Sreevidya M and Saifulla P are two young farmers instituted by Kerala Government. While Sreevidya converted a rocky terrain into green patch, Saifulla grows medicinal plants and other crops on leased land.
Kolathur village of Kasaragod district has a star in Sreevidya M. 6 years ago no one would have thought that she would bring home a State award by farming on an undulating and rocky terrain.
On 4 acres, she grows passion fruit, papaya, banana, paddy, vegetables, coconut and tubers, besides managing a poultry business and an aquaponics farm. “It has been backbreaking. But I am immensely satisfied when I look back at what I have done,” says Sreevidya to newspaper TheHindu.
Rooting for technology
Saifulla P is assured of a government job as his name figures in the rank list of the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC). But he asserts that he can’t think of a life without farming.
The 30-year-old from Kuruva in Malappuram district took to farming as a school boy, inspired by his grandfather and father. In addition to cultivating on one-and-a-half acres near his home where he grows rubber, arecanut and coconut, he does farming on 22 acres of leased land in three different locations. While bananas and vegetables form the major share of the leased land, he grows paddy and medicinal plants at the other two locations.
Read the complete article at www.thehindu.com