Omkar Ditches 9 to 5 And Strikes A Jackpot In His Farm
Omkar Strikes A Jackpot In His Farm
Omkar Ditches 9 to 5 And Strikes A Jackpot In His Farm
What accompanies a 1-crore package? Long nights? Eye-watering hours staring the laptop? Target pressure? Deadlines? Maybe none of these, if you’re ready to get your hands dirty.
Young Omkar, living in Konkan, Maharashtra has opened new avenues in his inherited farm. With one eye on the modern world, he tweaked his methods for maximum yield.
On a 27 acres farm acquired 300 years ago by his forefathers, he not only reinforced traditional crops like paddy, coconut, mango, cashewnuts, areca nut by adding modern agricultural methods, but added several other modes of income. Today the Gadgil household lives in their huge ancestral house - an abode of tranquility amidst the jungle. We know how much urban populace pays for a weekend jungle homestay !
A commerce graduate, Omkar dabbled in his farm early. By age 20, he had collected enough information to expand his family business in all directions. The house has a barn with 15 buffaloes. Not a drop of milk is sold. Mechanised production of various products like pure ghee, butter, khoa, and milk-based sweets happens year round under supervision of the female brigade. No need to seek customers; their pure milk products are lapped up in the neighbourhood.
Omkar developed his own scientific compost pit which generates 15 tonnes of fertiliser per year. Earthworms break down green waste into nutrient-rich compost which is used in their farm, and the excess is sold.
The house only requires one gas cylinder a year. The kitchen uses biogas made of cow dung. Solar energy powers the entire house – no energy cuts, no electricity bills. A 15000 litres sand-insulated water tank is directly connected to the heater. Using dry twigs and leaves as fuel, this system provides hot water 6-8 hours a day.
The mango yard is huge and yields thousands of pure Alphonso mangoes. A mechanised pulp machine helps produce bottles of pure aamras - pure bliss with no chemical involved.
Omkar’s father, a building contractor in his youth, still builds houses when he can. His uncle is a skilled carpenter, and prepares furniture and other goods in his workshop. Omkar recently got married. His wife plans to begin a women’s cottage industry producing pickles and similar items using home-grown mango, lemon, chilly, jackfruit, custard apple, chikoo, jamun, coconuts etc. There are several spice-yielding plants like cardamom in the farm. There is even a peacock which visits them everyday.
An old well and two borewells provide ample water to the entire setup. There is a host of vegetables growing in the farm. Omkar proudly proclaims that half their kitchen is always filled with fresh farm produce.
The farm also has an apiculture arrangement in place where Omkar breeds honeybees to enhance pollination and produce specialised honey to be sold to pharmaceutical companies.
Omkar is an epitome of hard-earned success. He wedded technology and modernisation with traditional agriculture to transform his family’s farm into a heaven. His inquisitive, enterprising, and diligent nature, and his readiness to work hard produced a masterpiece of all-round progress in the heart of the jungle. May his tribe increase !