THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:On meeting you, one of the first things that K M Hilal will tell you is that farming should never be a part-time profession. “That’s why many farming initiatives fail. Most farmers today are part-timers. Farming has to be a full-time job to succeed,” says the man who has spear-headed a zero-budget natural farming campaign in the state.
Hilal has opened an exhibition - Rice Fest 2017 - at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium on naturally-farmed rice varieties and products. The former SFI leader has set his eyes on the capital city next to take forward his poison-free rice campaign. “At this exhibition we have rice grown in seven districts - Wayanad, Palakkad, Thrissur, Malappuram, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Alappuzha. We are extending the programme to other districts soon. Next is Thiruvananthapuram,” he said.
According to him, Thiruvananthapuram is ideal for growing rice, thanks to favourable water resources - compared to other districts - and conducive geography. “I toured the city. The city has ample government land which can be used for paddy cultivation. Also, Thiruvananthapuram is not over-industrialised like, say, Kochi, and the air here is clean,” he said.
Born in Alappuzha in a family which had nothing whatsoever to do with agriculture, Hilal became interested in it during his student days in Kottayam. As an SFI leader, he had to lie low in a once-remote village in Palakkad. It opened his eyes to the way rice was grown and how the paddy farmers struggled to make ends meet. His first try at agriculture, in Marayur, was a disaster, and he switched to graphic designing and advertisements in Kochi for a while.
But the bug hadn’t quit his system, and a workshop by zero-budget natural farming guru Subhash Palekar in Palakkad filled him with fresh ideas. Thus began Hilal’s real tryst with farming. “What Subhash Palekar says cannot be wholly copied in Kerala. We have to adapt it to suit our weather, geography and customs,” says Hilal. He uses only dung and vegetation - like fallen leaves - as manure, for instance. In Kumarakom, Hilal manages a 17-acre paddy farm owned by actor Mammootty. “That farm acts as the centre for popularising our philosophy. We will soon be starting the sowing soon,” he said.
Rice Fest 2017 features raw rice, boiled rice with varying bran content, and rice-based products like rice flakes (aval), powder, bran, ‘kondattam’ and ‘ada.’ Farming should turn profitable if farmers are to stick to the profession, he says. “Kerala in fact is the best place in the world to grow rice. The geography and weather permit it. However, people are reluctant to step into paddy cultivation because they think their families will go hungry.”
Hilal is married to Biji, and the couple has four children all of whom are homeschooled. The exhibition will end on Wednesday.