Mr. Shankar Kotian
Agriculturist
Moodukonaje Village, Moodbidri
15 years in the IT industry prompted Mr Shankar Kotian to take a decision to move out of the buzzing city life to the calm of the village. He decided to transition from virtual realities to take a plunge into the realities of the agricultural sector.
“It was quite pre planned. 7 years prior to quitting my IT job, I had already planned that I would move out of the IT field eventually. There was a number of reasons for this. The job was taking a toll on my personal life. Moreover, most social evils like pollution and scarcity of organic food etc is more prevalent in cities and I was always clear that that is not what I wanted.
Back then, I was contemplating between farming and teaching. I eventually zeroed into farming.”
How has your journey, as an agriculturist, been so far?
Initially I took a couple of years to set up my farm. I started with a vacant farmland which was not subjected to any kind of cultivation. I took a couple of years to do the fencing and got my own house built there.
I was clear about the fact that I would go with organic farming. I had got a few non-milking cows into the farm and built them a temporary shed. In about 3 years time, I had a house, a cow shed, fencing and the initial set up done on my plot.
I was learning on the go because I had no farming background. Since I started with organic farming, I had to have my cows as the central point, I started with dairy farming with a slightly larger size than I had originally envisaged.
From 2013-2018, I was into dairy farming with about 30-40 hybrid cows. I was getting about 250 litres of milk per day. Honestly, that proved to be an error on my part because it was never my plan to get into dairy farming alone. It was a pretty intensive activity which took up a lot of time, effort and money and so it never gave me the leeway to focus on any other farming activities like cultivating cereals, cash crops, fruits, vegetables etc.
In 2018, I moved out of large scale dairy farming, sold all my hybrid cows and started rearing desi cows. This was a transition phase for me. Since the last one year, I have increased my desi cows' herd size. I have about 15 Malnad Gidda cows plus around 15 Gir cows which I procured from Gujrat.
I also have 7 goats. Have plans of increasing the herd size. They are 100% free range and pasture fed. Problem is predators: pythons, dogs etc.
In my current course of action, milk was not my focus. I am rearing these cows for their manure. Milk is more of a by product for me. I had a large parcel of land which was the grassland for my previous herd of cows, which I didn't anymore. I planted arecanuts in that area. This will take about 3-4 years to yield. It is about 6 months old now. Besides that I have my vegetable farm, I haven't been able to produce vegetables continuously. It's been on and off. Right now I have direct customers for milk, ghee, buttermilk, paneer and vegetables. In a year's time, I should get my coconut plantations to begin yielding. I planted them about 4 years ago.
Going forward in about year or two I want to ramp up my vegetable farming because that is something that will yield cash on a regular basis.
Besides all this, I grow my own food, including rice.
How big is your farm and where is it located?
My farm is located in Moodukonaje Village, Moodbidri. This is in South Canara (or Dakshina Kannada). I have two farms. The farm where I reside at is 10 acres, out of which about 2-3 acres has been reserved as forest area. I have also planted forest trees around the plot and wherever possible so that the ground water is recharged as much as possible.
I have another 13-acre farm about 20 kms away from where I reside. That plot primarily hosts cash crops - rubber, arecanuts and a little bit of unused forest land. I have not been able to do much on that plot because of the distance. It is okay but I am not extremely happy about that plot. The distance prevents me from getting the best out of it.
How many people are employed on your farm?
I have 4 people on the farm where I reside. On the other farm, I do not need labor. I need only seasonal labor whom I hire on a need basis.
Earlier, when I reared hybrid cows, I had employed around 6-7 people.
What lessons did you learn during your initial farming days?
There are many:
As a farmer, I strive to sell my produce directly to consumers. We should sell them directly to consumers unless we have no other option to do so.
People like me who have nil farming background, should not plunge into farming on a large scale in the first go. Do not start dairy farming, for instance, with 40-50 cows. It is best to start small and then build it up over a period of months or years because there will be lot of experimenting, trial and error and learning along the way. Do the proof of concept first before you expand.
Meet farmers and get their feedback about the plot you are trying to procure. Visit farms, preferably in the locality you wish to procure land, and see how farms work. Farming has a lot of local parameters attached to it. The methodology I adopt on my farm can be vastly different in many aspects compared to how the same farm is catered to in Mandya, Mysore, Bangalore or any other parts of India.
Always adopt multi crop farming. Mono-cropping is a bad idea because it is not a natural phenomenon. If you go into any natural forest, you will see that you hardly see two kinds of trees or plants next to each other. So, if we follow the natural processes, managing the farm becomes better efficient and easy. Also, muticropping sets a balance on your farm - for the soil and the income.
Make sure you go for integrated farming. Try cultivating almost everything that you can - fruits vegetables, cereals, pulses, etc. Also reserve some portion of your land as forestry. This will serve as an FD for your future. It will provide you timber value in about 30-35 years. So, you should have crops that will give you regular income and long term income. Plan your plot.
Going by common sense, opt for organic farming because it is very evident that we avoid contaminated food. By using chemicals, we not just poison the crops, we also contaminate the air, water and soil in parallel.
Everyone has labor issues. So, try to use machines as much as possible to mitigate this sensitive issue. You can do it to the extent of disrupting your piece of land.
Where do you sell your farm produce?
I sell my commercial crop produce - areca and rubber - to vendors. We cannot possibly do a direct sales for those products.
Milk from my dairy is sold directly to consumers in a town called Moodbidri about 12 kms from my place. A portion of my vegetable produce also goes to the consumers who buy milk from me. I usually grow elephant foot yam, tapioca, ivy gourd, okra and long beans. I have also tried growing cluster beans, raddish, ginger and turmeric.
Also, started selling tender coconuts albeit small number. At present, at wholesale rate to retail shops.
Did you undergo any training before you plunged into agriculture?
No, I didn't. But, I did visit around 10-20 farms before I started my work. Also, I continuously sharpen my skills and knowledge by visiting farms, attending exhibitions whenever possible, etc. I think this constant upgradation of self is a must.
Did you avail any kind of support from the government?
Government support is primarily in the form of subsidies. I have tried availing it whenever possible. There are quite a number of rules and regulations which are sometimes extremely difficult to cut through and I end up not being able to avail it in my hour of need.
What was your initial investment when you started off with farming?
Like I said, I committed many mistakes in the beginning of this venture. I may have started only with 5 cows but I built a cowshed for 30-40 cows. As in, the cow shed structure was not just a cowshed, it had a biogas plant, slurry tank, waste water tank and 5 acres of grassland for cows, irrigation machines etc. That cost me about 30 lakhs. That was a huge investment. I couldn't recover that from my 4.5 years stint with the hybrid cows. Besides that, all other investments have been done on a need basis. The dairy structure required an initial capital. Everything else really brought in expenses on a case to case basis.
Is it comfortable managing a dairy farm and vegetable farm together?
Yes, in my opinion, it is. I can do it now because my current dairy farm only consists of desi cows. I am not focussing much on the milk production. I have my dairy mainly for the manure.
There is a lot of difference when you have desi cow versus hybrid cows when our main aim is the volume of milk produce. Like I have mentioned earlier, when I had a dairy farm full of hybrid cows, I hardly got any time to focus on anything else. Now, I get a lot of time off with my desi cow dairy farming and so life is quite balanced.
Is the milk quality of desi cows superior to that of hybrid cows?
Yes, it is and the price is also very good.
Milk from hybrid cows is very high in volume. My plan always was to directly sell the produce to consumers but could not do that during that time because I was too tight for time. So, I used to sell my milk to KMF. My net rate for the milk at the time, was Rs. 35/- including government subsidy.
Now, the rate I get for desi cow milk is Rs 90/-. In my town, I get Rs 90/-. If I were to sell in a city like Mangalore or Bangalore, the rate would go above Rs. 100/-.
I also make ghee and that too is on high demand. I sell it at the rate of Rs 2000/- per litre. If you sell it at the market, you would make about Rs. 400/- - Rs. 500/-. I also sell buttermilk in summer to direct consumers and vendors.
This is the difference from a commercial point of view.
Then, this milk is very healthy. After we started consuming desi cow milk, I can see healthy signs in my household itself and the same is the feedback from my customers.
Besides, all this when we take into account the health of the cows, earlier with hybrid cows I had to seek veterinary help for my cows at least 3-4 times a month. For desi cows, in the whole of the last 1 and half years, I sought medical help for them perhaps twice - that too because they had some wound, not because of any other ailment.
How would you advise people who aspire to come into this field?
Have a plan and build it based on your conversations with farmers. For this, it is essential that you visit farmlands as much as you can, before taking the plunge.
Start small, always. Build things gradually.
As much as possible sell your produce directly to consumers.
Grow as much as possible for your own consumption as well.
Adopt multi-cropping
Save as much water as you can- preserve about 20-30% of your farm in the form of a forest. It can be around your fence, in the internal roads etc. This does wonders to replenish your underground water table and conduct irrigation judiciously.
CONTACT
Mr Shankar Kotian
Moodukonaje Village
MOODBIDRI - 574227
Karnataka
E-Mail: shankar.kotian@gmail.com
Agriculturist
Moodukonaje Village, Moodbidri
15 years in the IT industry prompted Mr Shankar Kotian to take a decision to move out of the buzzing city life to the calm of the village. He decided to transition from virtual realities to take a plunge into the realities of the agricultural sector.
“It was quite pre planned. 7 years prior to quitting my IT job, I had already planned that I would move out of the IT field eventually. There was a number of reasons for this. The job was taking a toll on my personal life. Moreover, most social evils like pollution and scarcity of organic food etc is more prevalent in cities and I was always clear that that is not what I wanted.
Back then, I was contemplating between farming and teaching. I eventually zeroed into farming.”
How has your journey, as an agriculturist, been so far?
Initially I took a couple of years to set up my farm. I started with a vacant farmland which was not subjected to any kind of cultivation. I took a couple of years to do the fencing and got my own house built there.
I was clear about the fact that I would go with organic farming. I had got a few non-milking cows into the farm and built them a temporary shed. In about 3 years time, I had a house, a cow shed, fencing and the initial set up done on my plot.
I was learning on the go because I had no farming background. Since I started with organic farming, I had to have my cows as the central point, I started with dairy farming with a slightly larger size than I had originally envisaged.
From 2013-2018, I was into dairy farming with about 30-40 hybrid cows. I was getting about 250 litres of milk per day. Honestly, that proved to be an error on my part because it was never my plan to get into dairy farming alone. It was a pretty intensive activity which took up a lot of time, effort and money and so it never gave me the leeway to focus on any other farming activities like cultivating cereals, cash crops, fruits, vegetables etc.
In 2018, I moved out of large scale dairy farming, sold all my hybrid cows and started rearing desi cows. This was a transition phase for me. Since the last one year, I have increased my desi cows' herd size. I have about 15 Malnad Gidda cows plus around 15 Gir cows which I procured from Gujrat.
I also have 7 goats. Have plans of increasing the herd size. They are 100% free range and pasture fed. Problem is predators: pythons, dogs etc.
In my current course of action, milk was not my focus. I am rearing these cows for their manure. Milk is more of a by product for me. I had a large parcel of land which was the grassland for my previous herd of cows, which I didn't anymore. I planted arecanuts in that area. This will take about 3-4 years to yield. It is about 6 months old now. Besides that I have my vegetable farm, I haven't been able to produce vegetables continuously. It's been on and off. Right now I have direct customers for milk, ghee, buttermilk, paneer and vegetables. In a year's time, I should get my coconut plantations to begin yielding. I planted them about 4 years ago.
Going forward in about year or two I want to ramp up my vegetable farming because that is something that will yield cash on a regular basis.
Besides all this, I grow my own food, including rice.
How big is your farm and where is it located?
My farm is located in Moodukonaje Village, Moodbidri. This is in South Canara (or Dakshina Kannada). I have two farms. The farm where I reside at is 10 acres, out of which about 2-3 acres has been reserved as forest area. I have also planted forest trees around the plot and wherever possible so that the ground water is recharged as much as possible.
I have another 13-acre farm about 20 kms away from where I reside. That plot primarily hosts cash crops - rubber, arecanuts and a little bit of unused forest land. I have not been able to do much on that plot because of the distance. It is okay but I am not extremely happy about that plot. The distance prevents me from getting the best out of it.
How many people are employed on your farm?
I have 4 people on the farm where I reside. On the other farm, I do not need labor. I need only seasonal labor whom I hire on a need basis.
Earlier, when I reared hybrid cows, I had employed around 6-7 people.
What lessons did you learn during your initial farming days?
There are many:
As a farmer, I strive to sell my produce directly to consumers. We should sell them directly to consumers unless we have no other option to do so.
People like me who have nil farming background, should not plunge into farming on a large scale in the first go. Do not start dairy farming, for instance, with 40-50 cows. It is best to start small and then build it up over a period of months or years because there will be lot of experimenting, trial and error and learning along the way. Do the proof of concept first before you expand.
Meet farmers and get their feedback about the plot you are trying to procure. Visit farms, preferably in the locality you wish to procure land, and see how farms work. Farming has a lot of local parameters attached to it. The methodology I adopt on my farm can be vastly different in many aspects compared to how the same farm is catered to in Mandya, Mysore, Bangalore or any other parts of India.
Always adopt multi crop farming. Mono-cropping is a bad idea because it is not a natural phenomenon. If you go into any natural forest, you will see that you hardly see two kinds of trees or plants next to each other. So, if we follow the natural processes, managing the farm becomes better efficient and easy. Also, muticropping sets a balance on your farm - for the soil and the income.
Make sure you go for integrated farming. Try cultivating almost everything that you can - fruits vegetables, cereals, pulses, etc. Also reserve some portion of your land as forestry. This will serve as an FD for your future. It will provide you timber value in about 30-35 years. So, you should have crops that will give you regular income and long term income. Plan your plot.
Going by common sense, opt for organic farming because it is very evident that we avoid contaminated food. By using chemicals, we not just poison the crops, we also contaminate the air, water and soil in parallel.
Everyone has labor issues. So, try to use machines as much as possible to mitigate this sensitive issue. You can do it to the extent of disrupting your piece of land.
Where do you sell your farm produce?
I sell my commercial crop produce - areca and rubber - to vendors. We cannot possibly do a direct sales for those products.
Milk from my dairy is sold directly to consumers in a town called Moodbidri about 12 kms from my place. A portion of my vegetable produce also goes to the consumers who buy milk from me. I usually grow elephant foot yam, tapioca, ivy gourd, okra and long beans. I have also tried growing cluster beans, raddish, ginger and turmeric.
Also, started selling tender coconuts albeit small number. At present, at wholesale rate to retail shops.
Did you undergo any training before you plunged into agriculture?
No, I didn't. But, I did visit around 10-20 farms before I started my work. Also, I continuously sharpen my skills and knowledge by visiting farms, attending exhibitions whenever possible, etc. I think this constant upgradation of self is a must.
Did you avail any kind of support from the government?
Government support is primarily in the form of subsidies. I have tried availing it whenever possible. There are quite a number of rules and regulations which are sometimes extremely difficult to cut through and I end up not being able to avail it in my hour of need.
What was your initial investment when you started off with farming?
Like I said, I committed many mistakes in the beginning of this venture. I may have started only with 5 cows but I built a cowshed for 30-40 cows. As in, the cow shed structure was not just a cowshed, it had a biogas plant, slurry tank, waste water tank and 5 acres of grassland for cows, irrigation machines etc. That cost me about 30 lakhs. That was a huge investment. I couldn't recover that from my 4.5 years stint with the hybrid cows. Besides that, all other investments have been done on a need basis. The dairy structure required an initial capital. Everything else really brought in expenses on a case to case basis.
Is it comfortable managing a dairy farm and vegetable farm together?
Yes, in my opinion, it is. I can do it now because my current dairy farm only consists of desi cows. I am not focussing much on the milk production. I have my dairy mainly for the manure.
There is a lot of difference when you have desi cow versus hybrid cows when our main aim is the volume of milk produce. Like I have mentioned earlier, when I had a dairy farm full of hybrid cows, I hardly got any time to focus on anything else. Now, I get a lot of time off with my desi cow dairy farming and so life is quite balanced.
Is the milk quality of desi cows superior to that of hybrid cows?
Yes, it is and the price is also very good.
Milk from hybrid cows is very high in volume. My plan always was to directly sell the produce to consumers but could not do that during that time because I was too tight for time. So, I used to sell my milk to KMF. My net rate for the milk at the time, was Rs. 35/- including government subsidy.
Now, the rate I get for desi cow milk is Rs 90/-. In my town, I get Rs 90/-. If I were to sell in a city like Mangalore or Bangalore, the rate would go above Rs. 100/-.
I also make ghee and that too is on high demand. I sell it at the rate of Rs 2000/- per litre. If you sell it at the market, you would make about Rs. 400/- - Rs. 500/-. I also sell buttermilk in summer to direct consumers and vendors.
This is the difference from a commercial point of view.
Then, this milk is very healthy. After we started consuming desi cow milk, I can see healthy signs in my household itself and the same is the feedback from my customers.
Besides, all this when we take into account the health of the cows, earlier with hybrid cows I had to seek veterinary help for my cows at least 3-4 times a month. For desi cows, in the whole of the last 1 and half years, I sought medical help for them perhaps twice - that too because they had some wound, not because of any other ailment.
How would you advise people who aspire to come into this field?
Have a plan and build it based on your conversations with farmers. For this, it is essential that you visit farmlands as much as you can, before taking the plunge.
Start small, always. Build things gradually.
As much as possible sell your produce directly to consumers.
Grow as much as possible for your own consumption as well.
Adopt multi-cropping
Save as much water as you can- preserve about 20-30% of your farm in the form of a forest. It can be around your fence, in the internal roads etc. This does wonders to replenish your underground water table and conduct irrigation judiciously.
CONTACT
Mr Shankar Kotian
Moodukonaje Village
MOODBIDRI - 574227
Karnataka
E-Mail: shankar.kotian@gmail.com