KARWAR: The few lines of Robert Frost’s poem -- The Road Not Taken -- go like this - Two roads diverged in a wood / I took the one less travelled / That made the difference. For Diwakar Chenappa, who is a date farmer, the road he took was not just less travelled, but the one nobody had travelled.
A teacher-turned-farmer, Diwakar, the second among three siblings, was pushed to the wall to give up his comfortable teaching job to care for his ailing father and try to earn a living.
“My father Chennappa gave us all three brothers a good education, while he toiled in the fields. He had brought 7-and-a-half acres of agricultural land at Gauribidanur, but never wanted any of us to pursue agriculture... Our property at Doddabegur near Bengaluru was notified for acquisition for a government housing project which is Mico Layout now.
Scared that he would be left without land, he bought agricultural property at Gauribidanur only because his sister was married off to that place and that was the only place where he could afford to buy land,” said Diwakar.
Diwakar, a 2000-batch Master of Social Work graduate from Bangalore University, says, “My father suffered a stroke in 2008. I decided to take care of him because my older brother was in the US, while my younger brother was working as a professor.
I was a faculty member at Tumakuru University and took a one-year break to care for my father. After weighing many options, I decided to pursue agriculture. My father never wanted his children to become farmers, but my destiny was here.”
He said, “I started with maize and ragi like my father did. I earned Rs 12,000 and realised that I should try something different to survive.” One day, an idea struck him. “In 1998, during a Krishi Mela at Bengaluru’s University of Agriculture Sciences, I had met a person from Dharmapuri district selling date saplings.
I had then dismissed it, saying he was taking farmers for a ride. I used all my sources to track him and his name was Nizamuddin. I visited him and he was already cultivating dates. I realised that Dharmapuri had similar climatic conditions as Gauribidanur and decided to cultivate dates,” he said.
But the path was not easy as his mother Vijaya opposed it. “She was also against me spending my savings on farming and paying Rs 3,000 per date sapling. I spent Rs 4.5 lakh of my Rs 6 lakh savings to buy 150 plants. Many farmers made fun of me, saying I was planting toddy trees,” he said.
Diwakar lost 50 trees in the first few years. Finally, after four years, he could see his first harvest. People’s criticism changed to appreciation. But marketing the produce remained a question.
Nizamuddin gave him some tips, but they were not successful. Diwakar came up with his own plan and organised a festival in his farm, where visitors were allowed to pluck dates. It was a hit, and has remained so till now. Now, 12 years after date farming, Diwakar’s Marali Mannige (Back to the soil - the name of his farm) has inspired many to cultivate dates.
“First few years, I sold dates wherever possible, even on roadsides. Now, every year, buyers from across the state call me for dates. I make not less than Rs 12 lakh a year. Of that, Rs 2 lakh goes towards maintenance and other expenses,” he says.
LALBAGH SHOW
During the Lalbagh Flower and Horticulture Show, he approached authorities for a stall, but they told him no, saying all were full. But when officials found out what he was selling, they made space for him. People flocked his stall instantly. A group of people came and liked the fruits, but did not have enough money to buy. He told them that they could take the dates and transfer the money to his account later. Though he was trusting total strangers, the money landed in his account the same night.
BACK TO SOIL
Diwakar conducts camps for children every year. They learn to work as farmers, ways of rural life, risk taking and being adventurous. “We even go on a padayatra into villages where villagers arrange food for us,” he said.
POPULAR DATES FESTIVAL
The dates festival is organised in his farm one day a year and hundreds of people visit his farm. “We give them a bullock cart ride, provide them with food, water and other refreshments. We invite organic farmers to set up stalls. We reserve Rs 40,000 every year for the festival,” he said.