RID POVERTY & HUNGER IN 50 INDIAN TRIBAL VILLAGES

Megaraj Ayya, Organic farming & The Earth Trust – A love story

Meet Megaraj Dharmalingam, Megaraj Ayya as fondly called within the Earth Trust circle, who is a long standing organic farmer with the Earth Trust. Megaraj Ayya, aged 75 has a Masters degree in Tamil and Bachelor’s degree in Education and is a retired government school teacher. Spending major part of his professional life in teaching, once after retirement he plunged into agriculture, which remained his passion over the years.

Megaraj Ayya hails from a village called Dhoddanai, in the Nilgiris. His 0.5 acre of organic farm is just a walk from his hometown and overlooking the village. At 9 in the morning, every single day he walks to his field and spends the day there working or inspecting the work in the field. The pure air surrounding his field, the murmurings of the birds and the green and chemical free crops that shakes with the smooth breeze is a feeling of heaven for him. Not even a single day passes-by without a stroll to his organic farm. His hand stretches to the soil and the tiny weeds, which are fed back to the soil, as we engage in a casual talk with him. As he starts talking about organic farming he is lost in its aura.

He hails from a family which is well versed in traditional medicinal practices. Realizing the ill-effects of chemical farming, he converted his farm into organic, and for the past 15 years he is in deep love with organic farming. He says that there could be initial pitfalls, in terms of yield, while converting the chemically farmed land into organic. The presence of earthworms, soil texture and look are easy indicators that the land is devoid of chemicals. The merits of Organic farming are its associated health benefits and the good regular income that it could generate. Megaraj Ayya runs about three crop cycles in a year and cultivates potato, carrot, beetroot, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and garlic organically. Part of his farm is polyhouse covered, where he cultivates organic strawberries. While the yield of organic vegetables depends on the season and other factors, the average yield of strawberry is 50-80 Kg per month.

Megaraj Ayya’s association with the Earth Trust dates back to 2002 when he first met Vanya Orr, the founder of ET, and ever since his association with ET had been a fruitful one. The marketing support of ET is a boon for organic farmers and there is no organic agriculture in the Nilgiris without the Earth Trust, asserts Megaraj Ayya. Such is the impact created by the Earth Trust in the Nilgiris in terms of healing the soil through natural farming methods while helping the farmers in getting an assured high premium. For Megaraj Ayya, with organic strawberry cultivation alone, the average income is Rs. 10,000 – 15,000 per month!

Organic farming is not without challenges. Weeding issues with carrot, for instance is the biggest challenge. He is an avid learner and has a keen interest to research and innovate. He innovates with self-prepared biofertilizers using leaves and weeds to manage pests and diseases and his confident that he will come up with a formula for weed management in organic farming. 

Megaraj ayya’s life is based on and surrounded by discipline and strong value system. Every Monday of the week, he goes fasting. He hardly goes to the hospital, which has something to do with the organic vegetables he partakes. He is the head-man of his village, which has no police records. The current Indian Government is investing in cleanliness in the rural and urban area under the banner ‘Swachh Bharat’. Megaraj Ayya was instrumental in bringing toilet facilities to his hometown under the Myrada scheme 20 years back and ever since, his village is one of the kind that has no open defection.

Megaraj Ayya meticulously maintains financial records of the farm revenues and expenses. He has been constantly sensitising other farmers about the advantages of organic farming. About organic certification, he quotes Subash Palekar, the proponent of Zero Budget- Natural farming, ‘Why test your Mother?’ He says, it is all about following your own conscience. Such is the sincerity and working from the heart of Megaraj Ayya on organic farming. However when the need arises, it is important that due process is followed in obtaining the organic certification from accredited agencies.

It takes passion and immense value system to forgo the alluring strategy of agro-chemical manufacturers who try all means to attract the farmers towards high yield and quick money, and to cultivate our food needs organically, thereby minimising the damage to the environment and to the eco-system. The vision of Earth Trust in creating well-being to the Nilgiris, by encouraging natural farming methods, is taking shape if not in a wider-scale but in a noticeable scale, through the likes of Megaraj Ayya and other passionate and environmentally conscious farmers.

Organic cultivation, according to Megaraj Ayya is a good means of livelihood for farmers provided they have the trust, passion and sincerity to go organic. The technical and marketing support by the Earth Trust to the farmers on organic cultivation is certainly a boon to the farmers in the Nilgiris, The association between Megaraj Ayya, Organic agriculture and the Earth Trust is indeed a true love story.