A technocrat with heart of a farmer!

Vizianagaram: It is hard to find a technocrat who has a passion for agriculture. But you will find one in Kodi Srinivasa Babu, son of Venkata Rao, retired assistant director of agriculture. Though a mechanical engineer, Babu has the heart of a farmer. He is the CEO of a company that manufactures components for turbines in Hyderabad.

As he has better awareness about crops, he tried his hand in organic farming without using chemical fertilisers and pesticides and he was rewarded with success. Babu used only manure from cow dung and urine. He is against using pesticides and in their place uses "neemstram" made from neem paste and cow urine. “I feel proud to be a farmer rather than an entrepreneur. I like to spend more time with plants than with machines in my office.   

I am fed up consuming food grains grown using chemicals," Babu says but he cannot leave his business too and as a result he is doubling up as a farmer and technocrat.

Babu is growing 34 varieties of vegetables, including brinjal, pumpkin, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, cauliflower, cabbage, coriander, tomato, beans, snake gourd, carrot and various varieties of fruits, including banana, orange, jack fruit, black berry, sapota, lemon, mango among others. There are flower bearing plants too including Crossandra (Kanakambaram) in different colors, marigold (Chamanthi) and roses in different colours.

Srinivasa Babu has been growing them as intercrops, the main crops being coconut and banana. In between the rows where main plants grow, the fruits and vegetable crops are being raised. Srinivas Babu, once he comes to his farm, is a typical farmer. One would not see any evidence on him that he owns a company and does a lot of planning for its growth.

Babu, as a farmer, touches with affection and care every plant that he is growing in his farm. He asks his staff now and then to take care of the plants that appear to be withering due to disease or pests. He uses decomposed leaves, crop residuals, tank silt to increase the fertility of the soil.

Interestingly, he has come out with a "food for family" model to provide complete food security to a family. In about half acre, there are plans that yield food grains, fruits, vegetables.  Paddy, vegetables, fruits and leafy vegetables also grown in this parcel of land. They are just enough for a family.

"I am growing vegetables and fruits using compost and other natural manure because I know they are the best sources of nutrients for the plants. It gives me a lot of satisfaction when I eat the food made from food grains and vegetables that I myself raise. My aim is to promote natural farming and propagate its benefits," he says.

By Koppara Gandhi