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Kerala commerce graduate switches from accounting to farming, earns lakhs

M Sreevidya at her farm in Kasaragod, Kerala. Photo Credit: M Sreevidya

M Sreevidya of Kasaragod in Kerala is an answer to those who keep finding excuses not to do farming in Kerala. This 39-year-old commerce graduate with no farming background is scripting a new narrative by successfully cultivating different crops that include sunflower in Kerala, earning lakhs every year.

For the last nine years, 39-year-old Sreevidya from Badiyadka has been farming paddy and different varieties of vegetables on six acres of land. Through hard work and dedication, she also converted over 50 cents of rocky stretch of land, which she has taken on lease, at Poinachi in Kasaragod into a sunflower field.

After working as an accountant for several years in different firms, Sreevidya decided to get into farming because of her passion for agriculture. Though she took up farming, she didn’t give up her years of experience working in a travel and tour firm. She also runs her own travel and tour agency in Kasaragod, fully utilizing the extra time she gets after working in the soil.

“Multi-cropping is the best way to stay relevant in the market. Also, we need to use modern farming methods like drip irrigation to increase the yield. We need to stay updated in farming, and all relevant information is available easily on YouTube,” Sreevidya told “Open Digest.”

Sreevidya has been cultivating sunflower on the barren land with rocks after filling it with sand. “We need to take calculated risks, and I am cultivating sunflower as an alternative crop along with watermelon,” she said.

Another major aspect of farming, according to her, is to use quality saplings and seeds. Sreevidya sources seeds and saplings only from professional nurseries. She also uses seeds from the College of Agriculture in Vellayani. In January this year, she could harvest over three tonnes of cucumber from 50 cents of land. Sreevidya was also on the team of farmers who recently went to Israel to learn the hi-tech farming followed by farmers in Israel to get better yields.

“Many dissuaded me when I decided to get into farming, saying that it would be a loss of money and energy. But my parents and my husband supported me. For the last nine years, I have been farming vegetables that also include tomatoes and papaya,” she said.

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