Value addition in agriculture

Jewellery made using organic materials.

“Farming can be profitable if the farmer knows value addition” says Kusuma, an ardent practitioner of organic farming who is well-versed in the art of value addition.

Kusuma and her husband Balachandra run Sayimane thota, an eight- acre land rich with a variety of fruit-bearing trees, paddy fields, and different flowering plants situated in Devimane village of Siddapura taluk in Uttara Kannada district.

Kusuma has found a unique way to add value to agriculture — designing jewellery and other organic products. She makes rudrakhsis, arrowroot flour, murugalu tuppa (ghee extracted from kokum seeds), different types of necklaces, key chains, and other ornaments from bamboo, and so on.

The best part is that the produce is sourced from her farm.

Kusuma’s success story is a result of her persistence, love for agriculture and concern for the environment. Born into an agricultural family, Kusuma says she inherited her father’s passion of collecting and developing rare plant varieties.

It has been 15 years since Kusuma ventured into agriculture along with her husband Balachandra, a conservationist.

Over the years, Kusuma has also tried her hand at soap preparation, hair oil, tooth powder, kokum squash, kokum ghee, uppage (garcinia gummi-gutta) ghee, bio enzymes etc, using naturally available raw materials.

She not only trained herself by attending physical and online classes, but also trained several other women, and provided them with an eco-friendly livelihood.

Burma bamboo, which grows abundantly in their farm, was another avenue for Kusuma’s creativity.

She procured a laser machine for cutting the bamboo and prepared different items. The bamboo was transformed into the form of earrings, hangings, pen stands etc.

Marketing products

During the pandemic, the agri-entrepreneur was worried about the market, but the Mahila marukatte (women’s market) in Bengaluru offered her a ray of hope. Soon, she was uploading pictures of her products, along with their modes of preparation.

Other new products, kokum butter balm, arrowroot powder, jackfruit pulp, raw banana powder, rakhees made of rudraksha and seeds are also popular.

“Organic farming is a way of life, not merely an economic activity that focuses on profit and loss. It is mindful living,” says Kusuma. But she cautions that agricultural life is not as simple as it appears.

There is the destruction of crops due to natural calamities; monkeys and other wild animals keep visiting the land for their share. There are many challenges. But at a time when youth are losing interest in agriculture, people like Kusuma have shown youngsters a path they can follow.

(Translated by Rajeshwari Joshi)