“I am a farmer by birth, and agriculture is part of my life. Even during my academic years, I spent time in the fields helping my father grow traditional vegetables,” says Pravin Patel from Vadodara, Gujarat.
Pravin pursued his graduation in commerce, spending weekends on the farm. “From irrigating the farms to riding bullocks for ploughing, I have done it all,” he tells The Better India. So when he received employment with a private telecom company, the work did not give him much satisfaction, he says. He has since quit his job, and what he is doing instead has proved successful for not just him, but also thousands of farmers in Gujarat.
Grooming progressive farmers
“I worked between 2007 and 2011 as a senior accountant with the firm, but the thought of agriculture remained at the back of my mind,” he recalls. Pravin says that he kept thinking of ideas on how he could bring improvement in the agriculture field. “The traditional farmer is under constant pressure to produce more output from minimum resources. The weather and increasing production costs make agriculture a risky occupation,” he explains.
He then tried to run a series of businesses related to agriculture. “I tried multiple businesses related to polyhouse and others for about two years. But they failed to take off,” Pravin says.
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