This January, he took the leap of faith, quit his job and joined his grandmother to till the farm. "I am happy doing this work. Though I don't have a fixed salary that I used to have, at least I am doing what I always wanted to do," he says with a smile. While summer already set in, he is excited about the new vegetables — brinjals, tomatoes and most importantly, spinach that he is busy growing. He sells around 20 bundles of spinach a day and earns `200 but he says, "It's totally worth it." The 25 cents of land is his bastion and no place else, he claims is 'more peaceful for him on earth.'
Pushparaj represents a new generation who quit their high-paying jobs and have joined the bandwagon of farming, by choice. Nagaraja Sankaran's farm in Pondieswaram is his most valuable possession. The 30-year-old former software engineer gave up his five-digit salaried job in Bangalore and moved to his native Chennai to take up organic farming. His day begins at 5 am when he takes a bus to his farm. "It's a complete lifestyle changeover. In Bangalore, I used to lead an erratic lifestyle, but then when I took this decision, I knew it would demand for a complete change of lifestyle. However, I am glad this transition happened," says Sankaran. The inspiration behind this transition is another interesting story.
A two-week workshop in organic farming got Sankaran thinking about how various pesticides and chemicals affect one's health. An environmentalist from his school days, he attended the workshop on persuasion of his friend, but by the end of it, he'd decided to quit his job make use of the five acres of land that his family owned in Pondieswaram. Inspired by Sankaran, two of his juniors from college, Sanjay Prashanth and Vinoth Srinivasan joined the league of the new-age agriculturists. The 28-year-olds quit their jobs and have now turned to growing millets in Theni. "Last year, we had our first harvest. It was like seeing your new-born kid for the first time," recalls Sanjay. The duo travels all over Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, spreading awareness about farming and educating farmers about the ever-changing technologies. "The change is slow but we are getting there. Our country is known for agriculture and it's our responsibility to use our education in making this profession more respectful and profitable," says Sanjay.
Cashing in on this new trend, equipment companies are coming up with new campaigns. In such an attempt, Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) recently launched a corporate endeavour, 'Be a FarmDost' initiative that aims to bring back farming into social consciousness. TR Kesavan, the chief operating officer of TAFE explains the idea behind this initiative. "We think that it's a matter of great pride how a lot of youngsters these days are showing interest in farming and we need to enable and educate them about it. The idea behind this initiative was to encourage the culture of farming," he says. "It is absolutely fine to start with a kitchen garden. We should encourage the kids in the family to indulge in a kitchen garden and let them experience the joys of growing their own food," he adds.
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