: Teacher Starts Organic Farming Post Retirement, Earns Lakhs Growing Coconut, Pepper #IndiaNEWS #Farming “Retirement is not the end of life. In fact, it is a chance to open doors to the things we

Teacher Starts Organic Farming Post Retirement, Earns Lakhs Growing Coconut, Pepper #IndiaNEWS #Farming
“Retirement is not the end of life. In fact, it is a chance to open doors to the things we love,�? says Kozhikode native K T Francis, who retired as a physical education teacher in 2015 to start his journey as a successful farmer.
The 63-year-old, who hails from a farming family, always had a fascination for agriculture. Over 120 years ago, Francis’ grandfather reached Maruthomkara from the outskirts of Idukki and bought five acres of land to start farming. After his death, Francis’ father took over the activities.
Despite having a full time job, Francis found time to engage in farming. “Agriculture has never been my hobby. It’s more like a habit I can’t let go of. From the day I can remember, I was with my father and other workers on the farm, helping them and enjoying the harvest,�? Francis recalls.
After getting a job, it became hard for him to manage the land. He gave it on lease, but unscientific farming of rubber and fall in crop value resulted in huge loss. He had to sell two acres of the property to pay off the debts.
But this incident was a turning point in his life. — he thought of ways to improve farming on the available land, rather than being disappointed about the loss. Soon, he took up mixed farming, by which he made use of all remaining three acres.
K T Francis in his farm.
“The first task I completed soon after retirement was cutting off the rubber trees, which were under loss. We already had a few kuttiadi coconut trees that are 120 years old and known for producing healthy tender coconuts. I planted more of those, along with arecanut, pepper, turmeric, ginger, tapioca, yam, and many other vegetables. This mixed farming technique gave great results and I began earning lakhs from it. �?
The 250 coconut palms on his land give at least 200 seeds per year, he says. Apart from selling them directly, Francis converts them into oil and cake (food for cattle). Francis also supplies coconut seed nuts for seedling production and produces WCT coconut seedlings. He also provides arecanut seedlings to Krishi Bhavan and other farmers.
Witnessing his successful farming, employees of Krishi Bhavan encouraged him to start a garden nursery to sell Kuttiadi coconut tree saplings. Today, Kaithakulath Coconut Nursery exclusively sells this variety, which, according to Francis, is apt for Kerala’s weather condition. He says that Kaithakulath is the only government accredited nursery in Kerala which sells just this coconut variety.
Kuttiadi coconut seedling in the nursery of Francis.
The farmer says that during coconut farming, it is important to make a two-metre deep hole and construct a proper bed under the sapling.

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