“Since past three generations we belong to farming community. Although I am a qualified chemical engineer but after serving corporate all my life till 2000 I returned back to farming as full time business,” says Mr. N.S.Parthasarathy, Founder and Director, Veda Agro. It is an integrated farm having dairy, coconut, paddy and vegetable cultivation. “We sell all our products through our own organic produce outlet,” he informs. Farm is located near Madurai Dindigul main road in village Thiruvayalayanaulur, Tamil Nadu.
“In the year 2000, I started diverting all my funds for land purchase for developing organic farm. It was only 5 acres initially but slowly we have expanded it to 30 acres,” he shares. The farmland was purchased from farmers who were doing chemical based farming, “We immediately stopped using chemical based farming inputs and started growing green manure to improve soil fertility,” he informs. In addition, Mr. Parthasarathy opted to grow different types of green to enhance nutritive content in the soil. Elaborating further he says, “We used to sow five different types of oilseeds, pulses, grains mixed together in the soil that used to grow in 45 days and started flowering. Later we got the green mellows that helped largely to improve organic substance in the soil which was earlier spoiled by heavy use of chemical fertilizers.”
10 acres of farm is used for paddy farming. Government certified paddy is grown at the farm namely ADT3 but there is constant demand for traditional rice varieties from buyers hence, “We are going to buy traditional paddy varieties and grow the same from this season,” he shares. Annual yield of the paddy is 25-30 bags, one bag is 65kgs. When asked to share the farming input cost Mr. Parthasarathy clarifies, “There is no external purchase of farming inputs as our dairy unit output is input for horticulture operations but the main expense is administration cost. We are spending lot of time in managing the farm.”
Being an integrated farm there is no need for any external purchases hence no money is spent on farming inputs but, “To manage the inner circle of input-output lot of money is spent on man-power. Labor is needed to grow fodder for our dairy, to process cow dung as manure again laborers are required and so on,” he explains and highlights, “We have consciously decided not to buy any farming inputs outside the farm and we stick to it. We process our paddy into rice at my friend’s rice mill.”
Organic rice is sold to friends and known people hence it is all pre-booked. Money is received through net-banking and rice bags are delivered to the customers directly. “In the market we have earned a good reputation so we are getting more enquiries thus we are planning for expansion by taking more land on lease basis. However, the sales model shall remain same that is to sell farm produce directly to the buyers,” he shares. Presently challenges faced are only manpower issues.
Traditional varieties and Deejay coconut is grown at the farm. In all there are 700 coconut trees that yield 15000 coconuts per month. Coconuts are sold through farm’s own organic outlet and also through other outlets. If the oil content is good then coconut cooking oil is made from the coconuts, “Around my farm we have some coconut value added processing units where we give coconuts in kgs and take back value added products in kgs. These are trusted people so we know the value added products like oil are made from our own organic coconuts,” informs Mr. Parthasarathy.
12 mixed breed cows are raised at the dairy farm. “We want to have only traditional varieties but in case of cows, organic farming experts like Dr G Nammalvar suggests 2nd and 3rd generation of mixed breed cows can also be treated as pure breeds so we are following the same,” he shares. Cow fodder is grown exclusively at the farm like napier grass, “So our cows are resistant to any disease and infection,” says Mr. Parthasarathy. Organic milk is sold at Rs. 50/liter within four hours after milking the cows. As per the government norms cows are vaccinated regularly.
Mr. Parthasarathy wants to expand his business on his own as he feels he can control and monitor the operations systematically as he is been doing so far. He does not favor contract farming model. “My buyers trust me that I practice 100% organic farming method at the farm hence it is my responsibility to honour this belief. If I buy farm produces from other farmers and re-sell to my buyers I am not sure if that farmer is following organic practice 100%. So I prefer to sell what I grow in my fields to be in alliance with my ethics,” he adds.
Sharing future plans he says, “In coming years we have to strengthen our position in the market and increase our volumes. Land expansion is our priority. Future is of natural medicines so we will be starting the cultivation of medicinal herbs and fruits.”
Mr. Parthasarathy opines farmers must get back to the roots and adopt natural way of farming. When asked farmers often complain for safeguarding the harvest from pest chemical inputs are must, to this he responds and concludes, “Pest is part of system, do not kill it instead learn to manage them. It is crucial to learn the techniques properly and then start working else half knowledge shall lead to the problems. We all have 6th sense which is used negatively like killing the pest. It is better to use the 6th sense positively then surely survival will be possible and nothing can hinder growth.”
Contact details-
Veda Agro
Thiruvayalayanaulur, Madurai Dist, Tamil Nadu.
Mobile – 919942506253
Email – [email protected]