City dweller banks on farming

Interestingly, this banker has purchased 14 cents of land in the outskirts of the city just for farming. He wakes up at 5 am and works for one and half hour in the farm. Evening again he would be in his farm. For Pradeep Soori, its a part and parcel of life. 

Pradeep Soori, who is basically from Brahmavar came to Mangaluru around three decades back and stayed at Acharya Colony of Kulai. However, Soori, who is a Special Assistant with Canara Bank (Shedigudde branch) didn’t lose interest in farming. At first, he started growing vegetables at the terrace of his house.

Later, he purchased the land which is just few metres far from his house. For the past eight years, he has grown a variety of vegetables, fruits and greens using organic method. 

He gave prominence to vegetables as they are more profitable. He would get up to Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 from Ivy gourd every month. Banana and papaya also met his expectations. The city farmer has enough varieties of vegetables and fruits including breadfruit, coconut, mango, cocum (Punarpuli), okra, brinjal, ash gourd, pumpkin, ridge gourd, snake gourd, tomato, varieties of chillies, cabbage, watermelon, long green beans, okra, cucumber etc. They have also many medicinal plants like Amruta Balli. 

Pradeep Soori couldn’t do all these without the help of his wife University College Physics Department Associate Professor Dr Indira Jain, who hails from Bayar of Belthangady taluk and has an agriculture background. As both are interested in farming, they don’t depend on labourers. They prepare organic manure using cow dung, cow urine and chicken waste in a drum. They buy pure cow milk for their use. 

“Neem oil, cow urine, sour buttermilk and ash can also be used to control pests or disease carriers. There are lot of differences between organic and vegetables grown using pesticides. They are different in colour and even in taste. It is proved that organic food is good for health as well,” Soori said.

Maintain greenery

Pradeep Soori opines that administrations should encourage public to increase greenery in their surroundings. Instead of building huge compounds, people can transplant saplings. To purchase agriculture land, there is income limit of Rs 2 lakh.

This has become a hindrance for the city dwellers who are interested in farming. Meanwhile, he suggested public not to waste bathroom water, but it can be used for coconut tree. Rain water harvesting can be done to save  rain water, he said.

The only son of the couple- Tejaswi is studying M.S in United States. Anyhow, Pradeep Soori has proved that if there is commitment and hardwork one can be a farmer even in city.