Manoj Kumar
One can see lush yields over yards of green, including sugar cane, coconut, banana, sweet potato and black gram in his 16 acres of land. Manoj Kumar’s Organic Jaggery (Vellam - made from raw sugar cane) is now available to the Farm Chimp customers. These sugar canes are cultivated following Zero Budget Natural Farming methods which make use of cow dung compost (Jeevamritham) as the only fertilizer.
Manoj Kumar had been to Precot Mills and Madrass Spinning Mills as Textile Engineer before he got attracted to Natural Farming and started own cultivation. He began farming in 2000 and resorted to typical farming methods using fertilizers and pesticides. It was in 2007 he corrected himself to organic farming after attending a workshop conducted by Subhash Palekar, the agro-scientist and the chief exponent of Zero Budget Framing in India. In the very next year he made a lavish harvest and presented a large banana as his token of gratitude to his teacher, Palakar. Cow dung composts - locally better known as Jeevamritham and Beejamritham from natural breed cows - are the chief ingredients in Zero Buget Farming. The seeds planted after being dipped in Bheejamritham have pest resistance power giving higher yield. Manoj Kumar has eight cows of indigenous breed in his farms which makes his mode of Zero Budget Farming easier and effective. Crop rotation, green manure and drip irrigation are also successfully used in Manoj Kumar’s farms.
Manoj Kumar cultivates ‘CO 86032’ variety of sugar cane in four acres of land. The manufacturers of Ayurvedic medicines are the main customers of the pure Vellam produced out of these sugar canes.
Products from Manoj's Farm |