KANNUR: B Aneesh has seen many upheavals in life. But his determination and the belief in agriculture helped him beat the odds. That faith has won him this year’s Siby Kallingal Memorial Karshakothama Award. The honour values his approaches to transforming the mode of cultivation. But the 41-year-old from Tabore, near Alakkode, says he drew inspiration from his mother Mary, who toiled, never cursing the hard life she was leading.
Aneesh recalls the time his father’s coconut and arecanut cultivation failed. To make matters worse, the family could not repay the education loan they took for his sister’s studies. “We took another loan to avoid attachment proceedings. But with hard work and belief in farming, we crawled back to life,” says Aneesh. “I was always awestruck by my mother’s determination and hard work. But as I learned more, I understood that she kept doing the same things, year after year, without making much difference. They did succeed sometimes, but had no clear plan.”
So he sought the support of Krishi Bhavan and other successful farmers, learning the value of a scientific approach. Though he started with rubber cultivation, he switched to nutmeg as it was more profitable. “In 2010, I planted 50 saplings. The first year, I got only 400gm of nutmeg. By the second year, my yield went up to 40kg. This was encouraging and by 2016, I planted 300 saplings on 5 acres,” he says.
He also has diversified to cultivate cardamom, pepper, tapioca, yam and fruits. He has several varieties of jackfruit trees too. His parents help him out in the field, with Mary managing the poultry farm.
“I need to keep reinventing my methods,” he says.His wife Treesa is a nurse at Udayagiri Health Centre. They have two children, Abel and Angel.