A Farm Girl's Tale

Briteeshia A

‘Janitha’, the two-storey building in the middle of a four-acre plot situated on the banks of Vamanapuram River, is not just a home. For residents in and around Pandakasala near Chirayinkeezhu, the traders at Chirayinkeezhu junction and for several catering agencies, it’s an abode of fresh farm produce. In short, a one stop destination for their daily food basket.

Over a period of seven years, a young lady with a quaint name, A Briteeshia has succeeded in converting this four-acre land to an exemplary model of integrated farming. For the laborious achievement, this young agripreneur has recently been presented the state award for the best young woman farmer.

Unlike her odd name, she appears simple and restrained but full of vigour and enthusiasm. ‘’Initially, my parents thought of naming me as Patricia. But they wanted the name to start with the alphabet ‘B’ as my sister’s name was Beatrics. Finally, they settled for Briteeshia,” she chuckles.

Briteeshia has a coconut farm, banana plantation, vegetable garden, dairy farm, poultry farm and rabbit yard in the four-acre plot. Recently, she has started growing betel leaves, ginger and even fish!.

Everyday, Briteeshia wakes up to scores of customers queuing up in the courtyard to buy milk, right at 5 a.m. She has 10 milking cows. As the day becomes brighter and brighter, she will turn busier and busier selling eggs, banana, tender coconuts and the like. All these are done amidst getting her three children ready for school.

‘’If we are sincere, agriculture can be a profit-making profession. You should enjoy farming,’’ says Briteeshia, 35, who holds a diploma in agriculture.

A walk around her field would leave one awestruck. More than hard work, it’s smart work. A well-planned field divided into several plots, each of them irrigated using sprinklers.

She has effectively executed the inter-cropping strategy. Coconut garden is inter-cropped with banana and vegetables. One could see banana plants in its various growth phase. While one area is filled with ripened banana plants, shoots have just started to sprout in the other. And another one is being tilled for planting saplings. ‘’Coconut is the main crop. Banana saplings are planted in the coconut garden as the first inter-crop. Vegetables and pulses are cultivated around the banana plants as the second inter-crop. It will take around three months for the banana plant to develop big shoot system. The vegetables will get enough sunlight and by around 90 days, vegetables can be harvested,’’ she describes the pattern.

Later, Colocasia is planted in place of vegetables. ‘’As colocasia does not require much sunlight, it will grow well under the banana plants. This cycle is rotated every year. The vegetables will be rotated each time. It varies from bitter gourd, gram, ladies’ finger, cucumber and elephant yam. Last time, we had grown water melon,’’ she adds.

By evening, she shepherds the flock of geese along the shore of Vamanapuram river. Exploiting the advantage of the river nearby to the fullest, she recently ventured into pisciculture. Fingerlings are weaned in the pond in the farm premises. Later, these are transferred to the net cages submerged in the river water adjacent to the shore.

‘’Unlike in tanks and artificial ponds, this is ideal for pisciculture as fish can grow in a more natural environment. The only thing we have to do is to give food pellets at regular intervals,’’ she explains, while sprinkling grains to the geese after caging them.

The daylight has almost faded and its time for her to do a last round patrolling in the farm. She rushes to every cage to see whether it is locked or not. Finally, she returns to Janitha after handing over the duty to the watchman.

There are three employees to help her in looking after the cows. Her father looks after the rabbits. But, she gives all the credit to her husband, Jain, who is an NRI. ‘’Whenever he comes on leave, he joins me in farming. It is his support that enables me to carry out these activities well,’’ she says.

(The New Indian Express, September 2010)