PALAKKAD: Having slogged for two-and-a-half years as a mechanical engineer at an atomic power station in Rajasthan, S Sivaganesh returned to his ancestral farm in Meenakshipuram on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. 12 years on, the young engineer does not regret the decision. For his MSR Farms has bagged the coveted Kera Kesari award of the state government.
“I decided to return and develop my family farm of 27 acres organically. As I had to have a regular income to get things moving, I planted coconut saplings. As an inter-crop, I cultivated nutmegs,” Sivaganesh said.
Now, he has 1,600 coconut palms. But as the prices fluctuate, 400 trees have been given for toddy tapping. “They yield 600 litres of toddy everyday for the contractor. I also developed a nutmeg sapling nursery which has 3,000 saplings. Both combined give me a regular income.”he said.
He has always experimented with his farm produce, given that labourers need to paid. “Much before subsidies were provided for precision farming and sprinkler irrigation, I set it up in my farm. I exported coconuts which had been cultivated organically to the United Kingdom . But the traders in the UK do not pay up on time. Now, I sell it domestically,” he said. Two large ponds been created artificially., with rainwater from the whole farm flowing into them. “These ponds are perennial in nature. I rear fish which are harvested once in a year. There are 8,000 fish, including tilapia, nutter, katla, rohu, mrigal and common Carp,” he said.
Farms have to be professionally managed or else they could burn a hole in your pocket, he said. The mind of an engineer is visible in the planning of the irrigation facilities and the development of infrastructure.
“Sivaganesh follows a mixed cropping system in a scientific manner with coconut, nutmeg , arecanut and mango trees. He is also cultivating green fodder to sustain his milch cows. There is also native chicken, nursery and a neem-cake unit. MSR farms is an integrated farm with livestock, organic farming practices, recycling of farm wastes and value addition, said Libi Antony, agricultural officer of the Perumatty Krishi Bhavan.