New Delhi: Who could have imagined that someone in today's time would leave their corporate job and become a farmer, joining the community of producers? It seems highly implausible in today's time when the tertiary sector such as banking, IT offers significantly higher income compared to primary sector jobs like farming.
If you find it difficult to believe such a story, I encourage you to scroll down and read this unbelievable yet inspiring tale of Amith Kishan, a former banker who transitioned into farming and built a sustainable business worth crores.
Amith Kishan’s Corporate Career
Amith Kishan had worked with several banks such as ICICI, Bajaj, Axis, and Punjab National Bank (PNB) in the span of eight years before turning towards farming. He always wished to become a farmer like his grandfather.
“My grandfather was a renowned farmer in the area. As a child, we used to go to the farm and play with soil while he worked on the field,” he recalls, as reported by The Better India.
The Moment Of Revelation
After losing one of his clients because of cancer, he changed his mind to leave the corporate world and follow his grandfather’s steps.
“There was a person who was insured with me. In a span of 1.5 years, he died of cancer. I did all the claiming formalities for the family. Looking at this, I understood that we need to correct ways of how we are living, and what we are eating as our food is not up to the mark. I wanted to correct that. Everything was pushing me to do something better,” he said in the report.
Beginning of His Journey As A Farmer
He co-founded Hebbevu farms in 2019 with his brother to encourage organic farming and sustainable living. “We did not know what to grow and when. When farmers in the neighbouring fields grew chillies, we would grow groundnuts. We did not understand the kharif and rabi seasons,” Amith said recalling their initial months.
Initial Hurdles And Challenges
Growing crops organically amid the flood of chemicals and fertilizers is very challenging. Everything is now affected by these external inputs, leading to further deterioration of soil’s natural capacities to grow crop.
“All the farmers in surrounding fields were using chemicals to grow food. At that point in time when I started growing food without chemicals, people termed me a fool and laughed at me. They would spray chemicals and insects would attack my farm. In order to survive, I tried to educate them as well on natural and organic ways of farming,” Amith recounted.
Solving Challenges One By One
Amith and his brother finds solution of low productivity of soil by ploughing it upto 4 feet depth and replacing chemical fertilizers with cow dung, cow urine, and bananas. It helps to boost the production.
“As a result, we started seeing earthworms back in our soil, which became very rare because of chemicals used in farming. But the boost in farming was observed when we introduced native animals to our farms,” he said. He now owns nearly 700 indigenous cows and buffaloes including Gir, Sahiwal, and Jafarabadi.
Due to the farm's reliance on solar energy, his monthly electricity costs have dropped from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 40,000. Amith began with a loan of Rs 1.5 crore and a farm of 15 acres; currently, his 650-acre farm generates an annual profit of Rs 21 crore.
