After working as a venture scientist in ISRO, Professor Divakar Channappa left metropolis life in Bengaluru and turned to farming. In a bid to develop one thing distinctive, he quickly turned one of many first farmers to start out natural date cultivation in Karnataka.
Born into an agricultural household in rural Karnataka, Divakar Channappa’s father at all times needed him to excel in life however away from his farming roots.
Hailing from a small village Begur, Divakar remembers, “Our village misplaced its existence with an unprecedented enlargement of Bangalore metropolis. With this, farming turned unprofitable for us. My father was compelled to purchase land round 100 km away from town to proceed farming. He by no means allow us to go to the land as he needed us to maneuver to Bangalore for higher training.”
Divakar, who went on to develop into a venture scientist with ISRO, remained fully disconnected from his farming roots till 2009 when his father suffered a stroke that left him paralysed. That’s when Diwakar selected to maneuver to his village.
“Within the first 12 months I spent with my father, I understood that I didn’t want to lead town life. Throughout the identical time, I occurred to learn a e book referred to as ‘One Straw Revolution’ by a Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. On the fourth day of studying the e book, I gathered the braveness to go to the farm that my father saved hidden from us,” says the 46-year-old.
Quickly after, Divakar turned to farming and by no means seemed again. His journey led him to transition from cultivating native crops to rising dates, a desert crop, in Karnataka! He at present earns Rs 6 lakh per acre.
Discovering his life’s calling
After finishing his increased training in social work, Divakar labored with a number of non-profit organisations and was a visiting college at Tumkuru College. In 2008, he obtained a chance to work as a venture scientist for a social improvement venture with ISRO (Indian House Analysis Organisation) in Bengaluru.
After his father’s stroke, he give up his job and metropolis life to maneuver to his village and develop into a farmer. “Greater than anybody, my in-laws have been very upset about my choice. They’d obtained their daughter married to an individual who was a professor and labored with ISRO. They have been disenchanted with me. However I had understood my life’s calling,” he says.
Initially, Divakar cultivated crops like ragi (millets), tur dal (pigeon pea), and corns like native farmers. For this, he invested about Rs 22,000 and earned Rs 33,000 — a revenue of Rs 11,000 — extraordinarily much less earnings in comparison with the earlier works.
“That is when my mom jogged my memory why my father didn’t need a farming occupation for me. She jogged my memory of the tasks of my new child daughter and stated I had established an id for myself within the metropolis however I appeared to lose all of it due to farming. This bothered me for a very long time,” he says.
In a bid to face out within the farming crowd, Divakar needed to develop a novel crop. So, he turned to cultivating dates — a crop grown within the sizzling desert of nations like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.
Cultivating a desert crop in Karnataka
Earlier than taking over date cultivation, Divakar remembered assembly a date farmer on the Krishi Mela organised in Bengaluru. “This farmer from Tamil Nadu was distributing leaflets on methods to develop dates in India. Again then, I had mocked him asking how a desert fruit may develop on this a part of the nation?”
It took Divakar six months to hint the farmer. He went to Tamil Nadu to study the nitty-gritty of date farming. “This farmer had been efficiently rising dates there. Because the weather conditions of our villages have been considerably related, I made a decision to domesticate dates too,” he says.
“It’s a false impression that one may develop dates solely in desert circumstances. All {that a} date tree wants is a number of moisture and ample daylight. One requires 40-45 levels supreme temperature however our area will get a most of 38 levels temperature in summer season,” he provides.
Anyway, Divakar went forward and purchased 150 saplings for Rs 3,000 every. It price him a hefty preliminary funding of Rs 4.5 lakh. “On condition that the saplings have been costly and I needed to develop them with out desert circumstances invited a number of questions. Folks laughed at me and requested if I meant to create a desert on my farm,” remembers Divakar.
To develop dates, the farmer dug 2×2 ft pits in his farm and added river sand. He nourished it with neem and castor cake, vermicompost, and panchgavya earlier than planting the saplings.
Whereas different farmers saved on with their conventional crops, Divakar didn’t get any yield. “No person believed me at any time when I advised them these have been date timber. I used to be additionally referred to as a idiot and requested a number of questions. I had no solutions to them,” he says.
It was solely after 4 and a half years that Divakar noticed the primary flowering; his pleasure knew no bounds. Initially, he was in a position to extract 800 kg of dates from his 2.5-acre farm. Right this moment, he will get as much as 5 tonnes of produce. Priced at Rs 375 per kg, he is ready to generate Rs 6 lakh earnings in an acre of date farm.
Together with getting a bountiful harvest, cultivating dates earned him immense recognition.
“After I confirmed folks that we may develop dates in a area like Karnataka, I used to be reached out by many journalists. When one in every of my interviews was aired on tv, my father-in-law visited my farm. To my data, I’m the primary date farmer within the state and the primary farmer to domesticate dates organically in South India,” says Divakar.
Though a matter of nice delight for Divakar, the journey to modify to farming was by no means a straightforward selection. “Switching from a job at ISRO, educating at a college, and residing in a metropolis like Bangalore to immediately changing into a farmer in a village didn’t make sense financially,” he says.
Divakar had understood that farming may fulfil all his wants however not all his needs as there’s no finish to it. “For about 4 yields, I used to be unable to stability my funding and earnings. It’s only within the final three years that I can maintain my household and my farm with 2.5 acres of date cultivation,” he says.
In the meantime, pointing towards at present’s technology, Divakar says, “Folks today discover it thrilling to give up present jobs and take up farming. Many individuals come to me and enquire about funding and revenue. Farming comes with its personal set of challenges and with none assured success no matter finest practices one adopts. Farming just isn’t a real-estate enterprise that you’ll get double the funding in a quick interval.”
“For me, inside peace was extra necessary than financial phrases. I’m grateful to guide a sluggish and easy life as I had imagined after my father’s paralysis,” he provides.
Edited by Pranita Bhat; All pictures: Divakar Channappa.