RETREAT TO THE ROOTS

By Jayashree Nandi
Bangalore: Even in the midst of flyovers, zooming cars, skyscrapers and all the development that that the urban community is aspiring for, these handful have retreated to the roots. For them, organic agriculture is a way of life. While a group of these farmers have quit jobs and urban life completely to work on the farm, some continue with their lives but practice farming on weekends. A passion for nature and sustainable living has urged them to work on the soil and get closer to the basics of life.
Members of the organic farmers association in Bangalore say that the trend started in the mid 80's when the philosophy of going back to the soil was very strong. Later books like 'One-straw revolution' by Masanobu Fukoaka and literature by Kuppali Puttappa Poornachandra Tejaswi inspired many to take up organic and natural farming. In the 90's many started experimenting on small plots that they bought on the outskirts of the city. After 2000, the boom in the IT and other industries intensified the search for an alternative lifestyle. Kanakpura main road, Ramanagara, Neelamangala, Channapatna, Anekal are some of the places where most of these farms are located. The border town between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Thally, also called 'little England' is a favorite among these farmers because of the fertile soil and salubrious climate.
M A Shrikanth, a software engineer with Intel, started organic farming in 2005 after he returned from the US. Shrikanth and his wife Prithi Y R who now have two farms on Kanakpura main road say, "It started out more because of our love for bird life. We wanted to see more biodiversity around us. Then gradually it turned in to a passion for farm based living. We practise both organic and natural farming at our farms named 'ankura' and 'vanashree'," says Shrikanth. They work on the farm every weekend and work in the city on the weekdays. They also have a couple as helping hands at the farm. Shrikanth's farm not only grow organic crops and vegetables, they have cattle, poultry, a small fishery and a water harvesting system on the eight-acre plot.
N R Shetty, another organic farmer who has a small farm in Neelamagala started out as an experimental way of farming because he did not use any water and power for it. A telecom engineer by profession, he was inspired to have a farm of his own after he joined Sahaja Samruddha, a group working on sustainable agriculture. "There is nothing like a chemical, pesticides free bountiful land. Initially, just after retirement I was practicing at Sulatanpaly where I used to stay. Then after reading up and discussing with experts I tried an experimental way of farming in Neelamangala where I bought a small patch of land. I did not use water or power. The only water that was used was rain water. We drink harvested rain water when we are working on the farm," says Shetty. He and his wife work on their own at the farm. There is a small hut powered by solar panels where they live. They don't buy anything as they grow almost all crops including groundnuts, chillies, Ragi, Mango, Jackfruit, Soyabean, green gram etc. All these years he has ploghed the land only once, he says that his farming has almost reached the perfection of natural farming.
Sadashiva never knew about the bounties of organic farming until he met the organic farmers group a few years ago. He was in Bangalore studying and doing his apprenticeship at electronic city. "When I was working at electronic city, suddenly I realised that it was not what I wanted to do in life. I wanted to live close to the nature, living out of agriculture. I went back to Ramanagara and started farming with my family. But the life became all the more interesting when I learnt how to do organic farming," he says. It was a challenge for Sadashiva to convert the already contaminated land to a land suitable for organic farming. Now he makes his own manure, mostly with vermi compost. His cousin who is studying engineering also helps him on the farm during weekends.

* There are around 200 organic farmers in Karnataka, 60 of them are based in and around Bangalore.
* M A Shrikanth hosts field visits for school children at his farm. He is eager to train people interested in organic farming. contact: 9845068860
* Around 22 software professionals have farms and are doing organic farming around the city.
* Books for starters: 'Farming for the future', 'Organic farming source book', '10 steps towards organic farming', 'One-straw revolution'
* Hike in real estate prices is a major hurdle that aspiring farmers are facing.