It’s not just business

KOCHI: At Atholi, a place in Kozhikode, the Nambukudi family has been doing agriculture for over 125 years. While the farming population across the world is aging without adequate contributions from the new generation, at this house, the members are all involved in their family farms. Akshay N V has taken up the tradition now. 

Along with agriculture, the family also has a cattle farm and a dairy brand. At their Kamadenu Natural Farm, they have over 75 cows. The animals belong to various breeds such as Gyr, Vechur, and Kankrej. The farm produces dairy products like milk, paneer, and ghee under the brand name Manikyam — named after their Guinness-famed cow. It is the world’s shortest cow living. The farm also makes full use of its bulls to make oil. A few months ago the family introduced the traditionally produced bull-driven oil to the market.

It’s not just a business, says Akshay, who shares an emotional bond with each of the cattle. “Be it a bull or a cow we never abandon them, even when they get old,” he says. On most farms, the female calves are sheltered and bulls are often taken to slaughterhouses. For Akshay, the very thought of giving them away is distressing. So the 27-year-old found ways to save the bulls from being slaughtered. 

Instead of taking a newer approach to saving the bulls, he focused on the traditional methods. They are put into use in three ways — bullock cart, ploughing and extracting coconut and sesame oil using the bull-driven method. “The last one turned out to be successful. Bullock carts are practical once a week and it is not fit for daily use. Because of traffic, bulls will be stressed when used for transportation. Ploughing too is not enough to conserve the bulls as not enough lands are used for agriculture,” says Akshay, who is a teacher by profession.

With over 15 bulls — some from their farm, some from other dealers and even slaughterhouses — Akshay produces oil. Five bulls, mainly Kankrej breed, are used to extract oil. “Kankrej is found mostly on the Indo-Pak border areas. They are used for extraction as their built can survive 45 degrees and can even walk over 45km daily,” says Akshay. Seven feet tall bark of ‘Poovam’ tree is used for oil extraction. 

“It took us one year to get the extraction process correctly and to train the bulls. The wood used in the construction also requires high craftsmanship. A wooden log is placed onto the bulls’ back and is attached to the ‘kokku’. As it starts walking, the pencil-shaped log in the centre starts moving and crushes the coconut pieces perfectly. During the churning process, the oil drips to the barrel placed below,” says Akshay. The clean coconuts sorted and sourced from their farmland are used for production.

According to Akshay, the machine extracted oil gets processed with a lot of heat. As a result, the oil expands giving rise to harmful oxidants. “Ours is cold-pressed oil, as the bulls walk, the standard temperature will be low. If the temperature is high, healthy ingredients like antioxidants and vitamins are lost. The thick oil gets even more beneficial when the medicinal content of Poovam tree is mixed with the oil,” adds Akshay.

To make the process less stressful for the bulls, Akshay makes each of them work for two hours. And around 10kg of coconuts are extracted at a time. “In a day we manage to extract 30 litres. The oil percentage is also less than compared to machine-processed products,” he says.

COSTLY AFFAIR
The cocnut oil which has all-natural properties are used either for cooking or cosmetic purposes. Since the production is laborious and the maintenance cost of bulls is also high, the price is D400 for a litre. The price of milk from Akshay’s farm also costs Rs 200 for a litre. “We expect youngsters and the coming generation to get involved more in farming. If the yield cannot be sold at a better rate and farmers end up earning a meagre amount, the present generation will opt for white-collar jobs. Especially when the mass-produced brands sell their items at a very low rate. Good quality, organic products will be costly. At the end of the day, these unadulterated products will aid one’s health,” concludes Akshay.