Agriculture is not everyone’s cup of tea. But there are some heroes who realised the importance of farming and decided to preserve crops. There is a general misconception that those who take up agriculture as their career have failed in other areas of life. The success stories of some the heroes mentioned here prove that a great amount of effort and skill is required to succeed in agriculture too.
If we look around, we can see many persons who have reaped great success in farming with constant effort and energy. A few of the noted agriculture enthusiasts who caught the media's eye in 2018 are listed here. As the year is coming to an end, we can get inspired from their success saga and even try our hand at agriculture in 2019.
First female vet surgeon in Lakshadweep tells how she tamed both cows and humans
When Dr. P. P. Nilufer took charge as the first women veterinary surgeon in the Kavaratti dairy farm in Lakshadweep, everyone in the island was doubtful if she could do the job well. Gradually, she became their favourite and has now successfully completed one year at the job.
The island dwellers were not broadminded to accept a lady veterinary surgeon treating their animals. People hesitated to approach her in the beginning. But things changed gradually and now Nilufer is the first one people would search to treat their animals.
Read more… Success story of first female vet surgeon in Lakshadweep
When fresh milk gets a brand; Hafeez tells story of ‘Daily Dairy’
After completing B.Tech graduation in Computer Science from Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology, Hafeez Ashraf worked in a software company for a while. But when the concerns about feeding children with the packed milk bought from shops affected his life too, Hafeez decided to take up a new career path. He formed a new company to collect and distribute fresh milk to households.
Hafeez lives at Pookkattupadi in Ernakulam district. He is fully content with switching his career from software engineering to milk supply. Also his family has a taste for agriculture and is giving him strong support. Hafeez’ company ‘Daily Dairy’ has already gained popularity in Kochi as the milk they offer is pure and fresh.
Read more… From IT industry to milk supply; Success story of Hafeez and ‘Daily Dairy’
Antony Vaidyar’s secret of saving his pepper from flood
Vazhavatta native Antony Vaidyar is a pepper farmer who applies unique ideas to overcome the natural barriers of farming. He has designed his own methods such as iron net support pillars and special chambers for pepper vines. About 20 varieties of pepper cultivated in organic method has given good yields after the heavy rain making the adverse conditions favourable to them.
Many farms happened to get destroyed in the flood as the top soil was washed away. In order to overcome this situation, Antony Vaidyar made chambers for planting pepper vines. The chambers that have a height of two feet and an area of four feet are used for this purpose. Then the chambers are filled with bran, cow dung and soil.
Read more… Here’s how Antony Vaidyar became a ‘Doctor of Pepper’
Know how Thomas became best friend of jackfruits
Chakkambuzha Kattakkayam native Thomas has dedicated his life for different varieties of jackfruit trees. He started taking care of jackfruit trees ever since he realized that jackfruit is the only fruit that is not contaminated. Now his 1.5-acre land is full of jackfruit trees. He preserves 210 varieties of jackfruits in his orchard.
Thomas planted the jackfruits trees cutting off his 1.5-acre rubber plantation. He also plans to expand the farming to one acre of land. Earlier, there were multiple types of jackfruits in Thomas’ compound. Later many of them happened to perish over time. Thus he decided to dedicate his life for the conservation of jackfruits.
Read more… Thomas – The guardian angel of 210 jackfruit varieties
Police-cum-farmer; Premanandan plays double role for 8 years
A Vigilance Sub-Inspector has proved that we can cultivate crops an entire year through rain shelter farming. Kozhikode Moozhikkal Native Premanandan, who is also an active farmer for the past 8 years, harvests about 12 kg vegetables from his 2.5-cent plot every day.
He does not buy the vegetables for household purposes. In addition to vegetable farming, he also grows cows of Kasaragod dwarf, Vechoor and Kapila varieties. He grows about 10 varieties of vegetables such as tomato, okra, long beans, brinjal, bitter gourd, amaranths, chilli and scarlet gourd.
Love for agriculture make this little girl a successful farmer
A class 6 student from Ambalavayal has turned her courtyard into a vegetable garden, setting a model for all youngsters. Shikha Lubna, daughter of Mankombu native Abdul Basheer and Nasriya, has been active in farming since she was in class 1.
She is a student of Bathery Assumption AUP School. Shikha’s garden consists of almost all major varieties of vegetables and nearly 30 types of fruits. Chinese cauliflower, bajji chilli, carrot, beetroot, cabbage, green chilli and other vegetables grow in Shikha’s garden.
Read more… Meet Shikha Lubna, the 11-year young model in agriculture
Water lilies blooms in a lorry when a policeman’s creativity worked
People who reach Changaramkulam police station will be surprised after finding the fish tank and water lilies in a lorry here. This is not a mere fish tank but is part of fish farming or pisciculture carried out by a police official.
Special Branch ASI Albert, a native of Mararikulam in Alappuzha, is a farmer among the police. He has converted a lorry into a farmland. The lorry was seized by police for illegally carrying sand. He has set up a fish tank in the lorry to raise different breeds of ornamental fishes.
