My journeys from home to office and back seem to be overflowing with interesting people and conversations. Today was no different.
On my way back home, I got a lift from Rahul Kulkarni who has been managing a dual existence for the last three years. And boy, he’s been doing it really well. His not so exciting side is that he heads the Creative function for a Shopper Marketing firm. The part which I found intriguing is the other half of him; the one that drags him on a 6 hour long journey every weekend to pay a visit to the farm in his native village.
This farm is not just another farm. It’s a farm with Mango trees interspersed with organic cultivation of vegetables and spices. His story becomes more and more interesting when he begins to describe the efforts he’s put into for the last three years and his vision for the future. When he first started, there was nothing apart from barren lands with occasional Mango trees. For the last three years, Rahul has put in every penny he and his wife have earned into it to get farm thriving. He has yet not earned a penny. Nor does he expect any returns in the near future. The intention is also not to build a commercially profitable organic food supply project out of it.
What he intends to do is to build a couple of cottages for himself and for occasional wanderers: to come and live with him, to plant and cultivate with him, to harvest and eat with him. This is his Retirement Plan in a land hidden in the lush green Monsoon loving valleys of the Western Ghats of Maharashtra.
Sounds interesting right?
Once our discussion progressed, I ended up asking him a couple of dumb questions which had been nagging me for a while. He cheered me up saying that these weren’t dumb questions and then went on to describe how it was one of the biggest issues facing the country. My first question to him was as follows: I’ve been hearing a lot about these genetically modified seeds and excessive usage of fertilizers & pesticides. My assumption is that more farmers are getting converted into using these methods which lead to better looking varieties of produce. If this trend continues, does it mean that over a period of time, we will be left with no non-modified local varieties of seeds?
He took a deep breath and said that this is one of the biggest issues that the agro-industry is facing today. There are fewer and fewer varieties of local seeds that are available now. Genetically modified seeds produce crops which look better, weigh more, require less water, etc. They lead to a higher yield. But people are still turning a deaf ear to the quality of the yield and the impact it has on their body.
There are two aspects to this problem he feels: the soil and the seed. When fertilizers and pesticides are added to the soil, they destroy almost ‘everything’ in the soil. This includes the essential bacteria and other organisms which help in the process of making the soil alive with their ‘excreta’ and ‘what they breath out’ in the process of respiration. This gets completely lost. This is comparable to trying to grow these plants in concrete. Seeds and plants, in their natural form, develop certain adaptability qualities in their natural setting. When they are genetically modified, they tend to develop certain new qualities (higher yield and easy marketability) but they also suffer from certain defects. Defects include lower nutritional value, prone to diseases more easily.
He also spoke about the politics and the economic privileges which this entire process yields to certain stakeholders which I would not like to elaborate in this piece.
When I asked him more about the key issues facing this industry, he pointed at another trend: reduction of food supply.
With rapid urbanization, people are moving out of villages and moving towards cities in search of better opportunities and lifestyle. They are giving up on the traditional household farms (which used to be a key source for the consumption of the family) and even selling off their land while moving to cities. In some cases, the land continues to be used for agriculture. However, when the land is sold for industrial development and real estate it fetches the best prices. This is leading to a decrease in agricultural area.
This trend is coupled with another trend where the limited amount of agricultural land is being utilized for cash crops over essential food crops.
These two factors when working together point at scary food supply deficit for the future. There is a continuous increase in the size of the population and at this rate there would not be enough food for the ever-expanding population.
Our conversation was killed prematurely since I had reached my destination. I am looking forward to accepting his invitation to visit his farm over one of the weekends to learn more.
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