Swapna James is a name that comes to our mind when one talks about agriculture. Her passion for farming can be seen from the green blanket comprising of a variety of crops at her hometown at Palakkad. The sheer dedication in farming has won her numerous awards including the prestigious `Karshakathilakam Award’. Parents of James, Pulikkathazhe Varkey, and Annamma got settled in Kulakkattukkurissi near Sreekrishnapuram in Palakkad district after migrating from Plassanal village of Kottayam district. After thirty years of farming, their farm got selected as the best in Kerala and their daughter in law Mrs. Swapna James won the Karshakathilakam (Award for the best woman farmer in Kerala given by the State Agriculture Department).
Swapna says “It’s my true passion to do farming.” Of the nineteen acre farm, one side is surrounded by Thoothappuzha, with half of the area cultivated with rubber. The other side is enriched with multi crops like areca nut, coconut, cocoa, nutmeg, coffee, jackfruit tree, and pepper. The boundaries comprising tree crops like teak, mahogany, jackfruit tree and matte resemble a perfect model of sustainable agriculture. Half acre near the farmhouse is cultivated with different food crops like tapioca, banana, ginger, turmeric, yam, bitter gourd, chilly, snake gourd, little gourd, other tuber crops, etc.
All farm inputs are self-made and their source is from these nineteen acres. Three Vechur breed cows, the zero budget preparations like jeevamrutha, beejamrutha, Ghana jeevamrutha, panchagavya, and thumboormuzhy and aerobic compost, etc. supported with live and dead mulching make the soil healthy and fertile. Solar light traps, bio pest control measures, and diversity balance control pest attacks and diseases. Almost all breeds of chicks’, ducks, quail, goat, etc contribute to the enrichment of the soil.
For the past few years, this family has been participating in workshops and seminars relating to agriculture, doing exposure visits to update their knowledge. Collecting all the novel and rare breeds of vegetables and other food crops and farming them in their land made their farm turn out to be an ideal model of bio-diversity. Also, they share the seeds and saplings to those who wish to cultivate which makes their farm abuzz with visitors and researchers.
Other attractive and replicable models in the farm are the rainwater harvesting system, water-storing ponds and different breeds of fish. The ponds reward a decent income from fish crops and water storage supports the irrigation needs in the drought season. There is a huge demand for the food crops cultivated in this farm and the value-added items are quite promising. Marketing of the product is also being done in a proper way by this family James has been engaged in latex business for the last ten years and his firm, P.J. Latex which has established well in this field, also renders support to other farmers in the district.
Swapna explains, “Mixed farming leads to good results. 45 varieties of mango like Chandrakaran, Mallika, Sindhooram, Kalapadi, then 33 varieties of jackfruit trees like all season, gumless, varikka,Thenvarikka, Sindhoori, 26 nutmeg varieties, fourteen different guava trees like Violet, Strawberry, Mundiri, Chinese and Kilogauva, 35 plantain varieties, 8 trees in lemon family, 18 different colocasia, one dozen leafy vegetables, half a dozen bindi varieties, 14 different tapioca and all other tubers and vegetables of diverse shapes and colour warrants a micro gene bank structure and a must-visit farm in the state.
James and Swapna bought 70 cents of land for paddy cultivation; to make a trial on rice farming. Due to their craze in farming, they started 7 acres of food crop cultivation in leased land this year. Their children Alan and Kevin find their enjoyment and hobby by supporting farming activities with their parents. “It is only with the strong support of my family, I gained all these in my life”. She says with a smile.
