Thursday 7 December 2017

What is Agri-tourism?

What does Chiguru Farm offer under the banner of Agri-tourism? How is it different from a resort or a home-stay? Just trying to provide some clarity, although it is difficult to explain what you should experience yourself.
- Set in a fully functional, live farm, where you have the option to participate in the farm activities yourself.
- Experiential travel so that it remains etched in your memory for a very long time. It is not just another sight-seeing place. Chilling out is redefined here!
- Sustainable living as a top priority.
- Retained as natural as possible. 
- Minimally manicured with basic comforts in mind.
- Minimally sanitized from insects and other live things with basic comforts in mind again. Still having the options to keenly observe the nature's curios like plants & trees, animals & birds, honeybees & wasps, butterflies & moths, ants & spiders and other insects. Also understand their importance in the ecosystem and how they help us in growing our food.
- Wander around (or laze around!) at your own pace, relaxing and enjoying the fresh air from the surrounding greenery. 
- A place to slow down your life. 
- Pluck and taste the seasonal fruits, vegetables, etc.
- Experience farm-fresh food. 
- Feed the farm animals with your own hands.
- Get to know where your food comes from and what it takes to grow it.
- Interact with the farm labors and local villagers to get first-hand information on farming and rural life.
- Improve your knowledge on things like "how many bunches does a banana plant give", "importance of desi cows", "how to control pests without using chemicals", "what is the impact of chemicals on your health", etc. 

Some of the above may be possible in a resort or a home-stay, but not ALL of them!!!

Friday 27 October 2017

Want to switch your profession to Agriculture? Read this first.

I get lot of queries from different people who want to shift from their cushy jobs to farming/agriculture. Here are some of my thoughts, which I intend to keep updating often.

Some notes and disclaimers to start with..
1) These are random thoughts, without any proper order. However, some of these were my forethoughts and some are after-thoughts based on learning over the last 5 years.
2) These points are very specific to India and some times applicable only in Karnataka.
3) I don't intend to discourage anyone from getting into farming, but I have noticed that many of them do it without thinking through and regret later. This post is targeted to avoid such situations.
4) Switching profession is different from retirement. If you are looking for retiring into farming, many of these points many not be applicable. If you are serious about taking it as a profession, you need to consider many variables mentioned below.
5) Feel free to provide your comments or suggestions to update this list.

- First and foremost thing to note is that it looks romantic from outside. Don't fall for it just like that. Try to understand the pain points before diving in, as you are neither going to sacrifice anything by getting into farming, nor you are going to do any social service through it. Unless you are passionate about farming, it's not your cup of tea.
- Shun idealism and think practically before making the decision to get into farming. You don't have to compromise on your ideals, but be assured that ideals may not feed you and your family. If it can, without any compromises with your ideals, go ahead and I envy you!!!
- Try it out as part time for an year or two before you are convinced that you can do it and you really want to do it. For this, keep the distance in mind as you have to balance between your regular job and farming.
- If possible, try to do something like an "internship" for a few months after taking a sabbatical from work so that you can get first-hand experience of farming.
- Learn from both traditional and progressive farmers. Make it a point to visit such farms regularly and get the best practices from them and implement as appropriate.
- Don't assume that the traditional farmers don't know anything and that is why they are suffering. At the same time, don't follow them blindly. Mix of traditional knowledge, new inventions, new practices and your own brainstorming is the best.
- Have backup plan in two parts. One - How do you feed yourself and your family in the initial years when you are still spending money on the farm. Two - What to do in case things don't go as planned. Keep in mind that it may not be easy to get back to your previous job or field unless you remain in touch with the field and keep updating your knowledge even after quitting.
- If you inherit the land, that is the best option for anybody as the land cost can be huge for buying.
- If you are buying land, keep the availability of water and workers in mind, apart from the soil type, distance from the market, main road, school, shops, wildlife and the threats from them, local populace, etc. Also look at the potential for the land value to appreciate because if everything goes wrong, you still have the option to sell the land and exit with reasonable amount of money.
- Safety from outsiders, cattle, wildlife(monkeys, elephants, wildboars, etc) are important points to consider.
- Consider the expenses for water sources like wells/borewells/ponds, pumpsets, rain water harvesting, labor quarters, fencing, etc. as appropriate.
- If you bought an empty land, plan and design the layout of your farm/field with accessibility for trucks, tractors, tillers and other farm equipments in mind. Even if you are buying a ready farm, check out these points before making a decision.
- Observe water flow during rains so that you channelize it in order to save water as much as possible.
- Be prepared to get your hands dirty. Old "jamindari" attitude doesn't work any more. Work along with your workforce or even alone.
- Don't get carried away by different claims of some people having made lot of money through farming. Most of the times they just got plain lucky at that point of time. All said and done, the weather and market conditions play a very important role and therefore the situation is not "reproducible" forever. Some times they just didn't get their accounts right!
- Think about what you want to grow and what is your long term objective of getting into it. Don't get into farming with a short term goal. For example, if you want to get into horticulture, be prepared to keep spending upto 7-8 years without getting any returns as most of the horticulture crops (like mango, coconut, etc) will take that much time to start giving reasonable yield.
- Ideal option is to have a mix of short-term(taking few months like vegetables, etc), medium-term (an year or so like banana), perennial, long-term and spanning generations (like timber wood) planting.
- Don't get confused by different farming practices like chemical, organic, natural, forest, permaculture, hydroponics, etc. If you are clear about what you want to achieve by farming and the timeline, you can make a decision based on that.
- Avoid herd mentality. Just because the market rates for some thing are very good this time, it doesn't mean that it will remain like that next time. Plan wisely and think 2-3 years ahead. Also time the planting if you have short-term crops.
- Too many variables (known and unknown) that can make your entire plan go wrong. Be prepared for that.
- Don't get into farming relying on subsidies. Yes, there are lots of subsidies available from the government, but you will end up spending lot of time running around for that. Even after that you can get it only if you have the right contacts and bribe different people. Also note that most of the items are prices higher with subsidy and lower without subsidy. Effectively it doesn't make too much difference with subsidy. You would rather spend more time on farming.
- Free electricity for agriculture is also farce. You will hardly get any electricity when you need it. Particularly during peak summer you will get it 2-3 hours in the wee hours (around 2-3pm)
- Those who come from the corporate world will tend to work with targets and deadlines in mind. Most of the times it doesn't work in farming and it gets very frustrating and demotivating. Be prepared to handle them with a deep breath! Rural life has its own ethics and rhythm and just get used to it! Also notice that there is so much importance to human relationships than anything else. Learn to appreciate this.
- One more caution for those from corporate background: Few things that we had ignored or taken for granted during our job years (like health insurance for our family)  suddenly become important.
- Be prepared to forego your annual (or more frequent) long vacations at least in the initial years.
- If and when you decide to take the plunge, go for an optimal sized farm - not too big, not too small. In my experience, minimum required area is 3-4 acres as the effort involved in smaller area will almost be the same. If the farm is too big (say more than 15 acres) it becomes difficult to manage. For example, if you chase the monkeys from one side they will come back from.another side because they can't imagine that it also belongs to the same person!
- Invest in tools and machines as much as possible, but step by step.

Before closing this post let me remind you this: "It is very easy to find hundred reasons for not doing something. But you just need to find one strong reason to do it!"

Wednesday 8 February 2017

Experience with Agri-tourism at Chiguru Farm

Last updated on 24th Oct 2018

Agri-Tourism or Farm Tourism is a niche market in India with lot of potential when more people start understanding what it is and more such ventures come up. Many people get confused between Resorts, Home Stays and Farm Tourism. Although there are some overlaps, they largely tend to be different. In one of my early blogs, I wrote about the difference between a Resort and a Farm where I explained about Farm Tourism (Here is the link).

Home Stay and Farm Stay have more in common in the sense that many Home Stays outside cities are located in farms. But the major difference is that the Home Stay doesn't focus on and showcase the farm, thus making it more of a stay inside a house.That is where the ideas of environment, sustainable and responsible living, reduce/reuse/recycle, health, co-existence,  conservation,  pollution, waste management, urban-rural divide, etc. get clarity. Gained more clarity on this aspect after visiting a Home Stay near Sakleshpur in Karnataka recently. Although it is in the midst of a coffee estate and surrounded by many more such estates, nobody in the Home Stay even talks about the estate(s) and none of the visitors is keen on seeing them. It is like the owners are too busy with their business and the guests just want a nice setting to carry out their "fun activities" like drinking, etc. No concern about the environment and sustainable living from either the hosts or guests as visible in the use of plastics and other single-use items. Any such mention is simply dismissed without any response. And the result was seen in the nature's fury during the recent floods in Coorg/Sakleshpur/Kerala.
Many people living in the cities have an experience and perspective on sustatinable living, but they get to see them from a different angle in a different context and setting in a Farm Stay. There is so much to learn from such guests. Many others, particularly those who were born and brought up in a farm, but having moved to cities will simply travel back in time and soak into good old days. There are also people who want to visit the farm to "do nothing" and simply relax in fresh air. There are others who are already into farming visiting the farm to learn our"good practices" and share their "good practices" resulting in lot of brainstorming and exchange of ideas. Whatever it may be, it is true that Agri-tourism needs a different mindset and only those inclined to it will arrive at the farm. And there is no denying that the visit triggers a new thought process in the visitor's mind. This is where the contrast between Home Stay and Farm Tourism is stark because there is a long-term impact on most of the Farm Tourists. None of these is a hollow claim as they are based on my personal experiences and I can substantiate them with simple incidents and anecdotes. For example, among a group of school kids who spent 4-5 hours farm, 20% of them said that they were inspired to do farming. It makes the host fill with immense satisfaction about the job. Even if 10% of that 20% really takes up farming (need not be full-time) this world will be a different place to live in! It is also true that a visit to Chiguru Farm has made quite a few people start thinking about getting into farming and a few of them have even started doing it.

Our main objective of Agri-Tourism has been to educate kids and families about farming and make them understand where their food comes from. Sprinkle a little bit of fun, activities and games to keep the people engaged, or else this can get boring. But we make sure that the focus on education is not lost. Of course, the freshly prepared authentic local food has its own charm.  We insist on our guests to trace the roots of at least one of their staples after going back home and find out where it comes from and how it is grown. This will be life-changing. We also insist on our guests to slow down their lives as long as they are in the farm and soak into greenery.  It is very interesting to note that most of the guests visit the farm for a different experience instead of simply visiting another place. Many of them are repeat customers as they love the experience. People have started realizing that it is more important to focus on "experiences" instead of "places" during travel and that is why they have started experimenting with different types of travel. 

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime".

I understand the context and the broad category of the above quote and I completely agree with it. But my experience of one year in Agri-tourism, that is being on the "other side" of "travel" has some times made me wonder how far this is true. I have come across some avid travelers with prejudice and narrow-mindedness and they refuse to budge from it! Take the example of a family which, after discussing in detail about the farm and understanding what to expect there and browsing through our website, says that they didn't have to travel so much to see trees and plants and start negotiating the price at the end of the trip! Or take the example of a teacher who offers gratuitous but naive advise that Indian farmers should follow the Israeli model without knowing the ground realities and differences. There also people who are happy to take away farm produce as freebies, without even asking permission. Some others come and start asking "where is the TV", "where is the swimming pool", etc. There are others who think that a "farm house" is a gateway to different illegal activities. Many others, mainly corporates ask me whether they can bring food from outside, which I counter by telling that they should rather picnic at Cubbon Park! According to me, farm food is part of the farm experience and refusing to eat it is disrespecting the farm and the farmer. 
There are also people who think that a farmer has a lot of free time or his time is not much valuable. I would rather dismiss such experiences as aberrations as most of my experience with Agri-Tourism has been wonderful, cheerful, joyful, memorable and encouraging. 

Thursday 2 February 2017

Farm journey of two years

I officially started as a full-time farmer from 1st Jan 2015 and the two-years journey has been memorable. Learning the nitty-gritties of the farm life has opened my eyes.

I had multiple goals for the first year in front of me...

First and foremost goal being that to prove that farming can be profitable, which failed miserably as we were not yet prepared for that. We realized that the horticulture crops need at least 8-10 years to reach a reasonable level of yield and we need to keep spending on them till that stage is reached. However there is tangible improvement in the situation as our expenses are getting under control and losses are reducing. The intention of proving farming profitable is to encourage rural youth to stay put in their villages and get into farming instead of migrating to cities. I am confident that the day of achieving this goal is not far. In any case it gives immense satisfaction that quite a few local people have found almost regular job at Chiguru Farm and thus are staying put in the village, who otherwise would have migrated to Bangalore.

Second goal was to work on converting the farm into organic continued with more areas under this plan. Achieved partial success in the sense that 90% of the farm is now converted to Organic. Only regret is that we are not able to make the rose patch organic. Although we started off with it as organic, but the rose plants refused to come up and we had switch to the popular tactics.
(Update from June 2017: We removed the rose plants completely and using the space for growing vegetables. This makes Chiguru Farm completely organic now).

There was a need to speed up the agri-tourism infrastructure setup. This got ready in an year's time and we successfully launched agri-tourism on Jan 1, 2016. The experiences in this sector definitely qualify an exclusive blogpost which will come soon. 😀

Started off 2015 with harvesting a good lot of banana bunches on Day1, when the prices were reasonably good. Sitting in front of a pile of green banana bunches - some of them weighing upto 65kgs - was a sight to behold and the excitement and feeling of satisfaction cannot be explained. Mango and litchi trees had started flowering by then and the aroma of those flowers was intoxicating. A few months later the banana price crashed to an extent where cutting them and selling became more expensive than leaving them to monkeys. Coconut price also remained at the ground level for more than one year. Reasons were vague and non-comprehensible. And there were untimely rains in Apr/May 2015 impacting the mango crop although we celebrated that our rain-water-harvesting ponds overflew!!! Later in Nov 2015 Chennai floods once again our rain-water-harvesting ponds overflew and the farm was resembling Malnad region of Karnataka. Then suddenly there was no rain for several months after that, resulting in a drought year in 2016. We hardly had 3 decent rains in the year.  Many times it was frustrating not being able to water the plants due to non-availability of power despite having sufficient water, as some of the trees started drying up. (This can happen only in India as the central govt. is about to declare availability of surplus power in India, but most of the farmers are suffering from load-shedding). I started understanding the ground realities of farming and what leads farmers to distress.

Visits to organic, non-organic and natural farms in last two years helped me understand the differences in techniques and good and bad things about each of them both from farmer and consumer perspective. Worth mentioning are Sukrushi Farm of Greenpath (near Nelamangala), Navadarshanam, Mr. Santhanam's Sankarshan Farm at Therubeedi (close to Chiguru Farm) and Savayava Krishi Parivar's head office near Tirthahalli. Each of them has loads of tales to tell and picking-and-choosing good and suitable practices was real fun. Experiments with organic farming with different approaches, practices, manures, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. go on and on and on. Some things worth mentioning here are vermicomposting, honeybee boxes, jeevamrutha, navamrutha, percolation pits and mulching.

Timing and long-term planning is extremely critical for farming, particularly in a horticulture farm. If we need certain kind of income after 5 years, we need to plan for it now and implement it at the right time. The right time could be either the time of monsoon or the time at which the market price will be better or something else. Marketing itself is another aspect which is crucial, which most of the farmers ignore and many of them can't even afford.

The natural surroundings, clean air, greenery, birds, animals and insects, the hard work involved, the joy of each plant flowering and fruiting - everything is unique and unparalleled in a farm. Add the long-term socio-economic changes it would bring into the local lives. Irrespective of the returns it offers, farming indeed is a fulfilling experience in itself.

Tuesday 3 January 2017

ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳೆಡೆ ವಲಸೆ

ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳು ಆರೋಗ್ಯದಾಯಕವೆಂಬ ನಂಬಿಕೆಯನ್ನು ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದು, ಕೆಲವೊಂದು ಎಂದೂ ಕೇಳದ ಧಾನ್ಯಗಳು ಕೂಡ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧಿ ಪಡೆಯುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳಿಂದ ಮಾಡಿದ ಹಲವಾರು ಹೊಸ ಹೊಸ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನಗಳೂ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಯನ್ನು ಪ್ರವೇಶಿಸಿವೆ. ಅವುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಪಿಜ್ಜಾ , ಪಾಸ್ತಾ, ಬರ್ಗರ್, ನೂಡಲ್ಸ್ , ಕೇಕ್ ಗಳು ಕೂಡ ಸೇರಿವೆ.  "ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯ ರಾಯಭಾರಿಗಳು" ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುವೆ ವಿಧಾನಗಳನ್ನು, ಅವುಗಳಿಂದ ಹಳೆಯ ಮತ್ತು ಹೊಸ ರುಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ತಯಾರಿಸುವ ಬಗೆಯನ್ನು ತಿಳಿಸಿಕೊಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈಗ ಜನರಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಜಂಕ್ ಫುಡ್ ವ್ಯಾಮೋಹವನ್ನು ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡಿ ಹೊಸ ಪರ್ಯಾಯಗಳನ್ನು ಇವು ಸಣ್ಣ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದಲ್ಲಾದರೂ ಒದಗಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವುದು ನಿಜ ಮತ್ತು ಸ್ವಾಗತಾರ್ಹ. ಆದರೆ ಕೆಲವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಹಳೆಯ ಆಹಾರ ಪದ್ಧತಿಯನ್ನೇ ಬದಲಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳಿಗೆ ವಲಸೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿರುವ ಪ್ರವೃತ್ತಿ  ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ನನ್ನ ಅನಿಸಿಕೆ. ೭೦ ಮತ್ತು ೮೦ರ ದಶಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೇರಳ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಕರಾವಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ತೆಂಗಿನೆಣ್ಣೆಯಿಂದ ತಾಳೆ ಮತ್ತು ಇತರ ಖಾದ್ಯ ತೈಲಗಳಿಗೆ ವಲಸೆ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದು ಹಲವರಿಗೆ ತಿಳಿದಿದೆ. ತೆಂಗಿನೆಣ್ಣೆಯನ್ನು ಖಳನಾಯಕನಂತೆ ಬಿಂಬಿಸಿದ್ದ ಅಂದಿನ ತಂತ್ರ ಈಗ ಬಯಲಾಗಿದ್ದು, ತೆಂಗಿನೆಣ್ಣೆಯ ಉಪಯುಕ್ತತೆಯನ್ನು ಜನರು ಮನಗಾಣುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅದೇ ತರಹ ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳಿಗೆ "ಕುರುಡು ವಲಸೆ"ಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನನಗೆ ಹಲವಾರು ಸಂಶಯಗಳಿವೆ.

೧) ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳ ಅರೋಗ್ಯ ಲಾಭಗಳು ವೈಜ್ಞಾನಿಕ ಸಂಶೋಧನೆಯಿಂದ ಸಾಬೀತಾಗಬೇಕಾಗಿದೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಇನ್ನೂ ಸಮಯದ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆಯಿದೆ.
೨) ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳು ಇಂದಿನ ಜಂಕ್ ಫುಡ್ ಗಿಂತ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯವೆಂಬುದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಸಂಶಯವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ಅಕ್ಕಿ, ಗೋಧಿ ಮತ್ತಿತರ ಧಾನ್ಯಗಳಿಗಿಂತ ಉತ್ತಮವೆಂಬುದು ಇನ್ನೂ ಸಾಬೀತಾಗಿಲ್ಲ.
೩) ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯಗಳು ಆರೋಗ್ಯಕರವೆಂದು ಒಂದೊಮ್ಮೆ ಒಪ್ಪಿಕೊಂಡರೂ, ಅದು ದೇಶದ/ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಭಾಗಗಳಿಗೆ ಅನ್ವಯಿಸಬೇಕಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಭಾರತದಂತಹ ವಿಶಾಲ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿ ನೂರು ಕಿಲೋಮೀಟರುಗಳಿಗೆ ಹವಾಮಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಆಹಾರ ಪದ್ಧತಿ ಬದಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಹಿರಿಯರು ಆಯಾ ಪ್ರದೇಶಗಳಿಗೆ ಸರಿಹೊಂದುವಂಥಹ ಆಹಾರಪದ್ಧತಿಯನ್ನು ರೂಪಿಸಿದ್ದರು.  ಉದಾಹರಣೆಗೆ, ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಹಳೇ ಮೈಸೂರು ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಗಿ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಆಹಾರ. ಉತ್ತರ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಜೋಳ ಮತ್ತು ಕರಾವಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಆಹಾರ. ಅದನ್ನು ಇದ್ದಕ್ಕಿದ್ದ ಹಾಗೆ ಬದಲಾಯಿಸುವುದು ಸರಿ ಅನ್ನಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.
೪) ನಮ್ಮ ಆಹಾರ ಪದ್ಧತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಕಾರಣವಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಪಚನಕ್ರಿಯೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ವ್ಯತಿರಿಕ್ತ ಪರಿಣಾಮ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು.
೫) ಆಯುರ್ವೇದ ತಜ್ಞರ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಕಿರುಧಾನ್ಯಗಳು ದೈನಂದಿನ ಉಪಯೋಗದಲ್ಲಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೆಲವೇ ಸಂದರ್ಭಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಿರ್ಧಿಷ್ಟ ಕಾರಣಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು.

ಒಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ನಮ್ಮ ಆಹಾರಪದ್ಧತಿಯನ್ನು ಏಕಾಏಕಿ ಸಿರಿಧಾನ್ಯ (ಅಥವಾ ಇನ್ಯಾವುದೋ ಆಹಾರಪದ್ಧತಿಗೆ) ಬದಲಾಯಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು ಸರಿಕಾಣದು. ನಮ್ಮ ಇಂದಿನ ಆಹಾರಪದ್ಧತಿಯನ್ನೇ ಸುಧಾರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದೇ ಬುದ್ಧಿವಂತಿಕೆ.  ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಈ ಕೆಳಗಿನಂತೆ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು.

೧) ಸಾವಯವ ಅಥವಾ ನೈಸರ್ಗಿಕವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆದ ತರಕಾರಿ, ಬೇಳೆಕಾಳು ಮತ್ತು ಡೈರಿ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನಗಳನ್ನು ಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು.
೨) ನಾವು ಕೊಲ್ಲುವು ಕೃಷಿ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನಗಳ ಮೂಲವನ್ನು ಮತ್ತು ಅವನ್ನು ಬೆಳೆಯವ ಕೃಷಿಕನನ್ನು ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದು.
೩) ಪಾಲಿಶ್ ಇಲ್ಲದ ಅಕ್ಕಿ, ಬೇಳೆಕಾಳುಗಳನ್ನು ಸೇವಿಸುವುದು.
೪) ಬಿಳಿ ವಿಷಗಳಾದ ಸಕ್ಕರೇ, ಉಪ್ಪು,  ಮೈದಾ,ಎ ೧ ಹಾಲು - ಇತ್ಯಾದಿಗಳ ಉಪಯೋಗ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡುವುದು. ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆ ಇರುವಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡು ಸಕ್ಕರೆ ಅಥವಾ ಬೆಲ್ಲ, ಸಮುದ್ರದ ಉಪ್ಪು, ಎ ೨ ಹಾಲು ಇತ್ಯಾದಿಗಳನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುವುದು.
೫) ಸ್ಥಳೀಯ ಮತ್ತು ಕಾಲೋಚಿತ ಬೆಳೆಗಳನ್ನೇ ಖರೀದಿಸುವುದು. ಯಾವ ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಯಾವ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವ ಬೆಲೆ ಸೂಕ್ತವೆಂದು ನಿಸರ್ಗಕ್ಕೆ ತಿಳಿದಿದೆ,

ರಾತ್ರೋರಾತ್ರಿ ಇಂತಹ ಬದಲಾವಣೆಯ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆಯಿಲ್ಲ. ಒಂದೊಂದೇ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ ಮುಂದಿಡಬಹುದು. 

My take on the food migration to millets

So much hype is being generated regarding the goodness of different millets, many of them simply unheard of in the last several years. Lot of innovative products based on these millets are entering the market of late. In fact pizzas, burgers, pastas, noodles, cakes and pastries based on millets are already in the market. Also there are many "millets evangelists" who are ready to teach people how to cook and use these millets. It seems to be a good trend in the sense that they are an attempt towards weaning people away from the unhealthy, junk food by providing more options. However, what worries me is the blind migration to millets-based diet, which many people have done and many more are following this trend. Many people are aware of the mass migration to palm oil or other refined oils in the '80s in Kerala and coastal areas of Karnataka as coconut oil was projected to be villain. Now it has become almost certain that it was a ploy to sell other edible oils and coconut oil is much healthier. I have my own set of concerns with respect to such blind migration. My skepticism is based on the following points:

1) The health benefits of the millets are disputable, for lack of substantial research outcome. As they have attracted the popular attention only recently, it takes more time to scientifically prove the health benefits of them.
2) I have no doubt that the millets are healthier than the junk and processed food available in the market. However it is yet to be proven that they are healthier than rice, wheat and other cereals.
3) Even if we accept that the millets are healthy, there is no single formula applicable to an entire country of the size of India, where the climate varies every few 100 kilo meters. Our elders had devised a food habit which was local and suitable to the local conditions - both for growing as well as for the body. For example, ragi has been a staple diet in Old Mysore region of Karnataka whereas Jowar/Maize is the staple in North Karnataka and rice in Coastal Karnataka. Everybody moving to millets seems like "straight-jacketing".
4) Changing our food habits all of a sudden may have its own impact on our metabolism and health.
5) Elders and Ayurvedic experts say that many of the minor millets were used once in a while with some specific purpose in mind and during specific times only. There were not meant to be eaten everyday or often.

Overall, it is not wise to blindly migrate to millets (or to any other food-habits) all of a sudden. It may be better to improvise on the food habit we are used to. This means one or more of the following:

1) Start buying organically and/or naturally grown produce.
2) Try to "know your farmer" so that you know how exactly it is produced and whether they are following safe methods to produce them.
3) If you are a rice eater, replace the polished rice with unpolished/red rice. Similarly, start using unpolished dhal, pulses.
4) Reduce the usage of the white poisons like sugar, salt, maida and A1 milk. If you really need to use them, switch to brown sugar, jaggery, sea salt, A2 milk (of desi cows), etc.
5) Buy local and seasonal produce instead of exotic, out-of-season produce. Nature knows what is suitable for the place we live in and what is the right thing to eat during each season.

Of course, no need to migrate overnight! You can take one step at a time!!!