Natural Farming: When this civil engineer switched to natural farming, agricultural revenues increased tenfold

Natural Farming: Today, we’re going to speak about 28-year-old Krishna Narwade, who declined a lucrative corporate job to follow a less-traveled path and find fulfillment in natural farming—one of the most unusual career choices of our day. The finest part of this is right here. Here, too, he earned a tidy profit of Rs. 3 lakh!

“I’m from the hamlet of Jevali in the Jalna district of Maharashtra. My region has been dry for years. Farmers in my community have moved to other professions, and parents want to send their children to the metropolis to find work,” Narwade says.

A Tale of Unexpected Twists

Like everyone else, he aspired to graduate and move to a city surrounded by towering, glistening structures and “that had running water all day.” My goal was to work in the construction sector, and obtaining a degree in civil engineering was the first step toward realizing this goal. He had no idea how his life would take an extraordinary turn.

Empowering Communities through Natural Farming and Water Conservation

During his last year of diploma studies in 2017, Narwade participated in The Art of Living’s Youth Leadership Training Program and learned about natural farming for the first time. He discovered that The Art of Living was utilizing a multifaceted strategy in which the organization was working to restore Latur’s water bodies while also instructing farmers and young people in natural farming. This would not only make Latur water positive but also enable the local communities to find prosperity through farming that involves almost no input costs, healthier multiple crops, restoration of the soil’s health, and escape from the debt cycle.

“I felt motivated. After graduation, my colleagues and classmates moved to Pune or Mumbai in search of employment, but I chose to pursue natural farming. I felt excited and anxious at the same time. I began experimenting with farming on a 4-acre plot of property that my family had rented.

In Himachal Pradesh, fruit producers are rapidly switching to natural farming; products devoid of chemicals may sell for as much as Rs. 100 per kg.

A Farmer’s Surprising Success Story

Compared to the previous production of Rs 50,000, the farm produced bountiful harvests valued at Rs 3 lakh in only one year after he put his natural agricultural abilities and training to use! “Nobody anticipated that farming would provide such large profits. In their first year, my city-dwelling pals were making half of this amount.

Concurrently, he became involved in The Art of Living’s river rejuvenation project, which raised the water levels in bore wells by using recharge structures to reduce rainfall runoff and raise the groundwater table. Observing the smiles and significant changes the initiative was bringing about was encouraging. I was starting to worry that maybe in the future, my generation would not rush to the cities in search of round-the-clock water.

“My happiest moment during the project tenure was when our team revived a pond that had been dry for 25 years, which we named Krishna.” He says, “The people were so happy for me that they wanted to name the pond Krishna in my honor. On the once desolate 4-acre plot of land, Krishna engages in farming.

Restoring Soil, Reviving Profits with Natural Farming

Due to the significant harm we have been doing to our land over many years, I first had a lot of difficulty making it fruitful and making a reasonable profit. The soil health had been almost completely destroyed over time by the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides, yet it only took me a few months to restore and revitalize it. However, I am now independent. Every year, I earn Rs. 3 lakh in earnings. In order to make farming sustainable, natural farming incorporates a variety of methods for raising the yield from the same cropping area. This goes beyond just gradually reducing the use of chemicals and substituting them with equally effective natural inputs. Under the direction of my mentor, Mahadev Gomare, a senior natural farming specialist with The Art of Living, I engage in multi-cropping and agroforestry.

His mission is to raise awareness of natural agricultural methods in order to improve living conditions on Earth. “I just want to make my fellow farmers happy and healthy and give back to the people around me as much as I can.”