farm entrepreneur in kerala- motivating story

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http://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/achievers-from-networking-to-farming-this-kerala-boy-has-
come-a-long-way/20141029.htm
Rediff.com » Getahead » From netw orking to farming, this Kerala boy has come a long w ay
From networking to farming, this Kerala
boy has come a long way
Last updated on: October 29, 2014 18:37 IST
"The mountains I climbed, the butterflies I counted, the streams I swam,
the jungles I walked along, all called me back. The urge to go back to
nature was very strong," says Tibin Parakal from Trissur who quit a
lucrative engineering job in Delhi to start a restaurant but then
ultimately became a farmer.
Educated youngsters show no interest in carrying on the farming tradition of their
forefathers. But one 26-year-old chucked his job as a networking professional in
Delhi to be a farmer in Kerala.
Moreover, he has chosen to farm without the use of pesticides.
Tibin Parakal's father was a farmer, but he discouraged his son from being one. So,
Tibin studied Information Technology and networking, and worked as a networking
professional in Delhi.
"From the cradle of nature, I was thrown into the concrete jungle that is Delhi. I felt
suffocated. I didn't see human beings around me; only machines that worked to earn
lots of money.
"The mountains I climbed, the butterflies I counted, the streams I swam, the jungles
I walked along, all called me back. The urge to go back to nature was very strong,"
Tibin explained.
Still in Delhi, he began planning an organic restaurant he would start in Trissur on
the lines of what his friend was doing in Trivandrum.
He hid his plans from his parents; he knew they would be horrified if their son quit a
well paying job in Delhi to start a 'hotel' in Trissur.
He only discussed the viability of the idea with some of his friends. One of them,
George K Jose, had just joined Infosys in Bangalore.
Tibin and two friends from Trissur, George and Aneesh, pooled in one lakh rupees to
start an organic restaurant called Pathayam, in Trissur.
George K Jose at their farm in Trissur

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The restaurant opened during Onam in 2010.
Recalls Tibin, "We employed only the cooks; serving and the rest of the work was
done by the three of us and some of our friends."
They attracted excellent publicity in the media. At the evening opening they served
five types of puttu like ragi, wheat, vegetable, corn etc, which went down well.
"Hundreds of people came and had to wait outside. It was unprecedented. Everybody
appreciated our efforts. We were soon making Rs 10,000 every day with a profit of
around Rs 5000-6000," Tibin said.
As expected, Tibin's parents were horrified at their son's decision.
Tibin tried to scare them by saying, 'If you want to see me alive till I am 60, let me do
what I want to. But if I continue to work in Delhi, you will see me only till I am 35!'
The restaurant had to close because of construction work in the vicinity. Not able to
find another place to suit their budget, the three entrepreneurs abandoned the
project.
"I was not dejected. I had always wanted to be a farmer, and I thought it was a good
opportunity to do it. We had started with organic food made without any chemicals
but the first step should have been natural farming," Tibin said.
Tibin and George attended a five-day seminar on ZeroBudget Natural Farming, by
Subhash Palekar from Maharashtra.
"We were bowled over by Palekar's ideas. He understood the real vibrations of
nature. In those five days, it was not farming that he taught us; he made us
understand and feel the pulse of nature. He introduced us to the most minute living
beings in nature. It was an eye opener for us," Tibin recalls.
Tibin's parents agreed to part with 10 cents of land (10 cents = 0.1 acre = 4356 square
feet) to their 'crazy' son and his friend so that they could experiment with natural
farming.
"My father was not in favour of our experiment. He asked me, 'Do you think we are
fools? I have been cultivating paddy for the last several years and you say we don't
know anything? Even with pesticides, our yield is only this much, and you want to
show us that without pesticides, you can have more yield?'
"He literally laughed at us. I begged him for a small piece of land to do our
experiment just once. Reluctantly, he agreed.

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Zerobudget natural farming needs only one kilo of cow dung for 10 cents of land.
"We must have the cow dung and urine from pure breed cows and not cross breeds.
With great difficulty, we found one person who had such cows and I went on my bike
to collect the cow dung and urine," Tibin said.
Tibin had learnt from Palekar that one gram of cow dung and urine of pure bred
cows contains 300-500 crore micro organisms. But the cow dung of the cross breed
cows contains only 40-50 lakh micro organisms. "The Jeevamrutha solution (that is
added to the crop) acts on the micro organisms and help them multiply in large
numbers," he said.
They planted paddy using the seed of an ancient variety of rice called kuruvai,
cultivated by adivasis. They tilled the land and did the planting themselves.
They used no pesticides, only the Jeevamrutha solution made of cow dung, cow's
urine, jaggery, flour, soil and water, as created by Palekar.
The resultant paddy was much healthier, greener and bigger than the one cultivated
by his father using chemical pesticides.
"Our paddy looked so healthy, and when the paddy of the nearby areas got infected,
ours remained unaffected. That was when everybody realised there was something
right in what we did. My father was shocked when we got more yield than he had
ever got in his life!"
Most of the first yield was kept as seeds for the next season. "That was in 2011. We
even distributed the seeds. You won't believe this, but today many people cultivate
kuruvaiin Kerala from the seeds we distributed.
"My father now cultivates kuruvaion his entire one acre plot and follows zero budget
natural farming!" says a triumphant Tibin.
Fans of this type of rice are former Chief Minister of Kerala, V S Achuthanandan and
actors Mammootty and Srinivasan.
Tibin and George have inspired the film actors to start farming and helped them out.
The paddy cultivation expanded to embrace two acres of land taken on lease and
made a profit of Rs 50,000 the second year.
The success of the first two yields prompted them to expand their holding to 25 acres
of land. The yield was worth more than Rs 15 lakh but faulty marketing resulted in a
loss of Rs 7 lakh. That did not dampen their spirits because it was a marketing failure
and not a farming one.

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Since then, they have been making a profit of Rs 2 lakh every season.
Other than farming, they undertake projects for the Agriculture department, helping
families develop a kitchen garden.
Tibin has decided to concentrate on cultivating organic vegetables on 15 acres of land
at Kattappana in Idukkidistrict. Some 100 kilos of vegetables are sold every day.
In due course, Tibin wants to develop a model farming institute to train youngsters
in natural farming.
Tibin Parakal and George K Jose with their friends working in their farm
Tibin and George are indirectly involved in farming 400 acres of land, as advisers.
They continue to farm their 25 acres of land taken on lease. "Our life is dedicated to
farming. We want others to do zerobudget natural farming too. That is why we work
as advisers.
"When actors like Mammootty start farming, we hope that it will inspire more people
to engage in natural farming.
"We know we will survive as farmers. Our dream is to popularise Palekarji's natural
farming for the betterment of nature, people and society as a whole," Tibin Parakal
concludes.
Photograph Courtesy: Tibin Parakal