Kerala farmer makes Rs one lakh in 70 days from 50 cent land

This farmer in Kerala has made organic watermelon farming a lucrative affair and that too in a small plot which he has taken on lease. Vijayan P A, 62, of Giri Nagar in Muvattupuzha has earned Rs one lakh in just 70 days by farming watermelon in a 50-cent plot.

But Vijayan has a word of advice to those who are planning to take up farming. He says that one needs to put in a lot of physical work to make farming profitable. “If you are ready to invest yourself as a labourer at your farm rather than depending on labourers, you can make a decent income from farming,” Vijayan told “Open Digest”.

It was in December 2022 that Vijayan decided to start watermelon farming in the 50-cent plot which he took on lease. “Normally, farmers in Kerala do not undertake watermelon farming. But I decided to do it after attending a farming class along with my friends at Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) in Mannuthy,” he said. Though Vijayan and his wife Ani Vijayan, 57, have been into farming of tomatoes, bitter gourd and tapioca for the last few years, he decided to do organic farming of watermelon after attending the class and with the support of Krishi Bhavan at Muvattupuzha.

He took up water melon farming at the plot where tapioca was cultivated earlier. He used a hi-tech drip irrigation system. His two MBA graduate sons – Vinu Vijayan,34, and Anu Vijayan, 29, – who are working professionals also used to help their father in farming.

“We do not use fertilisers or chemicals in our farms. We used hybrid watermelon seeds for farming and it started giving us good yield after 60 days. We only used cow dung and other organic manure,” he said.

Vijayan had to spend nearly Rs 40,000 as input cost for farming watermelon. “We started harvesting in the month of February and have so far got one tonne of watermelon. There are a few more left to be harvested. We have made around Rs one lakh from the harvest and that too in just 70 days,” Vijayan said adding more than monetary aspect, he took up organic watermelon farming to provide pesticide and chemical free watermelon to the people.