Guntur: Techies ready to switch to farming

GUNTUR: The Zero Budget Nature Farming (ZBNF) is attracting youth, mainly IT, software and allied professionals, so much so that they are ready to switch their career to the farming sector. There were many youth, among the farmers, who attended the training programme on ZBNF being held at the Bible Mission grounds near ANU by the AP Rythu Sadhikara Samstha from Dec. 31. The training session will continue till Jan. 8 at Nambur in Guntur district.

Renowned nature farming agriculturist Subhash Palekar is giving training to farmers of the 13 districts in AP and other interested persons from Telangana and other areas too. As many as 300 young professionals from various other sectors also attended the training programme, to turn into organic farmers. These hi-tech professionals are showing keen interest in organic food and in owning farmlands to start organic farming after completion of the ZBNF training.

The increasing health consciousness among the people is being considered a good omen to begin organic farming. P.N. Kumar, working in an IT firm and who attended the training, said many people are ready to use food products grown without using pesticides. He said he wants to cultivate in his 1-acre land after the training. He said he wants to do organic farming as it would give him immense pleasure of providing good health to his family members and the public. "I want to earn a good amount through organic farming that is sufficient for my family."

Another IT engineer in Guntur district, N. Raghu, said his parents leased out their farmland and that a tenant farmer was raising crop. "We have been incurring loss due to use of fertilisers." He said that he came to know about ZBNF, decided to revert to cultivation after the training. Software developer A. Sai said that spending hours on the system like a machine was affecting his health and that the money they give is not sufficient to meet the expenditure on treatment. He said he was vexed with the sedentary lifestyle, bad health and mechanical life. "I decided to switch to organic farming as it would provide healthy and nutritious food for his family and at the same time, earn by selling the produce.