crop. We keep meeting from time to time. I even set up a WhatsApp group of farmers from the village. Here, we share the best practices and tips for growing our crops,” he says.

Challenges and Looking forward

Despite these positives, Ganga Ram mentions that there are certainly a few challenges that he has come across over the years of trying to grow food naturally and free of toxins.

“The biggest challenge is that not a lot of people know about these modern techniques and this stops a lot of farmers from even starting out. Besides, although we are growing food naturally or using organic methods, there is no platform where we can sell our produce. We have to go to the same mandis to sell despite making that extra effort of not using chemicals,” he says.

He hopes that with the emergence of such platforms, farmers would get more pay and that would also urge them to employ best natural practices.

Ganga Ram mentions that he wants to grow mushrooms in the future. He also has a fish pond where he cultures fish like Rohu, and Katla. He has also heard a lot about hydroponics and wants to try his hand at that as well.

“Everyone looks down upon agriculture as a profession. I want to prove that any farmer can earn profitably by incorporating good practices. I want to urge all farmers to move away from chemicals so that they can grow food which keeps the soil healthy as well as the people who eat it,” he says signing off.

If you want to get in touch with Ganga Ram Sepat for queries, please contact him at +91 98877 82381

(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)

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When his elderly father was diagnosed with cancer, Ramchandra Patel, a farmer based in Olpad, Surat, found it difficult to wrap his head around the news. They were farmers. They grew their own food, did not drink or smoke and ate healthy most of the time. How could this happen? 

It took 13 trips to a Mumbai hospital and multiple consultations with doctors for Ramchandra to understand that the culprit —  the chemicals and harmful pesticides that they used for an effective yield — had been in front of them all along.

The revelation served as a wake-up call. Although his father succumbed to the deadly disease, Ramachandra decided to put an end to chemical farming, and switch to natural ways. By 1991, he began practicing Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) on a plot of non-agricultural land and worked to convert it into a fertile one. 

Today, Ramchandra says this was the best decision that he ever made. The ZBNF farming technique has helped reduce his input costs significantly and increase his returns. Per annum, one acre fetches him up to Rs 1.5 lakh putting his overall income at Rs 27 lakh from 18 acres. 

“My input cost is negligible,  the microbial activity in the farm’s soil is massive, production output is high and my returns are profitable. On a more personal level, my immunity system has improved, and now I am no more feeding poison to my customers,” says the farmer speaking to The Better India. 

The bounty from his farm includes banana, turmeric, sugarcane, guava, litchi, purple yam, traditional rice varieties, finger millets, wheat and so on. 

On Converting “Non-Cultivable” Land 

Ramchandra was born into a family that has practiced agriculture for generations, and, although he acquired a BCom degree, he found it impossible to stay away from farming, taking it up seriously in the 80’s. 

An added advantage of growing up in an agrarian family is the in-depth understanding of the symbiotic relationship between nature and farming that one acquires. When he learnt about natural farming, he got more clarity and wanted to develop a farm model where nature does everything. 

“Nobody goes and tills the land in a forest or does watering. The forest creates a platform for the plants and trees to thrive and does not care about the yield. I too focussed on enriching my land. Healthier the land, better is the output. Natural regeneration of the earthworms and soil-dwelling organisms on the farm is the key,” explains Ramchandra.  

His knowledge was probably the reason why he decided to take a risk of starting a fairly new farming technique on barren land. 

“I was advised against purchasing this inexpensive and infertile land that would only result in a disaster. The only reason I went ahead was that I believed in the power of nature. It made me confident and willing to take the risk,” he says. 

Earthworms act like a treasure, he says. They thrive in land with an abundance of biomass. They feed on organic matter like decayed leaves along with the soil as well as on cow dung. In return, they churn rich compost every 24 hours that ultimately provides all the nutrients to plants. 

“Besides, earthworms’ burrowing action can effectively till the land while creating a porous structure to the soil. This porous land allows water to easily penetrate underground, thus recharging the eater tables. It also retains air and moisture for longer periods that are necessary for the roots,” he says.

To develop this cycle, he first had to make his land fertile. 

He began by recycling all crop residues and biomass, and covering the farmland either as a mulch or green manure. He followed it up by adding jeevamrut (a mixture of cow dung, cow urine, water and jaggery) to the soil. The two bio-inputs increase soil fertility and promote bacterial activity.  

Keeping the weeds is another beneficial approach he uses. “I usually clear the weeds without uprooting its roots. The roots below the ground surface act as mulch and they serve as food for the soil-dwelling creatures.”  

Ramchandra religiously followed the practice and after three years of hard work and umpteen failures, the unimaginable happened. 

His farmland was now fertile.

How His Farming Is Zero Budget

Ramchandra says the first rule in any business is ensuring that the input cost is minimal or at least less than the revenue. It is no secret that many farmers across the country heavily rely on chemicals that increase the overall input cost.

With ZBNF, the idea is to eliminate the costs associated with these external inputs that cause indebtedness, degradation of the environment and loss of soil fertility in the long run.

Ramchandra, therefore, focussed on preparing jeevamrut and the mulching process. 

“Jeevamrut is fermented microbial culture to enhance soil fertility and keep fungal infections at bay. Cows help us complete the farming circle. While the cows help in grazing, their waste (urine and dung) is used to make jeevamrut at no cost,” says Ramchandra. 

For mulching, he uses dry leaves to cover the soil instead of plastic sheets. Mulching is a gardening technique that suppresses weeds and conserves water in crop production. He digs three 3-4 feet-deep holes at intervals on the mulching sheet and sows seeds, “The holes protect the crops from damage during heavy rains. They absorb excess water and in turn recharge the groundwater,” he explains.

For sowing seeds, Ramchandra applies the intercropping method, one where two or more plants are cultivated on the same land. He has chosen plants that complement each other. For instance, he has used this method to grow bananas and turmeric together, as the latter helps in controlling fungal infections. Also, turmeric needs less sunlight so the banana leaves provide shade.  

“Intercropping uses sunlight and water more efficiently when compared to crops planted separately. The reduced distance also keeps insects at bay. Jeevamrut and mulching further helps in plant growth,” says Vanrajsinh Gohil, a farmer from Bhavnagar, speaking to The Better India. Through ZBNF, Gohil was able to double his income in just six months. Read his story here.  

To protect the crops from pestilence, Ramchandra uses a concoction of neem and cow urine, “The bitter smell of neem prevents insects from forming their colonies.” 

In addition to this, Ramchandra uses the drip irrigation method that provides water directly to the roots and, in turn, cuts down usage of water by 50 per cent.

Impact 

Ramchandra says that ever since he discontinued chemical spraying in his farm, his skin allergies have significantly reduced, and his immunity has improved.

Inspired by this change, Ramchandra tries to keep the price of his produce in sync with chemical-infused food for he wants more people to buy healthy food, “My input costs have allowed me to keep nominal rates but depending on the weather conditions, I have to increase the prices sometimes,” says Ramchandra. 

As an additional source of income, Ramchandra also makes value-added products that include banana chips, sugarcane juice, yam wafers, turmeric powder, ratalu puri bhajiya and tomato puris. He sells the items and produce in his outlet that is located right outside his farm. People residing in the Surat district can also avail the home delivery option.

One of his loyal customers, Madan Shah from Surat, does not mind paying a little extra if it means keeping his family safe.“Ramchandra was very welcoming and gave me a tour of his farm and techniques. We have been sourcing our food from his farm for a couple of years now and I have seen the change in my health — I don’t fall ill that often anymore. Eating the right food can make a huge difference,” Madan tells The Better India. 

It took a tragic event for Ramchandra to realise the massive damage that chemicals can cause on the environment and humans. But he is hopeful that with more and more farmers adopting eco-friendly practices, access to clean, healthy food will only increase, and help consumers live longer healthier lives.

Edited by Gayatri Mishra

We’ve all heard about it before and also seen people make a business out of it as well. But how viable is hydroponics cultivation at home?Is it too expensive? Does it require a lot of time and effort?

We decided to answer all of your questions by speaking with Laasya Samhita, a biologist and a research fellow at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru who has been cultivating her own plants in her balcony using hydroponics.

A Tiny Balcony For My Leafy Greens

“One of the major reasons that I switched to hydroponics was the fact that I wanted to save up on the water that I was using. Earlier, I would use 15 litres of water in a week; but my hydroponic set up just needs around 5 litres,” Laasya explains.

Laasya started hydroponics farming in November 2019, primarily to grow leafy greens like lettuce, coriander and spinach.

“I really wanted to include a lot more greens in my diet, but the ones I bought from outside had tons of pesticides and fertilizers in them and since I had a very small balcony, I opted for hydroponics, since it didn’t require much space,” she says.

With a balcony space of 6 x 4 ft. and an initial investment of Rs.10,000, Laasya set up her hydroponic farm with the help of a team from Hyper Farms.

“Besides the initial set up cost, I believe that hydroponics is perfect for growing chemical-free vegetables and leaves, especially for urban gardens who have space constraints. I currently have a 30 slot set up for my space where I only grow red and green lettuce, coriander and spinach,” she explains.

Hydroponics On a Day-To-Day Basis

Laasya goes on to explain that maintaining a small hydroponics set up like hers is far easier than a regular kitchen garden.

“After you’ve set up the hydroponics garden, you must add 1% of the nutrient solution to water and add it to these slots. This nutrient solution is filled with ions and salts that promote plant growth. If you’re not growing seeds directly, you will have to place them in dehydrated soil plugs before placing them in water. All the accessories including the soil plugs and the mineral solution are usually available along with the set-up. If they are not provided, then these are available online and will only cost you around Rs 150-200,” Laasya explains.

When it comes to the maintenance side of this Laasya explains that water and an ample amount of sunlight is crucial for these plants.

“My balcony had enough sunlight so I didn’t have to add additional lights. However, in case you need to, most of these setups have the option of adding customised lighting facilities as well. And in the case of water, unlike the regular watering we have to do for soil gardening, you will only have to add the solution once in 2-3 days. This will, of course, vary depending on the size of your farm and the amount of sunlight you receive,” she explains.

Things to Keep In Mind

“The pH level of the water you use for hydroponics farming is very important. The water that you use needs to be slightly acidic (around pH 6.5). Since the water in my area is slightly alkaline in nature, I add a little bit of tamarind water to the water to level it out. So before going ahead with this method, it’s important to clarify details like these,” Laasya explains.

She goes on to explain that although there is a certain restriction to the kinds of plants you could grow in a hydroponics set up (in the case of plants that absolutely need rooting), the quality of the harvest is amazing.

“Just like any other kind of gardening, hydroponics is something that needs a certain amount of practice and can be perfected over the course of time and I would especially recommend it to urban gardeners who have limited resources,” she concludes.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

A lot of people are coming back to their hometowns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in a reverse migration of sorts. For several people, this has been a time to reconnect with their roots and also become farmers. For, Lakshmi Narasimha Ikkurthi, 36, an engineer hailing from Andhra Pradesh, the decision to return to his hometown happened way before the pandemic.

In fact, his decision to quit a job opportunity in the US and return to Guntur, Andhra Pradesh led to the creation of the ‘Yazali Farmers Producer Company’ which has generated jobs for more than 400 farmers in his village and has turned the place into an agricultural paradise.

How It All Began

For Lakshmi Narasimha Ikkurthi, everything started with a series of accidents that happened in his village that date back to 2010. Seven teenagers who were under the influence had died in separate accidents over the year.

“On hearing about these events from my mother, I realised how the lack of education and unemployment had led to these events and immediately wanted to do something about it,” says Narasimha.

At that point in time, Narasimha was working for CSC in Hyderabad and was getting ready to leave to the United States as part of his work. But on hearing this, Narasimha decided to drop the plan altogether.

“I returned to Hyderabad and connected with people who had migrated from my village and created a group under the name ‘Yazali-Naa Janmabhumi’ which consisted of around 400 families. With the help of the group, I started collecting funds and raised about to Rs 10 Lakh which was used to renovate the school with labs, boundary walls, a virtual library and a 500 seater cafeteria. We were also able to build an old age home with the money that was raised,” he explains.

Painting The Town Green With Farmers

As a result of Narasimha’s initiatives to develop educational facilities in his village, several youngsters found a new future. His next step was to move forward and create a platform that would provide employment opportunities to the villagers through agriculture.

“I wanted the youngsters and the farmers of my village to get a chance to explore the roots of the village and wanted to bring advanced farming techniques through training programmes and wanted them to explore the opportunities in our own village before venturing out to other places,” Narasimha explains.

“My idea was to create an organisation that put a name to the food we ate, a brand name for the rice and vegetables that our farmers produced,” he adds.

As part of this project, Lakshmi Narasimha initiated a partnership with Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University in Guntur where 40 PhD students and professors would visit the village to educate farmers about new and innovative farming practices.

“Although the training programmes were informative, the farmers did not show much of an interest in them and wanted to continue their own practices. That’s when I came to the realisation that I myself had to have the first-hand experience in farming in order to create such a platform,” he explains.

Using a few acres of barren land near Shamirpet that was acquired by the Yazali Na Janmabhoomi group, Narasimha cultivated around 2000 saplings of grape, watermelon and vegetables in a span of just six months with the help of the village governing body, all while managing his job in Hyderabad.

“Soon after this, I left my job completely and dedicated myself completely towards the project. I conducted surveys across the village to get a better understanding about what the farmers were growing, how they sold their produce, whether their produce was organic and even visited the Sahyadri Farms in Maharashtra to understand how farmer-producer organisations functioned,” Narasimha explains.

Eventually, in October 2018, Narasimha launched the Yazali Farmers Producer Company in collaboration with 400 farmers in his village. The company provides the farmers with the raw materials needed for the agriculture, the procurement and processing of the produce along with marketing and branding all while ensuring quality produce reached consumers.

“We now produce grow paddy, maize, pulses, black and green gram, green chilli and some vegetables. With the pandemic in force, the company has been able to help out several farmers sell their produce and find suitable markets and not to forget, generate a good amount of income for them,” he says.

As a result of his efforts in areas of rural development and agriculture, he received the Young Achiever Award from Quality Council of India (QCI) in 2017, The Rural Achiever Award 2018 from Prime Minister Modi and The Yuva-Kalam Excellency Award in 2018.

“The company is now looking at expanding agriculture to almost 5,000 acres of land which could benefit almost 4,000 farmer families. In the future, I hope to see Yazali as a household brand name that could, in turn, help the consumers appreciate the farmers that have worked for the food they eat,” he concludes.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

When Harbant Singh from Punjab’s Thulewal village joined his family occupation of farming in the 70s, the groundwater was available at 15 feet. Decades later, when his son, Satnam started farming, groundwater tables had drastically fallen to 150 feet. 

This had a direct effect on the Singh family. They were reeling under debt due to the high input costs for motors to pull up the water, the tubewell and the heavy usage of chemical fertilisers. 

In the land of five rivers (Beas, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej), the father-son duo stared at a looming water crisis – just like tens thousands of farmers across the state. 

Figures back up this unfortunate plight. 

As per a 2019 report by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Punjab, where today paddy fields thrive, will turn into a desert within 25 years if rampant groundwater extraction continues. 

Way before this report was released, Harbant realised the environmental damage his farming techniques were making and even predicted deteriorating conditions of farmers. 

But he lacked avenues and resources to implement pro-environmental changes on his farm until 2016. 

In that year, Harbant and Satnam participated in a workshop organised by Kheti Virsasat Mission (KVM), a charitable trust helping farmers switch to organic farming. They interacted with farmers, learnt methods and identified eco-friendly alternatives to chemical fertilisers. 

“Using harmful pesticides and exploiting water tables is like an addiction in our region and many farmers want to come out of this vicious cycle but no one wants to take risks. All of us are aware of the damage it is causing to the lands. So, when I got an opportunity and assurance from a farmer’s community that switching to organic is possible, I grabbed it,” Harbant tells The Better India. 

After attending the workshop, the 60-year-old decided to keep aside his years of experience and knowledge for the sake of a larger good and started growing dragon fruit, lemon and sandalwood. 

Explaining the reason behind choosing these unusual plantations, Satnam says “Of the eight acres, we have dedicated 1.55 acres for chemical-free farming. Both dragon fruits and sandalwood use 90 per cent less water as compared to traditional crops like wheat or rice. They also need less maintenance and input cost but they give high returns.”

Haresh Thacker, a dragon fruit farming expert from Kutch, agrees with Satnam and says,  “The dragon fruit is a tropical plant that is low on calorie content and contains antioxidants. It does not require much water to grow and can thrive in arid areas.” 

Even though the water requirements and agricultural inputs are minimal, dragon fruit farming can have phenomenal results in terms of yield if maintained properly. 

For instance, one acre of dragon fruit trees gives the Singh family 40 quintals (4000 kilos) every year and a kilo fetch up to Rs 200. 

“We have 2500 trees of dragon fruits that annually gives us approximately Rs 8,00,000 per acre. As for sandalwood, the trees will bear results after 15 years and every tree can fetch up to Rs 3,00,000. We have close to 200 sandalwood trees,” he adds. 

Vietnam Method to Grow Dragon Fruit

In the last decade, Gujarat’s water-scarce Kutch district has witnessed an organic dragon fruit revolution where hundreds of farmers are growing the Hylocereus undatus, which is pink on the outside and has a white pulp, peppered with black seeds, on the inside.

Satnam happened to visit Vishal Doda, a friend from Kutch who is doing dragon fruit farming in 15 acres. Impressed by the Vietnam technique to grow the fruit, Satnam learnt it and purchased 500 seedlings from his nursery. 

He taught his father and invested Rs 4 Lakh (per acre) in cement poles, irrigation facilities, labour costs and seeds to set up the process. He recovered the cost within two years. 

Here’s the method: 

• Dig a 2-feet deep trench in the soil to accommodate a 7×12 feet cement pole vertically. 
• Enclose the pole with a hollow cement ring. 
• Maintain a distance of one foot between each pole so that it can receive sunlight
• Four dragon fruit trees, which is a climbing plant, can thrive on one pole 
• Fill the inside of the pole with soil and jeevamrut (a mix of cow dung and urine) to provide nutrition to the plants.
• Use drip irrigation technique to water the roots directly. Harbant adds liquid organic fertiliser in the water pipe to keep insects at bay. 

Harbant has planted 500 poles on 1.25 acre, “In the first year, per pole will give around 4-5 kilos fruit which will then increase to 20 kilos in the fifth year.”

Sandalwood & Lemon Plantations

Being a parasitic plant, roots of sandalwood called ‘haustoria’ derive their nutrition from other host plants and in return supply nutrients to their hosts according to a study published in journal Current Science.

So, Harbant purchased the Santalum album variety from Bengaluru and planted 200 trees on half an acre. Between each tree, there is a distance of 12 feet where he is cultivating lemons. 

“Apart from its high commercial value, sandalwood cultivation has many benefits. It requires moderate water in the first five years post which it grows on its own and it takes 15 years for sandalwood to be ready for harvesting. Sandalwood plant gives seeds after four years and every kilo can fetch up to Rs 1000. While there is no legal ban on planting sandalwood trees in Punjab, a farmer has to seek permission from the government during its cutting,” explains Satnam. 

3 Lessons for Every Beginner 

The Better India spoke Umendra Dutt, founder member and executive director of KVM to understand certain concepts that a beginner must keep in mind. 

“Monoculture of single cropping reduces the soil fertility forcing farmers to use chemical fertilisers to enhance the yield. This, in turn, disrupts the natural plantation cycle. It is advisable to grow as many seasonal crops or vegetables as possible which also reduces insect attacks.” 

Umendra further underlines that killing every pest is not necessary as some beneficial ones promote soil activity that is crucial for roots. And finally, the farmer must replicate the natural cycle of plants. In other words, the farm should mimic nature and minimize the use of external inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides.

“Keep animals like cows and hens on your farm as they help in soil preparation. Their residue acts as nutrient-rich manure. Instead of discarding agro-waste such as leaves use them to mulch the soil. Invite birds to thrive on the farm as they feed on insects that can leave your crop damaged. The answer to every farming problem lies in nature, one has to only look for it,” adds Umendra. 

Get in touch with Harbant Singh here

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

If you ever plan any kind of cultivation at home or in your backyard, opt for organic oyster mushrooms as they require less space, time, water and investment. And they will give you a high yield, says Anjana Gamit, a civil engineer from Gujarat’s Tapi district. 

Now, you might wonder how an engineer, who also handles her small construction venture, is so confident about growing mushrooms?

Well, to begin with, she has three years of experience, and last year she made a profit of more than Rs 2 Lakh. Not just that, despite a negligible demand for the protein-rich food in her area, she has managed to create her market of potential buyers. 

“Not many people in our region are aware of the benefits of mushroom and they often associate it with something that grows during monsoons like algae. Contrary to belief, they are super-nutritious, natural sources of Vitamin D and they also contain antioxidants,” Anjana tells The Better India. 

Anjana underwent a 4-day training on mushroom cultivation called ‘Entrepreneurship development through Mushroom Cultivation” at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK). In return, she received raw materials like spawn (mushroom seed) and polythene bags. 

The experts at KVK also helped her set up and provided her technical guidance in the initial days. 

“KVK has always promoted the concept of organic farming among farmers and regular citizens who wish to grow at a small scale. Through our workshops, we assure people that farming is not rocket science. It requires some expertise and maintenance but that can be acquired with the right guidance. The key reasons for Anjana’s success are her interest and curiosity towards farming. We hope more women like her come forward and learn basic cultivation, if not for selling then at least self-sufficiency,” Sachin Chavan, Scientist (Plant Protection) at KVK tells The Better India. 

A Hassle-Free Method

Anjana began her cultivation in a 10×10-foot area of her parking shed and enclosed it with green shade net and bamboo. She harvested around 140 kilos and fetched Rs 30,000 within two months.

Explaining the process, Anjana says, 

• Soak the straw in water for five hours to soften it and remove the dirt
• Sterilise the straw in a steamer at a temperature of about a 100 degrees (Alternatively, you can get this temperature in your geyser)
• Keep the straw for cooling in the water at normal temperature and cover it with a banket or thermocol 
• Dry the straw overnight 
• Mix the straw with seeds and keep them in an air-tight polythene bag and leave it for 18 days
• Once the mushrooms start sprouting tear the bag and carefully remove each mushroom from its roots. 

“The entire process takes around 25 days. Ten kilos of spawn can give up to 45 kilos of mushrooms. While the process might seem easy, it is no mean feat as one has to be careful about the temperature, humidity, contamination and quality of seeds. For the first couple of tries, 80 per cent of my cultivation was wasted,” says Anjana. 

To overcome, contamination problem, she uses neem oil and to prevent humidity from spoiling the spawns, she uses an extra layer of coverage on the green shade net. She moistens the curtains and hangs over on all four sides of the shed. 

With time and experience, Anjana expanded her cultivation and gradually converted her entire parking shed (25×45 ft). At present, she has 350 cultivation bags of mushrooms. 

For beginners who wish to start mushroom farming at home, Anjana says a minimum area of 10×10 ft and investment of Rs 400 is required. One can acquire raw materials from a nursery or horticulture centre. 

“Start with a kilo of mushrooms for which you will need half a kilo straw (wheat or paddy) and 50 grams of mushroom seeds. The daily water requirement will be around five litres. For those who are not sure about the temperature, purchase a thermometer. Finally, get plastic bags and a bucket.” 

As for marketing of mushrooms, Anjana has tied up with Anganwadi workers and local retail shopkeepers who not only further sell them but also educate people about the health benefits and burst myths like it is non-vegetarian or poisonous.

“It took some time to educate the vendors and customers but now I am planning to make value-added products from mushrooms like chips, pickles, powder, etc. so to make the selling easier,” she adds. 

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

There is a high chance that the black rice in your kitchen may have its origins in Bihar. That’s because thousands of farmers in Bihar are now giving up traditional cropping patterns, and looking for better options.

“I was sceptical experimenting with a new variety of rice. But interactions with scientists and knowing the nutritional value of the black rice, I decided to try growing it in half an acre of land,” says Biru Singh, a farmer in Bihar.

Biru says the experiment required less water for growth and the produce is good.

Biru has also tried cultivating black wheat variety. “The experts confirm that black wheat is rich in anti-oxidants and good for diabetic people, along with other health benefits. It also received good returns,” he added.

Like Biru, there are about 5,000 farmers in Bihar who are connecting with Awaz Ek Pahal, an NGO working to change the farming habits of farmers for the last few years. They are also growing exotic fruits like kiwis, dragonfruit, strawberries among others.

Luvkush, a member of the organisation, says the farming sector is in poor condition in Bihar and there is a need to revamp it.

“Since the year 2005, there is no government market, the irrigation techniques used are poor, and the government agriculture institutions have failed to connect with the farmers and support in technical know-how,” Luvkush said.

The member, also a science graduate working to popularise science among school children and locals, said, “According to the reports of the central government, there are about one crore farmers in Bihar, and about five crore people depend on agriculture. The average basic income of these farmers is about Rs 3,500.”

To improve these conditions, Luvkush, along with some other members, tried to reach out to farmers hoping to bring innovations to the sector.

“Our organisation was already connected to people since 2016 for help during the floods and other social causes. In 2018, we decided to reach out to farmers and succeeded in connecting with few,” he added.

Luvkush said scientists were invited for visits to explain techniques and share necessary knowledge and training.

“Farmers who succeeded in growing these varieties were called to share their experiences. These efforts convinced the farmers to a large extent,” he added.

The organisation member said farmers who could afford to try out new ideas used small portions of their land and saw brilliant results.

“Some farmers doubled their income in the given space and became confident about the new varieties,” he added.

Lukush said 25,000 farmers this year produced about 40 tonnes of black rice seeds and sent those across India for cultivation. “It is the first time in years that farmers from Bihar have been able to send any farm produce outside the state,” he added.

Along with black wheat and black rice, which are a success, the farmers are also growing exotic fruit varieties and also working to conserve traditional crops lie Chinna (a local gram), Rag, Kodu rice and millets.

“We also help farmers to market the products. There is a small number of farmers which are benefitting, and many more should reap benefits of something that has a market value of Rs 300 a kg,” Luvkush says.

Jitendra Singh, another farmer, said he belongs to a part where progressive methods are used. “We grow basmati and other varieties of rice. But the black rice grown in half an acre has given a bigger boost to the growth,” he added.

Ghanshyam Kumar, a farmer from Vikram village, says his farm reaped 400 kg of black wheat. “The variety is so good that I kept a portion for my family and relatives. I have learned its health benefits on social media and watched many YouTube videos,” he added.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Sameer Chadha walks across his farmland, beaming at the greenery that surrounds him. He takes a deep breath and the fresh air has hints of lemongrass fragrance. This is the result of an amazing five-year journey, and he has some important lessons for those of us considering making the switch.

“With the increasing use of pesticides in commercial farming, the quality of produce and the soil is on a decline. I knew that I wanted to grow crops that were easy to maintain, were naturally pest-resistant, and that had a good market. After much research, I found that growing lemongrass and khus (vetiver) would be a good choice as they fulfilled all these conditions,” explains the 29-year-old Lucknow based farmer.

He gradually also set up a distillation plant to extract essential oils from these crops. The essential oils extracted are used in perfumes, pharmaceuticals, food and flavouring, cleaning, cosmetics and even bio-pesticides.

Having started his agricultural practice on a family-owned four-acre farm, over the years Sameer added more land under cultivation by taking it on lease.

Now, he grows lemongrass on fifteen acres and vetiver on ten, for a total of 25 acres.

From every acre of lemongrass cultivation, the farmer is earning anywhere between Rs 1 Lakh to Rs. 1.5 Lakh annually. While in the case of vetiver, the annual income per acre is Rs. 1.5 to Rs. 2 Lakh!

Moreover, having fabricated and set up his own distillation plant on the premises of the Chadha Aroma Farms, Sameer also offers his expertise in setting up distillation plants for others.

In conversation with The Better India (TBI), the farmer shares his journey, his challenges and how he has proven that agriculture can indeed be profitable.

How it all began

It was never a long-term plan for Sameer to venture into farming full-time. In fact, just after he passed out of school in 2010, he got heavily involved in the family business of educational institutions. He passed out with a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from the Lucknow University in 2013 while also looking after business development for his family venture.

But interest in nature and plants is something he developed over the years.

“My parents had bought a four-acre farmland about 35 km from home and wanted to grow our own food. I only decided to use that land for commercial agriculture in 2015. We were growing different kinds of seasonal vegetables but the rates in the market weren’t good. Also, the cost of transportation was high and they were perishable in nature,” explains Sameer.

Thereafter, he started growing Shatavari (a species of asparagus) which at that time had high value in the health food and natural medicine sector. Although he made profits initially, owing to the unstable nature of the market for this particular crop, he wasn’t able to make any long term gains.

This is what pushed Sameer to explore alternatives that could make his agricultural practice profitable with a minimal investment in management and transportation.

“I picked lemongrass as it was a perennial plant and when it comes to extracting the oils, you only need to use the leaves. Once the leaves are harvested 5 inches above the ground, the plant continues to grow. This plant has the capacity to grow and provide essential oils up to seven or eight years,” informs Sameer.

Lemongrass is also harvested every two to three months, so can be harvested four to six times in a year.

In the case of vetiver, the essential oils are derived from the roots and not the leaves. So, this crop needs to be replanted again. The crop is harvested after a period of 11 months to a year. The leaves, however, do not go to waste and Sameer shares that it is used in his farm in different ways.

“After we separate the roots from the plant, the leaves of vetiver is perfect to be used as green fodder for cattle. We also use it for mulching in our agricultural practice while also using it to make manure and vermicompost,” informs Sameer.

However, both lemongrass and vetiver can only be grown in areas where there is adequate water for irrigation – which is the only limiting factor.

In a bid to keep the process chemical-free, Sameer nourishes his plants with fermented cow manure (which is bustling with healthy microbial activity), fresh and dried cow manure and vermicompost.

Making the essential oils

One of the important features of Sameer’s agricultural practice is the distillation plant. When Sameer started looking up on distillation plants, he found that people who were setting it up were charging a lot.

To counter this, he himself read up on the different components and planned out a blueprint to get one fabricated.

“I read up a lot on each process and the materials required. I looked at how it is made and what the possible glitches can be and how I must ensure to avoid them. It is important to have a good distillation plant so that essential oils are not wasted in the process. Now, we have a plant with a 1000 kg capacity and with each batch of distillation, we get about six to seven litres of oil,” says Sameer who also offers his expertise in distillation by making blueprints for others and even fabricating the units for those who want to have their own set up.

The distillation plant comprises a vessel in which there are about six to eight inches of water. On top of that, there is a wire mesh where the crop parts used for extracting the essential oil are placed. There is a furnace below the vessel and once the fire has been lit, the vessel is closed with the crop inside.

Within an hour, steam generates and passes through a pipe into a condenser. Once the steam has condensed, the liquid is collected in a vessel and the essential oil floats above a layer of water, because of which it can be easily scooped up. This entire process is known as hydro-distillation.

The essential oils extracted at Sameer’s farm are pure and of top quality which is why a lot of customers across different industries buy from him.

Agra based entrepreneur Muninder Yadav was first introduced to Sameer at a farming event in Lucknow in 2018. The owner of Yathaavat Aromatics, a perfume company, he would often visit these kinds of farming events to meet with possible vendors who could supply him with good quality essential oils necessary to make his perfumes.

Now, in a month, he sources close to 50 to 60 kg of essential oils from Sameer.

“The use of essential oils provides a natural fragrance to perfumes. While lemongrass has a nice citral content, vetiver essential oils form a good base for perfumes as they are capable of retaining any kind of fragrance naturally (despite having no smell of its own). I like the fact that the quality of his oils is really good and he knows how to extract and store it properly,” shares the 28-year-old entrepreneur.

In terms of transportation, Sameer shares that logistics is something that he’s been able to manage with ease because he can easily transport the oils using a car, driving it himself. This has further helped him minimise costs. Moreover, any farmer who wishes to grow lemongrass or vetiver, Sameer is also selling saplings so that they can get started.

Tiding over obstacles and looking ahead

Regardless of his successful and profitable agricultural practice and essential oil business, there are still a few challenges that Sameer faces.

He shares that the initial cost of investment in getting the land and setting up the distillation plant can be really expensive. But he quickly adds that the saving grace is the fact that over time, the cost of operations goes down.

“The other challenge is that there is very little technical know-how on how to commercially grow these crops or even set up the distillation plants. For example, if there is a delay in harvesting the crop and it is over-mature, the oil obtained from extraction is very less. These kinds of small details and technical knowledge is important to have a successful agricultural practice,” he emphasizes.

To address this gap in knowledge, Sameer doing his own bit in training other interested individuals. On Chadha Aroma Farms, he provides his technical knowledge and training (how to grow the crops and distill the essential oils) to a group of 20 farmers at a time. He also disseminates education by conducting webinars.

There are also many new exciting things on the horizon for Sameer. He shares that he would soon brand his essential oils so that it can be retailed directly to customers who want to buy it. Sameer also adds that he wants to continue providing different kinds of workshops to farmers.

“Most often, what we see is that farmers grow conventional crops. But they also need to know about profitable crops that are also easy to maintain and can be grown free of chemicals. In my own capacity, I want to share my story and knowledge with other farmers so that they too can lead a prosperous life,” he says signing off.

You can get in touch with Sameer by emailing him on chadhaaromafarms@gmail.com or call him on 7607074833. If you wish to seek any kind of training, sign up for that by clicking on this link and filling up the form.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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“It had always been my father’s dream to start farming and paddy cultivation in the rich soil in Wayanad after his retirement.

He was working at the secretariat in Thiruvanathapuram all his life but his heart was always amidst the greenery in our hometown.

Unfortunately, he was not able to fulfil that dream as he passed away in 2004,” explains Rajesh Krishnan, a biotechnologist turned farmer hailing from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

After completing his graduation in biotechnology from the University of Kerala and finishing his masters in ecology from Pondicherry University, Rajesh went on to work as a campaigner for Greenpeace for almost 10 years.

“Over those 10 years, I had the opportunity to meet several people who had made a great impact in their communities. That’s when I realised the potential and the kind of change that I could bring about on my own and how I could help at least a small portion of the farmers in our country,” says Rajesh.

So after quitting my job at Greenpeace in Bengaluru, I settled in Wayanad, where my brother and I had bought around 5 and a half acres of land in 2008. My main aim was to try to save the paddy varieties from extinction through organic cultivation.

“I started out my cultivation by trying to grow 15 varieties of rice but I realised that it was hard to keep them apart. So then I set aside around 5 cents of land just to experiment with different varieties of paddy to see how they were adapting to the weather conditions,” he explains.

“From almost 3000 varieties of native seeds, we’ve come down to almost just less than 300. As part of the Thanal project that I run, we’ve been able to cultivate around 200 of them in our paddy fields including varieties like Thondi, Mullainkaima, Gandakashala and Veliyan,” says Rajesh.

He goes on to explain how these varieties are ideal for the local weather and have a better resistance from pests, bugs and diseases.

During the initial days of cultivation, I had a lot of doubts and was struggling to find my way around it. That’s when the local farming group, the ‘Souhridha Gramshree’ invited me to join them. They had a weekly meeting where they would discuss new initiatives and farming techniques,” Rajesh explains.

It was during one such meeting that Rajesh pitched the idea of adopting organic paddy cultivation using traditional techniques.

“I knew that my farming skills were not even close to what the others, so I offered to help them find markets to sell organic rice. There were a lot of questions from them regarding the profit and how could we keep the pests away when we cultivate organically and so on. After a few meetings, we decided to launch the Tinueli Agro Producers Company (TAPCO) in collaboration with the farmers directly,” he explains.

With the support of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the idea behind TAPCO to source rice from farmers directly and supply it to organic retail shops across the country without any middlemen.

“We were able to lease land for the paddy cultivation and ensured that we adopted only organic methods. The very next year, in 2017, we registered the company as well,” Rajesh explains.

Over the years, TAPCO has grown into a company with 86 employees that cultivates almost 200 acres of paddy.

“Last year, we were able to send out 80 tonnes of rice which was worth almost Rs.40 lakhs and were able to pay the farmers their daily wages also on time,” he explains.

Out of the variety of paddy that is cultivated under TAPCO, the variety that gives a large harvest is the ‘Thondi’ variety which yields particularly high in the Wayanad soil.

The local price for the variety is Rs 18 per kilo and the price allotted by the government is Rs 26.

“Through TAPCO, we are able to sell it at Rs 29, this gives the farmers a 50% boost from the regular market price and get a profit of about Rs 6,000 from each acre of the paddy,” Rajesh explains.

TAPCO also has a mill which can process almost 1 tonne of grains in an hour. This mill is the first organic rice processing mill in Kerala and was purchased with help from the agricultural department.

“Currently we are only cultivating and processing rice but in the future, we hope to expand the work into other crops as well. Although after the paddy is harvested, the farmers use the land for cultivating pulses during the rest of the year,” Rajesh explains.

“Rajesh has been the brain behind this entire project and as a result of his efforts, farmers are getting almost twice the amount of profit over the last few years,” says Chairman of TAPCO, Johnson OV who has been a farmer for almost 13 years in Wayanad.

Rajesh won the Kerala Youth Icon award in 2017, for his organic cultivation of traditional paddy seeds and saving them from extinction.

“The idea behind the company is not just to help farmers get a better profit but to promote organic farming and make people aware of these local varieties that are on the verge of extinction. Over the years, paddy cultivation has become a celebration here in Tiruneli. We sing songs, celebrate and have made it an essential part of our lives,” Rajesh concludes.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Kheti par kiski maar? Jungli janwar, mausam aur sarkar. Throughout the 1980s, this thought-provoking slogan resonated with farmers across Uttarakhand in the aftermath of the green revolution. 

Led by the founder of Beej Bachao Andolan (Save Seeds) (BBA), Vijay Jardhari, the pan-state movement was against monoculture farming and forceful replacement of nutritious cultivation like millets with cash crops.

Vijay, whose family had been cultivating multiple varieties of crops for generations, predicted the long term repercussions of monoculture or growing a single crop on soil fertility and subsequently the rise in farmer distress. 

While growing up he had seen the health and environmental benefits of growing more than one traditional crop in the same land. So, when the government was giving soybeans and chemical fertilisers at dirt cheap rates, it did not go down well with Vijay and he started BBA to conserve traditional varieties. 

Most people from the agricultural field are aware of Vijay’s Dandi march across the state with his friends to collect indigenous seeds (he collected 350 varieties of seeds!). 

However, very few know that while knocking on every farmer’s doorstep, Vijay ended up sharing his knowledge on an ancient farming practice called ‘Baranaj’ (Bara is 12 and Anaj means crop). 

“It is an inter-cropping method of twelve or more crops that is usually practised in rain-fed Tehri-Garhwal regions. It gives a farmer a wholesome land on which lentils, cereals, vegetables, legumes and creepers grow in harmony with each other. For example, stems of grains act as a natural support for creepers of legumes. Once the key to the success of our ancestors, this method was dying in the 80s. It provides food security to the farmer and also raises soil fertility,” Vijay, who is now in his late sixties, tells The Better India. 

I spoke at length with Vijay, who was conferred with Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar in 2009 for his exceptional contribution to saving traditional seed varieties via BBA, to understand baranaj and its benefits.

Baranaj: Process & Specifications

One of the major advantages of this method is that a farmer will never have to worry about going hungry or taking a hefty loan. 

“Some of the crops in the cycle are resistant to drought, pests, and floods so during a natural calamity, even if some crops are damaged, he will still get enough food to sell in the market or for self-consumption. Additionally, the baranaj process is similar to that of forest and hence it does not require any chemical inputs or excessive irrigation. They are all rainfed. Maintaining diversity in plants also boosts soil fertility and it provides varying fodder options for farm animals,” explains Vijay.

According to him, there is no fixed pattern or combinations that a farmer has to use as long as the crops are a mix of grains, masala, vegetables and pulses. 

Vijay’s recommendation: 

• Grains: Mandua (finger millet), jowar (sorghum), ramdana (amaranthus), kuttu/ogal (buckwheat), and corn. 
• Pulses/beans: Rajma, lobia, bhat (black soybean), naurangi (rice beans), urad and moong.
• Vegetables: cholai (Amaranth), kheera, ogal (local variety) and lobia (black-eyed beans) 
• Spices: sesame and til (sesame)

Identifying companion seeds that will boost each other’s growth is very important for a farmer. 

“Roots of jowar hold the soil and prevent erosion during floods. Meanwhile, pulses like lobia or naurangi can provide nitrogen to other vegetables like cholai and cabbage as these need a lot of nutrients. Millets are rainfed crops so its roots will absorb all the excess water and prevent floods. All these plants will have different heights so the tall ones can provide shade during extreme heat,” he explains. 

Apart from being safe from extreme climatic conditions and being companions to each other, the crop rotation will also ensure that wild animals and birds do not destroy the entire field. For instance, birds feed on jowar so Vijay keeps aside a portion just for them. In return, birds help in maintaining bio-diversity. 

Since crops are rotated on an annual basis, insects thrive less on the field and to prevent pest attacks, Vijay suggests using manure made from cow’s dung and urine. This way, a farmer will save on external chemical inputs. 

Baranaj Could Be Zero Budget 

With his budget-friendly tips and effective yield practices, Vijay has inspired thousands of farmers to start baranaj in the last 30 years. The majority of farmers from 15-20 villages around his village follow this method.

This is because the investment cost is considerably less in a world where farmers are at the mercy of expensive fertilisers. 

“Maybe in the first rotation, you have to rely on the market for seeds but after that, you can save some seeds and replant them every year. We still follow the barter system ritual where if one of my seeds is not giving proper yield, I will exchange it with another farmer in a similar situation. This way both of us can try new seeds and in most cases, this works. This a great way to save money,” Dhum Singh Negi, a Senior Chipko leader from Vijay’s village tells The Better India. Negi has been practising baranaj for the last 60 years. 

This understanding and harmony is also reflected when it comes to labour work. Instead of hiring labour, a group of farmers help each in the sowing process, “Sowing seeds is no less than a festival for us where we take dhols and drums in the fields and even dance while sowing. This ritual helps us stay united,” says Vijay. 

Now that a farmer has saved on pesticides, labour and seeds, the inputs costs are almost zero. 

‘We Can Prevent Farmer Suicides’

A farmer’s inability to pay loans coupled with erratic climatic conditions often pushes him to take extreme measures including suicide. The situation is worse for farmers with small landholdings who are unable to produce a higher yield. 

Succumbing to the pressure, the farmer ends up using more chemical fertilisers to artificially increase the production and in turn compromises with the crop quality and soil fertility to an extent where the land altogether disrupts the cultivation cycle. 

To break this vicious cycle, both Vijay and Negi vouch for the baranaj.

“Our ancestral knowledge has helped us become atmanirbhar (self-reliant) as I no more have to rely on any external inputs. It will be hard for a farmer to switch from monoculture and may even suffer crop damage in the beginning. But in the long run, they will benefit. By promoting this method, we can prevent farmer suicides. The best part? A farmer will not be affected by jungli janwar, mausam and sarkar,” Vijay concludes. 

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde) 

The government often struggles to convince farmers to experiment with alternative crops or new methods of planting.

As a source of steady income, farmers prefer trusted farming methods and market-friendly produce.

However, a farmer in Parali taluka of Beed district, a perennially drought-stricken area of the Marathwada region in Maharashtra, chose to break tradition and has become quite successful pioneer.

“I used to cultivate soybean, grams and other arid crops common to the region. However, a guiding session on organic farming and its success on fruit crops convinced me to try growing papaya on one acre of land,” says Sandip Gite, a farmer in Nandagoul village.

Sandip says he planted 1,000 saplings in late 2019, some of which were given to him by Mayank Gandhi, who is currently working on the empowerment of farmers in that village.

Sandip said organic techniques required less water and were a more natural or method of farming.

“The investment costs came down and also crop management became easier,” he adds.

The farmer said in seven months of the harvest, he earned Rs 3 Lakh from the crop.

“I invested Rs 1.5 Lakh on the crop and other expenses. I also planted watermelon as a complementary crop. This meant fertiliser, water and other resources were used only once, thus reducing the overall cost,” Sandip said.

The double-crop also helped Sandip to increase his income exponentially.

“I immediately extended the crop on another acre of land with the earnings and two acres has helped me earn an income of Rs 11 Lakh,” he says.

The farmer said 20 tonnes of papaya was produced and he sold it in different parts of the state.

The success became the talk of the village and soon other farmers wanted to experiment with the same.

A group of eight farmers that was formed in January 2020, which has now expanded to about 50 farmers. The farmers are also trying to grow other fruit varieties.

“A total of about 150 acres of land is used for fruit plantations now. Papaya is cultivated in about 40 acres of land and the remaining land is used to cultivate other fruit varieties like custard apple, guava, sweet lime, lemon, and mango,” Sandip said.

Another farmer, Dnyanoba Gite, also replicated the same technique.

“I used the same technique as Sandip’s on three-acre land and earned three lakhs so far by selling six tons of produce in Delhi. The fruit is still getting harvested and I hope to have a good income in future,” he adds.

Subhash Gite, a farmer cultivating custard apple and papaya said, “The idea to cultivate other fruit varieties is to ensure they supplement each other, and some produce is received every few months.”

Subhash said this would ensure more than two harvests in a year.

Subhash said such experiments could help bring hope and reduce the rate of farmer suicides in the region.

Dilip Zende, joint director of the agriculture department (Pune division) said, “Many such experiments are being reported by farmers earning a good amount of money.”

Dilip said there are different techniques used by farmers and the government is also trying to study their success and benefits in the long run.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Also known as alligator pear, the avocado fruit is swiftly making inroads in urban Indian households. Whether it is making an avocado toast, adding the fruit flesh in your juice or even adding parts of the buttery and nutty fruit to your beauty regime, Avocados are here to stay. 

Avocado has multiple health benefits. “It can keep your eyes, gums, liver and your heart healthy. It can also help ease osteoarthritis, combat metabolic syndrome and prevent food poisoning and live damage,” says Anamika Bisht, founder of Village Story, Bengaluru. Read how Anamika quit her corporate career to help urban dwellers experience the village lifestyle here. 

Full of vitamins and a rich source of antioxidants and monounsaturated fats, avocado is often touted as a rich man’s food because of the high price that the fruit is available at. The average market rate per kilo ranges between Rs 100 to 2000, depending on the variety.  

But what if I told you that it is possible to grow the fruit at home with nothing but a small investment? It definitely might take some time before your plant starts fruiting, but once it does you can not only have it for free but also sell it commercially in various forms.

The best part? 

The fruit contains Persin, a fungicidal toxin that is pest and bird repellent. So at no point will you have to use chemical fertilisers.

The Better India spoke to Harmanpreet Singh, an avocado farmer from Amritsar who has two types of avocado trees in his farm. After running a successful avocado venture in countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya for a decade, he is now growing the fruit in India.

Harmanrpeet gets a harvest of three quintal avocados per year, and he sells them at an average rate of Rs 400 per kilo. To encourage avocado plantations in India, he has grown his nursery as well. 

“If you grow your plant, it will give two kilos of fruit in the first two years. This will increase to eight kilos in the third year. By the tenth year, your plant can give up to 1.5 quintals of avocado per year. The shelf life of an avocado tree is 50 years, and it requires very less maintenance. Moreover, avocados have market potential. Everything from the leaves to seeds can be used to make value-added products,” says Harmanpreet.

Things You Will Need:

• Polybags
• Avocado Seeds
• Soil 
• Cocopeat, sawdust or dry leaves
• Cowdung or vermicompost 

Steps 

For Germination

• Add soil, cocopeat and compost in the polybag. If you don’t have a polybag, you can use a plastic bottle or container as well. 
• Place the seed in a way that the upper half is peeping outside the soil. The seed could get spoiled if you cover it entirely with soil. 
• The temperature of the area where you are placing the bag should not be lower than 25 degrees and should have good air circulation. 
• Water the polybag twice a week in summers or once every 15 days in winters. The soil should not be too wet. 50 ml of water is enough each time. 
• Keep adding a kilo of vermicompost over the next 20 days until the germination process is complete.

Transplanting the Seedling

• Transplant the seedling when the stem is about 15 cm. You can also cut it short to 10 cm to encourage faster growth.
• Again, place the cracked seed in a pot (3 ft height and 5 feet diameter). Ensure that the top of the seed is exposed above the soil
• Avocados love the sun so place the pot in your balcony or near the window. 
• Do not over-water it. Just keep the soil moist. If leaves start turning yellow, then that is a sign of overwatering. 
• Water and wait for the plant to give fruits. It can take up to two years.

For Grafting 

• Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined to continue their growth together. 
• You can start grafting avocados 60- 90 days after you have transplanted the seed in the pot.
• Start the process when the stem grows to the size of a pencil.
• Tape the sprouting stem from the mother plant and a sapling together. Place this in a pot. Cut open the tape after a month when it starts sprouting or giving new leaves.

Do’s and Dont’s 

• Figure out the top and bottom of the seed before putting it in a polybag. The pointier side will be the top.
• Prune the stems regularly to enhance growth 
• If the colour of the fruit turns purple, it means it is ready to be harvested. Other ways to check are touch and smell. 
• If there is excessive sunlight, provide shade to the pot with a green net. 
• Extract oil from over-ripe seeds instead of throwing them out. 

We hope the steps help you get started with owning your own organic avocado plant. 

You can purchase saplings and seedlings from Harmanpreet’s nursery. Get in touch with him here. 

For the last 10 years, Hema Anant’s daily routine has remained unaltered. At the break of dawn, while her husband is sound asleep, she travels 11 kilometres to her farm in Gowripura village, near Hassan district, Karnataka. There, she assists farm labourers (whom she refers to as co-workers) in milking 50 litres of milk from 20 odd cows. Taking the fresh and unadulterated milk, she heads back home in Hassan and puts the milk outside her house for her customers. 

The 56-year-old has neither kept any staff nor fixed a CCTV camera to ensure people are paying for the milk and not stealing it. An hour later, she goes to the stall and takes the money placed there.

Post breakfast, she goes back to her 30-acre farm and spends the day growing fruits, vegetables, crops and so on. She wraps up her day by harvesting organically grown food (around 25 kg) and puts it in her stall in the evening. 

Once again, her regular customers drop by and buy vegetables as per their needs. Based on a chart listing the rates, they deposit the money in a box. 

Entirely built on trust and goodwill, the best part about this arrangement is that Hema has kept the organic vegetable prices in sync with the conventional ones sold in the market as she finds it odd to charge extra. Likewise, milk. 

So why would anyone leave their stall unattended considering the times we live where we think twice to even trust a neighbour? 

“Only on 2-3 occasions, people have stolen food and that does not bother me. The fact that someone is taking food without paying money shows he/she is needy. I don’t consider that as an act of stealing. My customers are very particular about paying for what they take and my daily average income is Rs 1000-1500,” Hema tells The Better India. With some loyal customers, she has struck a deal where the bills are settled at the end of every month.  

Apart from all kinds of vegetables and fruits, Hema also sells value-added products like coconut oil, turmeric powder, lemon pickles, fresh juices and so on. 

“After interacting with my customers, I realised that most food packaged items have preservatives and artificial colours to enhance the taste and shelf life. And the healthy and organic ones are expensive in the market. As I already had buyers for my produce, I started making by-products. This way customers get healthy alternatives and income of my co-workers also increases,” says Hema. 

Dr Ramakant, one of her customers for the last three years, says he has seen an overall improvement in his family’s health, “The milk is very pure and my daughter’s coughing problem has ceased. Even though I have to drive for nearly 45 minutes to take vegetables daily, I do not mind. The stall completely runs on honesty and for her money is secondary, giving organic food is a priority. It is my honour to buy food from such an honourable lady.”

Turning Rs 150 Into Lakhs 

 While Hema’s expertise in growing food and her selling model has received accolades including the State-level Can Bank Best Farmer Award by University of Agricultural Sciences this year, it may come as surprise to many that she did not know farming when she started. 

All she had was inherited farming land from her grandfather, Krishnappa and Rs 150 in 1994 when she decided to become a farmer. At the time, the class 12 pass was a mother and a homemaker. 

When she expressed her desire to grow food, people around her dismissed it saying such a big barren land requires lakhs of investment. Even her husband refused to invest in the beginning.

Finances aside, she didn’t even know how to grow something as simple as a tomato. 

“Mother Earth is the biggest teacher. Just visit the land without any expectations and observe how the soil behaves,” exclaimed her grandfather. She found the advice bizarre but decided to follow it. 

A couple of days later, when she was strolling around on the barren land, she met a group of cow herders who helped her get in touch with veteran farm labourers in the area.

“I met a couple of women who were willing to teach me and share their expertise in return for some bread and fruits. I got lucky as they have been with me for the last two decades now. I would observe how they sowed, tilled the land, watered the plants and use cow dung to keep away the pests. I owe this luscious farm to their ancient but simple practices that are completely organic,” shares Hema. 

She purchased ragi seeds worth Rs 150 and three months later, Hema harvested her first produce and there was no turning back. She earned Rs 2600 (an amount considered huge back in the 90s) and purchased a second hand TVS scooter.

“This scooter was the first item purchased with my hard-earned money. I felt liberated and at the same time confident about growing more food. Gradually, came in coconut, sandalwood, teakwood, coffee, pepper and banana plantations. During this expansion, I took a bank loan of Rs 10,000 and within months I was able to repay it,” says Hema, who now earns up to Rs 4 Lakh every year. 

With hundreds of trees flourishing in her mini-forest, Hema proves that one does not need a degree or experience to start farming. Neither a hefty investment is required. As rightly pointed by her, Mother Earth is generous enough to give us in abundance if we take care of it. 

Edited by Vinayak Hegde

To go against the flow often brings turbulence in one’s life. But many do take the risk nevertheless, face the consequences with a strong will and achieve something unique. The story of 34-year-old Sheetal Suryawanshi, a business management graduate, is also along these lines – all thanks to guavas.

Sheetal gave up a corporate job, despite strong opposition from his family, and decided to grow guavas, that too in the traditional ‘sugar belt’ of Sangli in Western Maharashtra. His efforts did pay off, and he succeeded in doubling his earnings.

“After graduating in 2009-10 from a private college in Satara, I took a normal job in a multinational company until 2015. But I wanted to experiment with the farming methods as a change from growing sugarcane was necessary,” says Sheetal.

Moment of truth

Coming from a traditional farming family, Sheetal quickly realised that sugarcane did not yield the profits that most conventionally thought it did.

“The sugarcane crop requires a lot of water for a good yield. The harvest comes in 17-18 months which is a long time. The farm produce gets sold in the factory and earnings reach the bank account 3 or 4 months later.”

Sheetal said after proper calculations and considering the expenses; the profits come down to Rs 70,000 – 75,000 per year. “Farmers here have 10 to 15 acres of land and surplus produce, earning them Rs 9-10 Lakh annually. This seems to have given them a laid back attitude, and stops them from trying better methods,” he adds.

Swimming against the flow

In 2015, he quit his job and started considering an alternate crop. “Initially, I thought of grapes, but then a friend from Ahmednagar suggested guava, as it was quite in demand in Shirdi and surrounding areas. The soil and weather conditions in Sangli also favoured the crop,” he added.

The farmer said his family wanted him to continue his stable job and never wanted him to quit. “They suggested I continue with my monthly income, and my father was much against experimenting with a new crop and moving away from a trusted crop,” he added.

Sheetal eventually convinced his father to experiment in a two-acre plot of land, leaving the remaining eight acres the family had to grow sugarcane.

“I planted two different varieties of guava on an acre each. I also tried organic farming methods to reduce the toxic chemicals sprayed on the fruit,” he added.

The farmer earned Rs 3 Lakh by selling his 10-ton yield in the first harvest season. “With all the investment and expenses gone, I still earned a profit of Rs 1.5 lakh in 14 months and that too from just two acres,” he says proudly.

Hard work gives good yields

Sheetal said the crop has also kept his income rolling. “The fruit harvests throughout the season and I earn about Rs 10,000 a day with minor harvests and sales. I am financially much stable, and many others have adopted the technique in the area,” he added. The farmer has provided saplings to 25 acres of land to farmers in the area.

“I was sceptical about changing the crop pattern. I tried growing grapes and failed to succeed as expected,” says Vikas Chavan, another farmer in Sangli.

Vikas said he experimented growing guava in 1.5 acres of land organically. “I was surprised that it requires fewer interventions and organic mixes for preventing pests,” he said.

Another farmer, Abhijit Jagdale, said it is his second season of harvesting guava. “It has been 18 months since I took up high-density plantation of 2,000 trees in one acre. I plan to increase the cultivation of guava if the success continues,” he added.

Sheetal said he feels happy about succeeding in the cause. “My family is happy, and my father is convinced about taking these risks for good. The bonus is I can guide others around me to change the traditional farming methods and enable them to prosper,” he adds.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)