Giving back to society in the simplest way possible — through labour — The Weekend Agriculturist recently completed another initiative to help farmers in and around the city. On July 9, a group of young IT professionals travelled to a farm in Aynavaram to help plant a vegetable garden in the plot of the Daya Sadan old age home located there.
Talking to DC, Sathish Kumar, one of the volunteers who participated in the event, explains that it wasn’t only about farming; the latter half of the weekend activity included a session that presented composting techniques and using organic methods for your own backyards. “We planted around 60-70 vegetable saplings at Daya Sadan. We believe that one should start growing plants in whatever space one can get. Almost 80 per cent of our group wants to take up farming in the future, and these activities are a way for them to learn,” he says. Being a part of the core team at TWA, he and other volunteers regularly update their blog with documentations of successful organic farmers, where to source good seeds from, tried-and-tested methods, and so on. All they’re doing really, he asserts, is implementing the vision of the group founder Harish Srinivasan, who is currently away for a project.
“The problem Harish realised in agriculture today is labour. Not only is it expensive, it is also hard to find. We usually leave on Friday evening and stay over at the farm for the weekend and while we’re unskilled labour, our number ensures that the farmer saves up to '1200 per day. That’s a huge amount for them!” Sathish explains.
While their next session hasn’t been announced yet, he is hopeful that there will be a weekend volunteering initiative at a farm on July 29. To join the group, you can visit their Facebook page and their blog.
