From ISRO Scientist to an Organic Date Farmer - a unique story

An ex ISRO scientist and a pioneer in the field of organic date farming ,the story of Diwakar Channappa is a tale of sheer determination and love towards farming and nature. In an effort to grow something unique, he became the first farmer to grow organic dates in Karnataka. 

Towards the Roots

Belonging to an agricultural family, Diwakar comes from a small village Begur in rural Karnataka. Their village lost it's existence due to unprecedented expansion of Bengaluru city. They were forced to take farming land 100 km away from Bengaluru which was no way profitable to them. His father was a farmer growing Ragi, corn and Toor daal but somehow never found farming profitable hence he always wanted Diwakar to move away from roots and excel in life through education.Respecting her father's wish, Diwakar bagged a Masters degree in social work and also worked as a visiting faculty at Tumkur University. He also worked with ISRO as a Project scientist in a social project till he set on to a new life journey in 2009.

Embarking to a new Journey

In 2009, his father suffered a stroke which paralyzed him significantly. Diwakar decided to return to his roads and he came back to his village. When he spent first year with his father, he realised that he was not at all willing to live a city life. However the major catalyst for shifting towards agriculture was the book 'One straw Revolution' written by a Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. After reading the book for few days,he got the courage to visit his father's farm which he was never allowed to visit. He then decided to move towards farming.

Cultivating a Desert Crop

Initially Diwakar cultivated local crops like to Toor daal, Corns and Ragi. The output was however very poor. At this moment his mother reminded him that why his father didn't liked that he should not opt for farming. Even his In laws were also very upset as they married their daughter to an ISRO scientist and now he opted for agriculture. It was a very tough face for Diwakar. 

He finally decided to take up date cultivation which was actually a crop grown in arid and hot desert region of Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt. Before taking up this new venture, he met a Date farmer at one Krishi Mela which was organised in Bangalore. The farmer was from Tamilnadu and was distributing pamphlet on how to cultivate dates in India. Diwakar traced the farmer and went to Tamilnadu to learn all about date farming. Diwakar says" it is a myth that dates can grow only in deserts. All they need is ample sunlight and a lot of moisture. " Diwakar then purchased 150 saplings costing rupees 3000 each with an investment of 4.5 lakhs. He was mocked and people laughed at him however he continued with his decision. He dug 2x2 pits  in the farm and put river sand in it. He then nourished each pit with castor cake, vermicompost, neem and panchgavya and planted saplings in it.

Yielding of Dates

It was in 2013, nearly 4 and half years after planting dates saplings that he saw the first flowering. It was an in memorable moment in his life. In first year, he extracted 800 kg of dates which multiplied to 5 tonnes till now. He is able to generate an income of 6 lakhs per acre from his 2.5 acre farm. As per Diwakar, farming comes up with its own challenges. It was not at all an easy task to take up farming from by switching the job of ISRO scientist however for him a slow and peaceful life was more valuable than any other assets.

Other Initiatives

Diwakar also organize harvest festival two times annually which attracts numerous visitors and sets up a unique connection between farmers and consumers. Apart from dates, Diwakar is also cultivating traditional crops like Ragi, Sugarcane ,Millets and many varieties of paddy hence presenting a sustainable model of farming. He has also collaborated with Udhbhavaha, a  special school in Bengaluru providing alternative education in which he invites students to his farm hence nurturing them with the unique experience of farming and connecting them with the roots.

People like Diwakar are unique examples of those persons who listen to their life's calling and  follow their passion by keeping mental peace over luxuries and greed!