Chennai :
When farmers are quite reluctant to encourage their kids to pursue agriculture, who head to cities for new jobs, a group of men have turned farmers, leaving their corporate jobs behind. Yes, you read that right! How many of us would give up high-paying jobs to be the change we want to see? Nallakeerai, a farming initiative, which was started by R Jagannathan, formerly a business manager with a city-based firm, and his friend, in 2011, aims to influence people to switch to organic farming.
Inspired by organic farmers in the State, including popular organic farming scientist who passed away last year G Nammalvar, this experimental cultivational venture has made many farmers in the Melappedu village take up organic farming, besides attracting more takers with their door delivery services of the organic produce.
Currently, Nallakeerai cultivates 30 varieties of spinach and sells 10 lakh bundles within the city per month. “Organic greens have a huge market. Even in half an acre of land, we can cultivate greens. I was able to produce 45 varieties of greens in one cycle,” says Jagannathan.
“The biggest challenge was to create a customer base. That’s where agriculture marketing consultants come in. We use Facebook to promote Nallakeerai and have volunteers who pick them up from certain localities and sell them.
About 15 people have invested on their land for their yearly produce,” he says. What started as a team of two in 2011, has now grown into a group of 30 metropolitan farmers ranging from an IIT graduate, management consultant, software architect, and so on. And they their keerai in a koodai just as easily as they do off the backseat of a car! So it didn’t surprise us when we discovered that theNallakeeraiFacebook page — https://www.facebook.com/NallaKeerai — has a massive 10,000 followers.
Ask Jagannathan why his choice of crop is spinach and he responds, “It requires a very short growth period and gives quicker returns, which eases the transition to organic farming.”
He goes on, people who produce food for the country, go to bed hungry and that’s the plight of today’s farmers. The idea struck me when I conducted a survey in my native, near Thirunindravur. I decided to do something about it and started to study the economy of farmers in my village. I found that the 240 farmer households in the village spent about `40 lakh investing in fertilisers and pesticides.
If this money was properly channelised within the farm, they would lead more comfortable lives.
So what does Nallakeerai do differently? “We help organic farmers by eliminating middle men, and connecting them to a direct consumer base in the city,” explains this farmer-preneur. This is apart from supplying to some of the biggest organic retail stores in the city and also renting out store space within the premises of large companies to sell the veggie.
In order to get youngster interested, Jagannathan conducts weekend workshops on organic farming and eco-friendly lifestyles, assisting a community of Irula farmers to market their produce.
“Organic spinach farms are profitable through weekly door-delivery of organic greens to residences and apartment complexes in the city. We want people to emulate our model,” says Jagannathan, explaining how he spread cow-dung on his planting beds once and harvested three bundles of spinach from tiny one sq ft area. “Today, if I am doing this with spinach, somebody will come up with organic milk and organic potatoes tomorow. If the pricing of organic food is feasible, organic farming can make it big,” he assures us.
Priced at `25 to 30, Nallakeerai’s organic greens are available in T Nagar, Virugambakkam, Vadapalani, Anna Nagar, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Ambattur, Velachery, and Kodambakkam, and can be reached on 99626 11767/9840614128.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by S. Subhakeerthana / July 23rd, 2014