We have all heard stories of people leaving their corporate jobs and becoming filmmakers or entrepreneurs and what not. But, rarely do we come across someone giving up a high paying job to do farming. So, today we will talk about five such brave hearts who took the leap of faith and are doing much better than they used to in their corporate lives.
But, what attracts people to farming in the first place? The open skies, the smell of soil after the rain, the idea of giving up the hectic city life could be some of the reasons. Let's know it from the people who chose the vast fields to be their office.
Hemal Patel
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| photo credits: housing.com |
Hemal, a computer engineer and an MBA in finance, used to be in his cubicle for 5 days a week waiting for weekends to explore the villages. He always wanted to promote organic farming and these trips increased his desire even more. He left his well paying corporate job in 2013 and had already learned a lot about organic farming before jumping into this field.
Hemal always wondered why people in urban areas were not producing their own food. He also came across people who showed interest in organic farming but were unable to do it due to a lack of knowledge. That's why in 2014, he founded UrbanSoil to make people aware of how they can grow their own food in cities too. Hemal showed people how to convert wet waste into compost. The compost then turns into rich soil and allows healthy organic food to be grown.
UrbanSoil now conducts workshops and teaches people the right techniques to grow organic food in their balconies and terraces. Hemal is successfully running his company and has also been featured in Times Of India.
Sachin Kale
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| photo credits: thebetterindia.com |
Sachin, a mechanical engineer, had a luxurious life and was drawing a hefty salary of Rs 24 lakhs per annum. But, in 2013, to fulfill his grandfather's desire for farming, he gave up his job and returned to his hometown in Medhpar. They had 25 acres of ancestral land. From tilling to sowing the seeds, Sachin had to learn it all as he had no prior idea about farming. He invested all his savings into farming and followed a model where his farm would be useful all year round to make maximum profits. He started by growing seasonal vegetables and paddy. The hard work paid off, and he started making some profits.
But he didn't stop at this. He researched more and learned about contract farming, where crops are produced based on a contract between the farmers and buyers. Realizing the potential in this method, he launched his own company, Innovative Agrilife Solutions. He has now helped hundreds of farmers in the process and now has a turnover of approximately Rs 2 crore.
Gurdev Kaur
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| photo credits: yourstory.com |
Gurdev, a strong willed woman, who has always believed in helping fellow women is another example of people who shifted careers. She did her MA from G.H.G Khalsa college and was a mathematics teacher in a government school in the city of Ludhiana. She decided to quit her job to start farming. And today, she employs over 300 women. Her organization is now 11 years old, with a turnover of around 40lakhs.
It was in 2008 when Gurdev decided to start farming on the 2.5 acres of land that she owned. She first underwent a two months training at Punjab Agriculture University. In this training, she learned about producing manures. She gained all the knowledge about growing different kinds of fruits and vegetables. After finishing her training at PAU, she started to grow sugarcane, carrot, ginger, turmeric, gooseberry, and various other crops. Her sales began to grow due to the quality of food that she was providing. Gurdev started a self-help group to train women regarding agricultural techniques at PAU and also formed an organization to help farmers in their business.
Gurdev has become a big success. She was also awarded with a state award for agriculture in the years 2010 and 2011.
Rajesh Gaidhani
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| photo credits: thebetterindia.com |
Rajesh used to work at an automobile company and had been in the corporate world since last 26 years old and was drawing a handsome salary of 19lakhs per annum. But in 2013, unhappy due to farmers dying because of using toxic chemicals, he decided to help them by promoting organic farming. The journey was not very easy as he had hardly any experience of farming. But the only thing he knew was that he wouldn't be using any chemicals in his field. That is how his organic journey started.
In his first year, he started with 16-acre lands. On 10 acres, he grew crops like paddy, wheat, and rice. The remaining 6 acres of land was used to grow medicinal plants like vekhand. Growing vekhand gave him profits of 1 lakh per acre in the first year of cultivation and also increased the soil fertility from 0.4 to 0.9(1 stands for 100% fertility).
Pesticides and fertilizers usually cost Rs 5000 per acre. And that means for 10 acres of land, Rajesh would have to spend around Rs 50000. But since he was using natural fertilizers and pesticides, it only costs him around Rs 15000.
Rajesh has now helped hundreds of farmers and NGOs by providing them training on chemical-free farming and low-cost techniques to grow crops.
Harish Dhandev
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| photo credits: patrika.com |
Harish was a junior engineer in the municipal corporation but he started to take interest in farming after his father started farming on their 80 acres of ancestral land. At this time, Harish didn't leave his job but used to help his father whenever he got the time. After working for a few months on the field, he observed that the farmers were not working smartly. He now wanted to apply the planning skills, he had learned as an engineer and now wanted to pursue it full time. The only fear that was stopping him was the high paying government job. But, he finally quit his job and decided to grow aloe vera using organic methods.
The agriculture department had suggested him to not grow aloe vera as there were not enough market opportunities to sell the crops. Harish did his research and found that he could use online portals to sell his crops. Initially, he grew aloe vera on 15-20 acres of land and decided to use cow dung instead of chemicals. He soon started making decent profits and started his company, Dhandev Global Group which now has a turnover of around Rs 2 crore. He is now planning to enter the international markets too.
Conclusion
The above stories of these people showed us that organic farming has huge potential and can be a great career option for people trying to switch careers. It has huge environmental benefits too and that's what makes us believe in the future of organic farming. This now ends our take on "Organic Farming: A Promising Career in Future", hope you liked it.
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Great job👍 I appreciate ur work.😊
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