It is not easy to get away from the "corporate culture" after getting immersed in it for many years! Only change is that I am doing it after a few years... And it is probably required because many people ask me where we are against the goals we set out for achieving.
Before I start appraising, I would like to give a short background and the goals of Chiguru Farm.
- The farm is around 10 years old, whereas we bought it 6 years back.
- This Sankranthi, it will be 3 years since we launched Agri-Tourism at Chiguru Farm.
- Our objectives and goals have been consistent right from the beginning. However a few more got added over time and they are completely aligned with our original set of objectives.
- So here are the long-term goals we set out for:
1) Start organic farming in order to grow healthy food for ourselves.
2) Stay connected to nature
3) Prove that chemical-free farming can be sustainable, so that more people are encouraged to take it up. Be an example for the farmers in the vicinity.
4) Spread the knowledge of chemical-free farming among the locals and city-folks, school kids and families and sensitize them about what it takes to grow healthy food.
5) Generate some local employment and trigger a "reverse-migration" from cities.
6) Get integrated with the local village community and carry out activities that shall help them.
Having stated the objectives, I am not very keen on doing the self-appraisal the corporate way by listing out the status/progress/achievements against each of them. This is simply because one-to-one mapping is not really necessary and there are multiple mappings many times.
Here we go on the status/progress/achievements...
1) We started with a farm which was chemical-based and mainly with bananas. We let the farm run with status-quo for the first 2 years, with our focus on rain water harvesting. We spent all our time and energy on rain water harvesting during this period and the results have been wonderful. We expect to have a "natural" pond inside our farm (made out of our rain water harvesting pond) within next 5 years.
2) Next 4 years have been conversion to organic. We did this part-by-part and now we are completely organic.
3) Self-sustenance level in terms of food is around 60-70% now. This includes the food we cook for our guests.
Self-sustenance level on farming (i.e. avoiding external inputs) is around 80%. We started with 4 desi cows in 2016 and now we have 8.
4) Local people have started noticing our efforts and some local farmers who had abandoned their own land have started cultivating again. A few farmers who had moved to Bangalore for work like driver, maid,etc have returned to the village. Some of them have started their own farming and a few others are now working in our farm.
5) A strange-but-true indication of the reverse migration is the number of cattle in the village. What we have heard is that around 10 years back there were close to 1000 cattle in the village. When we bought the farm 6 years back, the number had come down to 600 due to people selling their cattle and moving to city. Currently the cattle population stands at 800, an increase of 30%!
6) We have created a more bio-diverse farm now through multi-cropping (of 35+ varieties of fruit trees and few other forest trees) with the intention of making a food-forest where every living being can find food.
7) Local employment... we have 10 locals working in the farm full time and another 5 almost full time. Another 5-10 people work in our farm for at least 150 days in a year. These numbers exclude the indirect employment generated through our agri-tourism.
8) We believe that helping the local people in whatever way possible is our social responsibility. In 2017 we conducted free workshop for masons in constructing low-cost ferro-cement tanks which are very useful for farms. 8 masons benefited from this through the 3-days workshop. In 2018 we conducted free health checkup camp for villagers, with active participation from doctors from MS Ramaiah Hospital. More than 200 villagers took benefit of this.
9) For the first time we didn't spend money from our pockets. We did achieve break-even!!! Now that most of our horticulture plants are 10 years old, we expect the returns should improve further to show profit. Of course, agri-tourism and direct-selling are key factors in this.
10) Through agri-tourism we have managed to create a buzz around Bangalore through our unique initiatives as daytrips, camps, overnight stays. Our mango-picking event remains the hot favorite as we were the first to start such an event in India. Schools have started noticing the value add from our educational farm tours.
11) Where alcoholism is rampant and ruining families in the surrounding villages, our "no-alcohol" policy has been driving home the ill-effects of alcoholism, without any preaching.
12) Families have started preferring visiting and/or staying in farms instead of malls or resorts. There is keen interest in them to know what it takes to grow healthy food and lead a healthy life.
13) Last but not the least, we have triggered interest in many city folks to switch their profession to farming, soon or later.
Everything looks rosy? Why not? As long as it brings a lot of joy and satisfaction, everything IS rosy!!!
Before I start appraising, I would like to give a short background and the goals of Chiguru Farm.
- The farm is around 10 years old, whereas we bought it 6 years back.
- This Sankranthi, it will be 3 years since we launched Agri-Tourism at Chiguru Farm.
- Our objectives and goals have been consistent right from the beginning. However a few more got added over time and they are completely aligned with our original set of objectives.
- So here are the long-term goals we set out for:
1) Start organic farming in order to grow healthy food for ourselves.
2) Stay connected to nature
3) Prove that chemical-free farming can be sustainable, so that more people are encouraged to take it up. Be an example for the farmers in the vicinity.
4) Spread the knowledge of chemical-free farming among the locals and city-folks, school kids and families and sensitize them about what it takes to grow healthy food.
5) Generate some local employment and trigger a "reverse-migration" from cities.
6) Get integrated with the local village community and carry out activities that shall help them.
Having stated the objectives, I am not very keen on doing the self-appraisal the corporate way by listing out the status/progress/achievements against each of them. This is simply because one-to-one mapping is not really necessary and there are multiple mappings many times.
Here we go on the status/progress/achievements...
1) We started with a farm which was chemical-based and mainly with bananas. We let the farm run with status-quo for the first 2 years, with our focus on rain water harvesting. We spent all our time and energy on rain water harvesting during this period and the results have been wonderful. We expect to have a "natural" pond inside our farm (made out of our rain water harvesting pond) within next 5 years.
2) Next 4 years have been conversion to organic. We did this part-by-part and now we are completely organic.
3) Self-sustenance level in terms of food is around 60-70% now. This includes the food we cook for our guests.
Self-sustenance level on farming (i.e. avoiding external inputs) is around 80%. We started with 4 desi cows in 2016 and now we have 8.
4) Local people have started noticing our efforts and some local farmers who had abandoned their own land have started cultivating again. A few farmers who had moved to Bangalore for work like driver, maid,etc have returned to the village. Some of them have started their own farming and a few others are now working in our farm.
5) A strange-but-true indication of the reverse migration is the number of cattle in the village. What we have heard is that around 10 years back there were close to 1000 cattle in the village. When we bought the farm 6 years back, the number had come down to 600 due to people selling their cattle and moving to city. Currently the cattle population stands at 800, an increase of 30%!
6) We have created a more bio-diverse farm now through multi-cropping (of 35+ varieties of fruit trees and few other forest trees) with the intention of making a food-forest where every living being can find food.
7) Local employment... we have 10 locals working in the farm full time and another 5 almost full time. Another 5-10 people work in our farm for at least 150 days in a year. These numbers exclude the indirect employment generated through our agri-tourism.
8) We believe that helping the local people in whatever way possible is our social responsibility. In 2017 we conducted free workshop for masons in constructing low-cost ferro-cement tanks which are very useful for farms. 8 masons benefited from this through the 3-days workshop. In 2018 we conducted free health checkup camp for villagers, with active participation from doctors from MS Ramaiah Hospital. More than 200 villagers took benefit of this.
9) For the first time we didn't spend money from our pockets. We did achieve break-even!!! Now that most of our horticulture plants are 10 years old, we expect the returns should improve further to show profit. Of course, agri-tourism and direct-selling are key factors in this.
10) Through agri-tourism we have managed to create a buzz around Bangalore through our unique initiatives as daytrips, camps, overnight stays. Our mango-picking event remains the hot favorite as we were the first to start such an event in India. Schools have started noticing the value add from our educational farm tours.
11) Where alcoholism is rampant and ruining families in the surrounding villages, our "no-alcohol" policy has been driving home the ill-effects of alcoholism, without any preaching.
12) Families have started preferring visiting and/or staying in farms instead of malls or resorts. There is keen interest in them to know what it takes to grow healthy food and lead a healthy life.
13) Last but not the least, we have triggered interest in many city folks to switch their profession to farming, soon or later.
Everything looks rosy? Why not? As long as it brings a lot of joy and satisfaction, everything IS rosy!!!
Thanks for the informative blog, You did a great job. Seems like you know a lot about Farms. Thank You for sharing so much interesting information about Farms.
ReplyDeleteCheckout Our Website for more information about farms and all seeds
Thanks for the informative blog, You did a great job. Seems like you know a lot about Farms. Thank You for sharing so much interesting information about Farms.
ReplyDeleteCheckout Our Website for more information about farms and all seeds