Pics: Abhijith N Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Sep 7: The valedictory of Savayaya Sapthaha was held on Friday, September 7 at St Aloysius College.
Addressing the gathering, progressive women farmer Kavitha Mishra said, “I hail from Dharwad. After my marriage at a young age, I moved to Raichur. I wanted to work, so that I could move to Bengaluru. I applied for a job at Infosys. In my first attempt, I passed the interview and was selected for the job. But my husband’s family did not support me much and tore my appointment letter and asked me to do house work.
“It was an insult for my education. My husband gave me a chance by giving a barren land and do something out of it. It was a complete barren land, which was a challenge under the temperature of above 45 degree. I attempted digging a borewell 14 times selling all the jewellery that I had. It was a do or die situation for me as if I would fail to get water, then I would be forced to do house work.
“Firstly, I started pomegranate plantation, which costs Rs 63 per kg and my net profit was Rs 5.80 lac. Slowly my net profit increased up to Rs 23 lac. My aim was to reach Rs 50 lac. Hence, I started using excessive chemicals in my plantation as growing pomegranate was a tough task the organics way.
“Due to excessive use of chemicals, nine loads of pomegranate returned from Bengaluru. I was shattered and decided to end my life. My husband supported me and gave me another chance. That is when I took up organic farming. In 8-acres of my land, I cultivated pomegranate, mango, lemon, sandalwood, orange trees and many more. We need to tap the right potential in organic farming.
“I want to urge youngsters that if you get an acre of land, in the next 15 years, you can speak in crores. If the educated lot wants to do something for farmers, then teach farmers about technology as they are unaware about it. Be the voice of the farmers. Few years ago, even my daughter was unhappy about my profession and she was criticising me for not giving proper life to her. She was even questioning about my existence. So I started a nursery of sandalwood, took all sorts of training, and excelled in it about which even my daughter is proud of.
"I urge every farmer not to use chemicals. Quality is more important than quantity,” said Kavitha Mishra.
When asked about how to prevent sandalwood thieves, Kavitha Mishra said, "There is an e- protection system, where we insert a microchip in barcode, which is connected to the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST) server and under the supervision of IWST. If there is any kind of threat, you get an alert message personally and also informs the local police station.”
Fr Dr Praveen Martis, principal, St Aloysius College said, “Today we received something great from Kavitha Mishra. This will turn out to be an inspiration for students to take up organic farming. It is good to see students that they are engaged in one or the other activity.”
Dr John Edward D Silva, coordinator, Savayava, welcomed the gathering and Dheeraj Sequeira rendered the vote of thanks.