Sukrushi, an organic farm

An organic farm in Bangalore’s outskirts. That’s Sukrushi for you. Owned by organic farmer H R Jayaram, the farm makes use of rainwater-harvesting techniques, solar and biogas energy, eschews chemical fertilisers and pesticides using organic substitutes for the same, and practises social forestry.  Farmer H R Jayaram practises organic farming on Sukrushi, his land in the outskirts of Bangalore.

It was in the process of cultivating Sukrushi that he was introduced to chemical fertilisers and pesticides––considered indispensable in modern farming.

“However, having grown up on a rural, organic farm, where everything worked well without these non-natural inputs, I wondered if these modern methods were really necessary,” Jayaram reveals. So, he began questioning this approach, met several farmers, had discussions with scientists and agricultural experts, read The One-Straw Revolution (which advocates natural farming) and eventually realised that organic was the right way to go. So, he turned Sukrushi  (once barren land), into a pure organic one. It makes extensive use of rainwater-harvesting techniques, solar and biogas energy, eschews chemical fertilisers and pesticides using organic substitutes for the same, and practises social forestry.

Aruna Chandaraju

Farming with a passion

Florina and Edward Rebello own two-and-a half acres of land in Takode near Mudabidri. The husband and wife do not depend on external labour. Edward’s mother Elizabeth guides them while sons Elson and Rolson assist them when they are free. Florina looks after the nearby areca farm while Edward keeps experimenting in his two-acre forest farm a kilometer away.  

More than 200 plants in his farm mirror Edward’s passion. He waters the plants only once a week for two hours by way of sprinkler irrigation.

He carries gobar gas slurry on his shoulder to the farm. He has also realised his dream of developing an unconventional farm inside the nearby forest. Seven types of sapota, five cocum varieties, six flavours of lemon, four areca varieties, eight mango species, ten species of jack not only attract farmers but also birds, insects and wild animals.