Farming

M K Nishanth, a farmer from Wayanad, Kerala, was fascinated with growing different crops. Today, his backyard and ancestral farmland are filled with a plethora of plantain varieties.

“I remember toiling in the fields barefoot, using my hands to spread the insecticides and pesticides. I could never dream of affording any technology. But those days are gone."

Uma Mahato is a farmer from Dhanbad, one of the largest coal producers in India, who has spent over a decade working to revive his ancestral land, which was reeling under the effects of environmental degradation, and earn a stable income of Rs 3 lakh a year.

K S Joseph, a retired banker from Kerala, has revived a barren 4-acre land with dragon fruit cultivation. Today, he's earning Rs 10 lakh in one season with this exotic fruit.

Nuklu Phom is an environmentalist from Nagaland's Longleng district who runs Lemsachenlok, an organisation aimed at increasing the population of the Amur falcon, planting thousands of trees, preventing poaching, and executing the concept of community-owned forests.

While the process ultra high-density planting (UHDP) has been practised for years in Israel and South Africa, it is only recently being followed by a handful of enterprising farmers like 62-year-old Parmanand Gavane in Maharashtra.

Debashish Sen introduced the System of Rice (or Root) Intensification (SRI) technique to farmers in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 2006, which was originally invented in the 1980s in Madagascar.

Bharat Bhushan, a pioneer in large scale cultivation of lavender in Kashmir, speaks about starting this trend a decade ago. He has influenced over 500 farmers to follow in his footsteps today.

A resident of Thumbur village in Thrissur district of Kerala, Tom Kiron Davis quit his job in Dubai to change the perception towards farming. He now helps several farmers earn in lakhs annually.

On World Water Day, Gazala Paul, founder of Ahmedabad-based NGO Samerth, talks about how she helped 97 villages in Kutch fight a massive water crisis through a community-led initiative.