People meet, get attracted to each other and fall in love. The reasons might be many. However, it must be rare for agriculture to play cupid, as seen in the case of Vijith VC and Vani V. But it happened, and the couple has been engaged in organic farming on their four-and-a half-acre plot at Haripad, Alappuzha, for the past 12 years. Another interesting thing that makes this couple stand apart is their decision to serve food prepared from the ingredients cultivated by them on their farm.
“I have been interested in farming from a very young age. Planting trees and collecting seeds of different plants has been my hobby,” said Vijith. Even though Vijith has no agricultural background, his interest in it saw him taking part in various environment camps and plantation drives.
Vijith credits Vani for being the major guiding force, whose vision, knowledge and experience helped him learn and understand the ways of farming more intensively. That’s because Vani has a background in agriculture. “Vani hails from a family which used to farm quite actively and grew many types of vegetables and tubers. Everyone in her family has a good knowledge of not just farming but also gardening as well as ayurvedic plants,” said Vijith. This passion led them to specialise in the subject of Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
The couple, blessed with green thumbs, has been relentless in their pursuit to turn their farmland into a self-sustaining one. They have planted more than 5,000 trees and also have some dense patches which have been left alone to develop into a Kadavu. Besides the trees, there are 10 ponds spread across their land, of which some existed before and the rest were dug by the couple and their friends.
“Ours is an organic farm, Not only do we apply organic manure and compost for the crops but also use the traditional technique of mixed agriculture.” he said. Vijith claims that organic farming never works if a single crop is planted due to the threat of a pest attack. “So, we plant different vegetables at a time. Hence, we have been harvesting a good crop every year,” he said.
When production started increasing beyond what their friends and neighbours could buy, they opened a shop. “We also have a vertical garden set-up. Because we may not have enough farm produce for sale round the year, we have teamed up with other organic farmers to sell their products through our store, ‘Prakrithi Jaiva Kalavara’. We also sell value-added products made from organic crops like dried plantain and beans,” added VijithBesides open farming, the couple also practice rain shelter farming. “We use it to grow ornamental plants and vegetable saplings and have around 3,000 varieties of plants.” says Vijith.