SV Sujith, Shraddha Sharad Patil and Vijaya Bhaskar are three farmers from Thiruvananthapuram who’ve received Kerala State Farm awards 2022 for his or her inexperienced fingers. If Sujith received Haritha Mithra award for the most effective vegetable farm, Shraddha bagged the award for adopting hi-tech farming methods and Vijaya for her terrace backyard. MetroPlus caught up with them to learn how they sowed the seeds of success.
Bouncing again
“Failures have made me what I’m right this moment,” says SV Sujith. His farm, Naaden Agro, is on a 22-acre leased plot inside St Xavier’s College, Thumba, 13 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram.
Sujith has cultivated on sandy soil by adopting open-precision farming, a technique that makes use of expertise and data-oriented instruments to enhance crop manufacturing. Over 40 crops equivalent to amaranthus, brinjal, bitter gourd, snake gourd and lengthy beans are grown right here. Yellow and orange marigolds and maize are grown as barrier crops to cut back pest assault.
Chillies prepared for harvest at SV Sujith’s farm
| Photo Credit:
SREEJITH R KUMAR
A post-graduate in administration, Sujith, 39, left his well-paying job in Bengaluru to take up farming eight years in the past. “A well being scare and another experiences taught me that well being is essential and that secure meals is a should. I had an curiosity in farming from my childhood. While in Bengaluru, I related with a number of farmers. I started farming on a small scale at my residence in Karakulam in 2012-13. Instead of turning into a full-fledged famer, I began by procuring greens from farmers and promoting the produce. Then I attempted contract farming and when issues cropped up, I leased land in Parassala block and later in Kollam district,” he says.
The produce, branded Naaden, was offered by means of shops within the metropolis and in Kollam. But, there was a hunch in enterprise after some time and he confronted extreme monetary disaster. Refusing to stop, Sujith began once more by first cultivating on a 15-acre leased plot at Channankara, close to Thumba, after which at St Xavier’s. “By then I knew what I shouldn’t do. We give attention to need-based manufacturing in order that produce doesn’t go to waste,” he provides.
SV Sujith, who received the State Farm award for the most effective vegetable farmer at his farm in Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram.
| Photo Credit:
SREEJITH R KUMAR
Cocopeat, cow dung and poultry manure which can be wanted for manure are regionally procured. Vermicompost is made on the inhouse unit or collected from the zoo. A 70,000-litre water tank can be arrange on the farm.
Currently he employs 12 labourers. He has signed an MoU with St Xavier’s College underneath which a paid internship is given to college students of the faculty. “They keep again after school hours to work on the farm and I give them a month-to-month stipend. Fourteen of them have already completed their internship, I plan to make use of a few of them within the farm.” He has additionally entered into an MoU with Mar Baselious College for additional growth of the farm, particularly with regard to expertise, fertigation (supplying dissolved fertiliser by means of irrigation system) and making a database. He has been getting assist from College of Agriculture, Vellayani, and Kadinamkulam Krishi Bhavan.
Plant world
Shraddha Sharad Patil’s winner is her two-year-old hi-tech nursery, Orchiroids, at Vavarambalam close to Pothencode, 20 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram. The nursery has saplings of over a dozen decorative plant varieties, together with phalaenopsis or moth orchids, agloenema, sanisivieria, philodendron, alocasia, fittonia, fern, ficus, and palms.
Shraddha Sharad Patil at her nursery, Orchiroids, in Thiruvananthapuram
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Shraddha says that her inspiration has been her mother and father, Sharad Patil, a Maharashtrian, and her mom, Preethi Sharad Patil, a Malayali. “In Kenya, my father used to run a rose farm. He used to export roses to the Netherlands. We settled in Thiruvananthapuram once I was in Class 7. I did my post-graduation in plant science from the Netherlands. By the time I completed the course in 2021, the infrastructure for the nursery was prepared, due to my father,” says 26-year-old Shraddha.
So why ornamentals and never flowering vegetation? “Because as soon as the flowers wither away, we are able to’t take pleasure in their magnificence. Also, decorative vegetation are air purifiers and lots of are tropical vegetation that may be grown in our local weather,” she says.
A view of Orchiroids nursery run by Shraddha Sharad Patil at Pothencode in Thiruvananthapuram.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The nursery has 5 climate-controlled greenhouses with shade nets, followers, fogging system, custom-made sliding tables to maintain pots and so forth. “The vegetation are grown in a soil-less combination. Also, we’ve a tool that’s related to an app on my telephone and it provides updates about humidity and temperature each 5 minutes. This is essential within the case of phalaenopsis varieties, which require additional care,” she says.
Shraddha Sharad Patil at her nursery, Orchiroids, in Thiruvananthapuram
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
At current, the nursery does solely wholesale enterprise. “Except for phalaenopsis, all different vegetation are offered to plant outlets in and across the metropolis. Phalaenopsis vegetation are despatched to our nursery in Pune for the flowers to bloom because the metropolis has a cooler local weather in comparison with Thiruvananthapuram. We hope to do this right here quickly.” The household is organising one other farm at Aryanad as effectively.
Shraddha is on the farm from 7.30am every single day until 5 – 6 within the night to coach and supervise her labourers and to are likely to her vegetation. Any favourites? “Not actually. I really like all of them equally.”
On a excessive
“I handle them as if they’re my youngsters,” says homemaker Vijaya Bhaskar, referring to the vegetation in her terrace farm at her residence at Aruvikkara. Vijaya and her husband, Bhaskaran Nair, began rising greens and greens on this 1,100 sq ft house 9 years in the past. “Before that I had solely flowering vegetation on our terrace. When we heard about pesticide-laden greens flooding the market, we determined to shift to vegetable cultivation,” says 69-year-old Vijaya.
Vijaya Bhaskar with her husband, Bhaskaran Nair, at her terrace farm, at Aruvikkara
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
They took steering from R Raveendran, a city-based professional in terrace farming. “We began with six develop luggage and 6 varieties of greens. When we bought harvest we determined to broaden it and now 800-900 pots are saved on the terrace alone. We haven’t spared an inch of house. Crops are grown round my home as effectively,” Vijaya says.
Besides generally grown greens, Vijaya has efficiently harvested styles of cabbage, dragon fruit, paddy, lettuce, celery, palak and so forth. She sells extra produce on the farmers’ market organised each Saturday at Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, Thycaud. In addition to taking lessons for farmers and farming teams, she additionally provides away seeds free of charge.
Vijaya Bhaskar at her terrace farm at Aruvikkara in Thiruvananthapuram
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
“Spend at the least two hours within the morning and night within the backyard. But do it day by day. They are additionally dwelling issues and it feels good to see them every single day, even chatting with them. That makes them comfortable. Perhaps, that’s the reason I get good yield,” she says.