Farmer turns barren Ponda plot into kulaghar

Panaji: Nothing less than a Shangri-La-esque paradise, a Ponda-based farmer has blown a magical kiss into an arid land and turned it into a lush green natural farm.
Sanjay Patil, 58, a green revolutionary farmer known to many as the ‘one-man-army’, has single-handedly transformed a barren plot of 10 acres into a ‘kulaghar’.
“There is science in everything that we do at the farm,” Patil told TOI. “To retain the sanctity of natural farming practices, I have been using ‘jeevamrut’ produced from cow dung for the past seven years at the kulaghar. There is a shortage of water on the hill, for which I built a tunnel to facilitate water supply and engaged in drip irrigation for water conservation. The organic waste is used in mulching, therefore eliminating the need of depending on any external resources,” he added.
At the kulaghar, besides arecanut and black pepper, cashew, pineapple, and coconut are also grown.
Patil received technical guidance for his project from ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (CCARI), Goa. Right from improved grafts of black pepper and other crops, pest management of the crops, to health and disease management of the cows, the scientists of the institute have been hand-holding the farmer.
The kulaghar farmer recently received the coveted IARI—Innovative Farmer Award 2023, for his outstanding contributions to natural farming and zero-energy micro-irrigation system. The award was handed over to him by Union minister for agriculture and farmers’ welfare Kailash Choudhary, at New Delhi.
A team constituted by director, ICAR-CCARI, Goa Praveen Kumar, visited the farmer, documented his technologies, and prepared the application for the nomination for the award.
Even though he has formal school education up to Class 11, experts from ICAR-CCARI said that Patil “possesses the knowledge and skills of a top engineer” and that he is an inspiration to small farmers.
He was especially guided through the technicalities of natural farming by retired scientist, A R Desai.
“Patil has automated a lot of his farming practices which has allowed him to cultivate 10 acres of land seamlessly,” said Kumar.
“Soon, we will be collecting soil-health data to document the changes that have taken place after he adopted natural farming,” Kumar said.