Baker turns successful grower during lockdown

Jayendra, a bakery owner, has started cultivating a variety of fruits on his farm on the bank of Keere stream in the town.

The six acres of farm in Harischandrapura is now green with 27 types of horticultural saplings.

There are 350 coconuts, 200 arecas, 350 lemons, 150 butter fruits, 100 sweet lemons, 1,650 Nendra variety of bananas, 200 oranges, 50 guavas, 50 jack fruits, 20 jamuls, 30 mangoes, 100 fashion fruits, 20 papayas, 20 gooseberries, 25 drumsticks and other trees. There are coffee plants as well.

Jayendra sourced the dwarf variety of coconut saplings from Thrissur and other saplings from various other places and also locally. The saplings which were planted three years ago have now grown nicely and post lockdown, Jayendra has been mainly focusing on the fruit orchard.

He said that he has been providing organic manure along with fertilisers. If one sapling dies, he would immediately plant another sapling in its place.

Jayendra was running a bakery near the Gonikoppa bus stand for the past several years. The bakery that he had to close due to the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, hasn't been reopened until now.

However, he always wanted to be a farmer and had taken up the challenge of carrying agriculture in the fallow land, in 2018. He levelled the land and filled fertile soil and planted a variety of saplings. He constructed canals along with making arrangements for water.

During the lockdown, he made the best use of the time to take care of the saplings. Owing to his hard work, the three-year-old jack fruit trees have yielded fruits.

The guava trees are also full of fruits. Coconut and areca trees are also flourishing. 10 labourers work in the field every day.

Jayendra further said that the land was a paddy field earlier. He has plans to set up stone benches in the fruit orchard.

Along with growing fruits, he has also been carrying out beekeeping. He has been collecting honey in 10 boxes placed on the terrace of his house. He has also improved eight acres of coffee plantation.

"I am basically a businessman. I knew nothing about agriculture. But, owing to Covid-19, I experienced a huge loss and had to sell the equipment in the bakery. There were no other means for livelihood and I turned towards agriculture. I chose mixed farming as one crop will come in handy if another crop does not do well in the market," he says.

Social worker Narayanaswamy Naidu said Jayendra has set an example for those who have converted their coffee plantations and paddy fields into concrete jungles.