Mandya, a town located in the state of Karnataka is 45 kilometres from Mysore and 100 kilometres from Bangalore. The town boasts of plush greenery, endless land and opportunity for farming.
Two young and dynamic farmers cum event organizers, Darshan Kumar and Radha Krishnan have been running a farm for the last two years or more. The fresh veggies are exported to many parts of the world. The main focus is to see that every product is organic and some of the products will be available in Lanka.
Though running a successful event company and doing concerts in Dubai, the duo has decided to venture into farming.
Speaking to Youth Observer, the duo talks about events in Lanka, farming and giving fresh, clean and healthy produce to the world.
Q:What inspires young farmers in India?
Farming is a tradition in India, it started with our parents and there was a gap due to the new generation focusing on other career prospects, such as IT, engineering and the medical profession. This caused a massive vacuum in the agriculture industry, and old farmers still couldn’t find a proper replacement. After realising that food was becoming scarce, the current generation took up farming again to supply food for future generations.
Not only for food, but dairy and poultry scarcity was also experienced. This was a growing concern for many farmers in the country.
Q: Indian farmers are developing new methods of farming, from where do they find these new innovative methods?
We take traditional methods of farming and convert it to modern methods, to save time, labour and money. Water is a huge crisis everywhere, and saving it is one of the most important aspects of farming.
Drip irrigation is one of the systems we use here. It helps reduce the consumption of water for cultivation, harvesting and for fertilisation.
Q: As two top event organisers in India, what made you take up farming?
We have been in the event industry for more than 15 years, starting from the bottom as coordinators and now we are running our own event company called Helios Concepts and Communications. Most of the events we do are based in the UAE region, Malaysia, Singapore and in 2020 we are planning to do an event in Colombo.
Farming is a good investment and hobby. When we say hobby it is that we both like nature and being able to visit the farm which consists of greenery is a blessing indeed. As I have said, before it’s a passion which gives us a solid income, and it’s refreshing too.
We are constantly travelling, but in a month we take a weekend or two, according to our work calendar and spend some time on our farm checking on the workers and how the development is happening.
We plan to export to countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and other countries in the coming months.
Q: Tell us about modern organic farming?
People are using the word organic loosely, how do we know how organic a crop is? For the last 50 to 60 years we are doing only inorganic farming. Due to the use of chemicals, we had spoilt our health, soil and a lot of complications have occurred.
Now, with the information on food and healthy living, people are well aware of their food and food habits. Organic farming has led to a positive lifestyle, for example before it was white sugar, now its brown sugar. These are a few changes people have made over the years.
With time people will be aware of the organic farming concept. There is a lot of work concerning organic farming, for instance the chemical - soil should be changed into non-chemical soil.
This kind of farming has been in existences for many years, but over the year’s organic crops have been mixed with chemicals. These chemicals have caused a lot of health issues to people.
Q: India has massive issues with drought; can farmer’s sustain themselves to a certain extent?
There is good rainfall in India, it doesn’t rain at the same time in all parts of India. We have four monsoons, but water management isn’t done properly here, for instance, the maintaining of dams, building new check dams and starting the construction of the new project in linking the rivers. There are pros and cons but this can benefit farmers and farms.
The people have to be aware of this as well, we can’t always insist upon the government to do everything. We, as common men, should also get involved in the progress of farming.
Q: India’s agriculture is rapidly growing every year, what is the main reason for this success?
We have a vast landscape and farming is India’s backbone. We can go back to centuries, and the country was always known for its farming methods.
Q: What information would you like to share with upcoming farmers about modern farming?
We would like to emphasis on water management. Please read and research about organic farming and think of the future generations. Please don’t pollute the soil and the environment.