Educated opt for organic farming

Visakhapatnam: Young Geo-Science graduate Ananthatmakula Venkata Narasingarao from the University of Petroleum-Dehradun returned home to Gokavaram in East Godavari district a few years ago leaving behind a lucrative career in Petroleum to start organic farming as a vocation.

Today, he is a proud owner of 20 acres of natural farm in his own village.

“I am now cultivating mango, paddy and cashew in a pesticide-free method. Passion, Patience and Performance are three main principles one should follow here,” Narasingarao said.

And, he is not alone.

AP Organic Farmers Welfare Association founder member J. Kumara Swamy said that a number of people who are mostly educated youth and job-holders are currently opting for this healthy cultivation after Covid-19.

Bharat Varma, who organises melas and workshops, said “We have seen a number of IT and other professionals at a workshop on organic farming at Vijayawada last month.”

A Vizag-based Rishi Cherukuri, an MNC software architect, said that he started organic farming two years ago after returning from the US, at Gudivada in Vizianagaram district. Producing indigenous varieties of black rice and white rice, Rishi set up an automatic Jeevamrutham facility at his farm and rear Desi cows. He manages both IT jobs and farming. For this, he set up a separate optical fibre internet facility at his farmland.

“Since labour is one of the challenging tasks for farming, the government should link the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with Agriculture so that the labour shortage can be controlled. This is the best choice instead of giving subsidies on the products,” Rishi suggested.

Another farmer Appaji from Annavaram said that he left his lucrative job in Defence Research and Development Organisation to take up natural farming.

“People are now being motivated to natural farming and its importance has been well popularised after Covid-19,” Appaji said.