Family Farming Becomes a Trend among Techies in Technopark!

TechnoparkToday.com(March, 2014): “Taste this spinach, it is harvested in my home“– one of the tid bits from a lunch conversation in Technopark. This article is about the silent and pleasant revolution happening among Technopark employees of Trivandrum, Kerala.

“Produce your own food, as much as you can” is the philosophy of this trend. There are a spectrum of people involved ranging from Hitech Precision Farmers to ZeroBudget Natural Farmers. Recently, the World Rural Forum (WRF) declared 2014 as year of family farming (http://www.familyfarmingcampaign.net/), and it has given renewed energy to this trend.

This declaration has stunned both market pundits who say, “You make money for your livelihood through some means, we will provide you with each item required for life” and global trade intellectuals who advocate “production of tapioca in Uganda and banana from Chile”. The monopolies who have set out with “killer seeds” to conquer the world has now got at least a minor blow.

The basic cause of human diseases according to natural healers is alienation of man from the soil on which he has been living. Let us hope that this trend makes him closer to nature and to the soil. The realization that the biggest survival measure is to “farm with wholly owned seeds” has spread.

Many Family Farmers understand that people who depend on others for their own food are enjoying pseudo freedom. There are weekend/Sunday farmers and some who do daily chores. People who overcome the space limit by putting grow bags in balconies and terraces to harvest 60 percent of their demand are not only gaining good health but also gaining self-sufficiency. When the media claimed that “curry leaves are rich in endosulfan”, an old realization that food is the medicine spread like wild fire.

There is the “locovore”(http://www.lifebeginsat30.com/elc/2006/04/10_reasons_to_e.html) movement in the USA, which is an alternative to environmental and human/farmer exploitation issues which global food trade causes. It instructs members to eat what is produced within 50 miles. This movement has some shades of the “locovore” movement. It is also worth remembering that the Kerala government’s agricultural department is backing a slogan – “food security by home stead farming” – this year.

When repeated news breakouts happen like “our vegetables are contaminated with pesticides and chemical fertilisers” and “retail inflation is touching new heights”, Technopark employees have chosen to intervene instead of being helpless. The Family farming trend proves the urge to be responsible to own life and make changes when required.

Family Farming can be viewed as an alternate step against anti-environment and anti-human urbanization, which forces people to live in congestion, pollution and without any quality resources like fresh air and water. Family Farming ensures enough space for humans to indulge and be relaxed. When each family starts farming, the fallout of the same will be decongestion of cities and better quality of life spread across the country.

When we plant a seed or sapling, the events such as its first leaf, flower and fruit makes us happy. None of our mindless consumption can match this. There are many employees who vow that farming is a great stress buster and a day’s stress can be wiped out by caring for a plant in the garden. Historically, agriculture has been a joy-giver and mankind’s first step to civility and culture. Another plus is that your kid grows up more connected to roots and nature. He might not baffle you by asking, “which tree grows rice?”!

Many companies in Technopark have started encouraging their employees to farm by conducting seminars and sales of agricultural items. In a top IT company campus, a plot of farmland has been prepared to instill the “spirit of farming” in its employees. Let us hope that this excellent trend finds many takers. There are many informal groups among employees, who are farming enthusiasts, who exchange seeds, saplings and vital information. Let us hope that these things will become more streamlined and clear in the course of time. There has to be Community Supported Agriculture http://www.localharvest.org/csa/) also downstream, which expects people to invest in farms in exchange of quality food consumables. The Family Farming trend is a big inspiration and a great beginning for us to to take part!

Author : Anoop Varghese Kuriappuram