Today, we talk about 28-year-old Krishna Narwade who turned down a plump corporate career to take a road less travelled and find satisfaction in one of the most unconventional career choices of our times: natural farming. And here’s the best part of this. He made a bumper profit of Rs. 3 Lakh here too!
“I come from Jevali village in Maharashtra’s Jalna district. For years, my district has been dry. Parents in my village want to send their kids to cities for jobs, and farmers have switched to other professions,” Narwade shares.
He too, like others, wanted to bag a degree and go to cities lined with tall shimmering buildings “that had running water all day. Getting into the construction industry was my dream and getting a degree in civil engineering was my big-ticket to fulfil this dream.” Little did he know that his life would take an unprecedented turn.
In 2017, in his final year of diploma studies, Narwade came across the concept of natural farming for the first time in The Art of Living’s Youth Leadership Training Program. He learned that The Art of Living was working on a multipronged approach where, the organizing was working towards reviving the water bodies in Latur while also teaching natural farming to farmers and youth so that along with making Latur water positive, the local communities would also find prosperity through farming that involves near zero input costs, healthier multiple crops, revival of the soil health and freedom from the vicious cycle of debt.
“I was inspired. I decided to take up natural farming whereas my friends and classmates migrated to Pune or Mumbai for jobs after graduation. I was nervous but also very hopeful. I started my farming experiments on a 4-acre land that my family had leased out.”
After implementing his skills and training in natural farming, the farm yielded bumper crops worth Rs 3 lakh in just one year, compared to the earlier yield of Rs 50,000! “Nobody thought farming would give so much money. My friends living and working in cities were earning half this amount in their first year.”
Meanwhile, he also joined The Art of Living’s river rejuvenation project which brought water levels up in the bore wells through recharge structures to stop the runoff of rainwater and increase groundwater table. “It was inspiring to see the smiles and massive transformation that the project was creating. I was beginning to think that perhaps, my generation will not run to the cities for the 24x7 running taps now onwards.
A Pond Named Krishna?
“My happiest moment during the project tenure was when our team revived a pond that had been dry for 25 years. The villagers were so overjoyed that they wanted to name the pond after me- Krishna!” he shares. Krishna practices farming on the 4-acre patch of land which was once barren.
“Initially I struggled a lot to make it fertile and get sufficient profit because of the extensive damage that we have done to our soil for years. It took me only a few months to heal and re-invigorate the soil health that had been rendered nearly useless from the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers over time. But now I am self-sufficient. I make Rs.3 lakh profits every year. Natural farming is not just about slowly fading away the use of chemicals and replacing them with equally potent natural inputs but also involves various techniques to increase the yield from the same cropping area that makes farming sustainable. I do multi-cropping and agroforestry under the guidance of my mentor Mahadev Gomare (senior natural farming expert with The Art of Living.)”
His goal is to spread awareness of natural farming techniques to make this world a better place to live. “I just want to give back as much as I can to the people around me and make my fellow farmers happy and healthy.”
