My dear friends, following my last week column on kangayam cattle some of you had called me and asked if kangayam breed alone is the solution for organic farming? What about other breeds? Are local breeds in different regions not useful etc? For all of their...

My dear friends,  my last week column on an Erode farmer making soap from his Kangayam cow and living profitably has kicked off interest in a section of farmers. Many have asked me if it is necessary that only the dung of Kangayam cows serves the purpose of making...

My dear friends, the aim of farming is earning money. Unfortunately, however, farming as a whole is unrenumerative today for several reasons that have been highlighted in my past columns. But this also does not mean there is no one to do farming in villages today....

My dear farming friends, while I am writing this column, our brethren in delta districts are undergoing unimaginable hardships due to Gaja cyclone which has rendered hundreds homeless, destroyed homes, uprooted trees, and damaged crops and electricity poles. Our...

My dear farming friends: For those who think farming is not renumerative, or for those who think it is the job of illiterate, dhoti-clad old men, the time has come for you to think again. The profile of many of today's farmer is a natty, educated young man who has...

My dear friends: Farming is the art of growing food, a full time vocation no doubt. At the same time, not all farmers are just farmers. In many villages across the country, there are several scientists and innovators in the guise of farmers trying to find an answer...

My dear friends: Let's say all goes well for us and we have a good harvest. Will it bring prosperity in our lives? Will the harvested crop turn into money? Till date nobody has been able to give us a definite answer on this.In areas like the delta regions our...

My dear friends: What is the main objective of you doing agriculture? Most of you will say earning earning money. Agriculture is just not a service. It is a vocation. Nothing is free here. Everything comes with a price. Successful agriculture involves deploying a...

My dear friends: Our country’s daily turnover from vegetables and fruits could be easily about Rs 290 crore (US$ 59 million). The estimated cost of ‘wastage’ per day is around Rs 100 to Rs 140 crore (US$ 27 million), which is a lot more than the daily turnover of...

Gone are the days when vegetables and fruits needed to be got from the field. Today the concept of terrace gardening has hit practically every district in the state and there are hundreds of terrace gardens today not only in individual homes but in gated...

My dear friends: Following my interaction with you last week, some called me to say that marketing is the main problem in agriculture. Some said I should be aware of it since I am a farmer myself. What can be done to improve marketing under the present scenario? We...

The only objective of today’s education is to help get a job and an assured income. But what about those who are educated and still not able to get a job? How do they manage their life? Well a young civil engineer S Rajadurai from Ariyalur seems to have an answer...

The Government’s decision to consider an MSP for organic crops seems to have evoked a mixed response from some leading organic farmers in the state. Speaking to inmathi.com, Dr M J Narasimhan a leading organic farmer and doctor for last several decades in...

We all have seen roads in cities and villages named after some famous persons. But do you know that in Chitoor district, Vemur block in Andhra Pradesh there is a road named after a vegetable? Yes you have read it right- a vegetable. The road and entire the village...

My dear farming friends, last month our Prime Minister inaugurated a fertilizer production factory in Orissa. The news was, as was typical, shared in different media.  It is some news yes, but for farmers like us it raises certain questions? What is the need for...

Dear farming friends, following last week’s column on the need for farmers to make their own inputs, I received several mails, messages and phone calls. Seventy percent of those who responded said it was the right time for farming groups to take up such practices,...

Controlling pest attack is a major problem in agriculture. A farmer has two options in fighting pest: He can either buy the input from a retail shop or make his own inputs and use them. The first choice is easy but is not cost-effective. It creates a dent in the...

My dear farming friends, following my last week interaction on organic farming and my request for suggestions, I have received several mails and WhatsApp messages. What was heartening about the mails and the messages was that they were sent by educated, city-bred,...

Rare are those individuals who are committed to selfless work. Such people have a strong conviction that the purpose of their birth is to give back to society so that the world is a better place when they depart. One such person was Maram Thangasamy who died on...

Alangudi Perumal, a farmer from Alangudi near Kuthalam block of Kumbakonam, has come up with an innovative method of rice transplantation. His method has the objective of using fewer seeds and is based on five core principles: selection of quality seeds,...

A nation’s progress is first and foremost dependant on its farmers’ welfare. Only if agriculture thrives, industries and services can flourish. If we neglect farming, we cannot expect our nation to do well.  The prime job of any elected government is to empower our...

My dear farming friends I had received some mails in which young men from some parts of the state had requested me to guide them in finding right information, regarding entrepreneurship programmes available in agriculture. This made me think? There are several...