Evergreen exotics and Mawphlang

Dear Reader,

In a country struggling with water woes, our farmers are the worst affected. Their crops, livelihood and hence lives depend on water. But in dry lands, where water is already scarce, farming becomes more challenging during summers and droughts.

Tumkur in Karnataka is a dry land where coconuts flourish followed by millets and pulses. But growing other crops has not been very profitable. Chennakeshava M changed this when he converted his family’s land into an organic farm and then began planting exotic fruit plants between coconut trees, writes my colleague Anu.

With organic practices and mulching that retain soil moisture and improve fertility, that piece of land is now an evergreen farm where some fruit crop is harvested daily throughout the year. Apart from traditional fruits, he sells longan, rambutan, mangosteen, avocado, passion fruit, water apple and more at Rs350 per kg. Anu has written how he converted that infertile land into an oasis of fruits. Do look it up.

My colleague Riya spoke to Sumila Jayaraj, who began making coconut oil, vinegar, milk and other products from a shed next to her house in Thrissur, Kerala. She employed two women and a driver. Today, her enterprise Greenaura International sells organically made products across the world and clocks Rs20 lakh monthly revenues. She procures coconut from local farmers, paying them Rs 6000 per day and providing them with assured income. 

Last week, I spoke to Ram Saran Verma who practices crop rotation to cultivate banana, potato, wheat and other crops in Uttar Pradesh. He earns four times more than mono-cropping. The outputs per acre are mindboggling -- 41,000 kg banana and 25,000 kg potato. Not surprisingly, farmers from around 100 neighbouring villages are now following his techniques for record-high yields and earning high incomes.

Our Sunday story is on Mawphlang - Meghalaya’s sacred forest from where you can't take away even a leaf! Yes! Doing so can invite the wrath of forest deities, believe people of the Khasi tribe who guard the forest.

My colleague Karan has given five tips to generate secondary income from your investments regardless of the market cycle.

Happy Reading!

Warmly,

Rashmi