Their Story. Charm in their own farm

Are coffee and cardamom plantations more appealing than fat pay cheques and city life? Yes, say some professionals who are quitting lucrative corporate jobs to take the plunge into agriculture.

Take T Arumugam. Despite being the first graduate in his family, with five siblings, he gave up his full-time job with an NGO to try his hand at livestock rearing and growing wheat.

Vinu Kurien quit his bank job after a 12-year stint. He is now farming cardamom in Kerala. What drove him to give up stable employment and try his luck with the high-risk farming business? “The corporate rat race was getting overheated. Stretching work hours began to eat up my holidays. So, quality time with family was something that I could see only in movies,” says Vinu. Likewise, for Ramkumar, who gave up his high-flying IT job as a senior software consultant at Credit Suisse, Singapore. The promise of a peaceful life amidst verdant fields drew him to agriculture.

“The 2008 global financial crisis was a major turning point. There were mass layoffs all around and the situation was such that one could survive only by killing another’s job,” says Ramkumar. Despite being lucky to retain his job even during such turbulent times, his desire to get away from the madding crowd was the reason behind the shift from IT to agriculture.

Ravikumar Ramasamy, who was working as a textile engineer, now grows lemon on about one-and-a-half acres of land, and grows coconut and banana trees too. He is also the proud owner of seven cows. His cousin Balashanmugam, an MCA graduate, quit his job with IBM, the global IT giant, to start his own farm.

It is not just the young who have made such drastic shifts but also those who’ve had a long, flourishing professional career.

Age has not deterred PS Subramani, who is in his late 50s, from taking such big risks. He gave up his lucrative job in Zambia in 2007 and opted to grow coffee in Coorg — he had inherited part of a plantation from his father, he later added to it. “Retirement is when you stop working for others and start working for yourself. There is no retirement now after I took up this coffee plantation business,” says Subramani.

But quitting a well-paying job and starting a high-risk venture such as agriculture is no easy decision. In addition to strong financial backing, unflinching support from the family is crucial for success. Vinu Kurien has been fortunate in this regard. He owes his success to the encouragement from his family. Subramani too acknowledges complete family backing.

For Arumugam, it was a rough ride as his family was against his taking up agriculture. He had to put in additional effort by attending training programmes conducted by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) to understand the business better.

“The MSSRF and TNAU programmes helped me a lot during the initial phase of my venture,” explains Arumugam. His mother was his sole source of encouragement while the rest of the family resisted his move to agriculture.

“The transition from a secure banking job to a not-so-certain farming career was never easy. That I could not find suitable farm land for almost three months after I resigned my bank job added to my stress. But on the 85th day of my search, I came across a piece of land that met all my needs,” recalls Vinu Kurien.

For Ravikumar and Balashanmugam, besides family, friends too were sceptical initially. But after seeing them succeed in their farm venture, the naysayers are now convinced that they have made the right move.

How has the career shift changed their lives? “I have gained back my smile and lost a few kilos,” says a smiling Vinu Kurien. “I now have the freedom to plan my travel without having to wait for approvals. I have more time to spend not just with my kids and immediate family but also socialise with my extended family. In contrast, when I was employed, I used to come home very late, only to see my children fast asleep,” recalls Vinu Kurien.

Of course, this comes at a cost. “The monetary benefits I had to forego are quite huge. But working for myself, that too in my home town, keeps me occupied and also compensates the monetary loss,” explains Subramani. Ravikumar misses the company of his large group of friends. Arumugam misses the opportunity to meet people, afforded by his earlier job with the NGO.

More people should quit the rat race and take to agriculture, the backbone of India’s economy. This is the message these people want to convey.

So, what needs to be done to make agriculture sustainable?

“Though the Government has been doing its bit to educate farmers, a lot more needs to be done. It should encourage farmers to adopt novel farming techniques,” says Ramkumar.

Balashanmugam wants organic farming to be given more impetus. Ramkumar agrees: “in organic farming, the cost of inputs is much less, hence the capital requirement is much lower.”

Subramani puts it in a nutshell: “Youngsters are moving out of villages due to lack of infrastructure and job opportunities. This should change. They should stay back and nourish farming.”

Arumugam sums it all up: “India’s future lies in the hands of the younger generation. India being an agrarian economy, young people should come back to farming.”

(With inputs from M J Prabu)

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