Meet the Class 10 dropout who will design organic farming curriculum for universitiesMeet the Class 10 dropout who will design organic farming curriculum for universities

Meet the Class 10 dropout who will design organic farming curriculum for universities

Believe it or not, a class 10 dropout farmer named Hukumchand Patidar has joined a group of elite scientists and academicians to curate a syllabus for the country’s agricultural universities. Patidar is a part of the committee formed under the Indian Council For Agricultural Research (ICMR) and will apply to the educational institutions that follow the council’s rules.

Hukumchand Patidar, a farmer from Manpura village in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district. He has been assigned the task of designing the curriculum on organic farming for India’s agricultural universities.

Interestingly, he is least worried about the fact that he holds no degree. “Our ancient texts and manuscripts taught me facts on organic farming and I shall share the same with my colleagues in the panel,” he said. “The module I am working on, natural and cow dung-related agriculture, shall be introduced in schools, colleges, and universities,” Patidar said.

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He advocates using ‘panchgavya’ or the five elements derived from cows to nourish the soil and make crops healthier and has been a consultant to Rajasthan’s four agricultural universities on the subject of organic farming.

Patidar decided to foray into organic farming in 2005 even as his family and friends opposed the idea of experimentation fearing losses. Unaffected by the lack of encouragement, he started organic farming on a small patch of the 25-hectare farm.

Today, Patidar, besides earning millions, also exports the products to Japan, Germany, and Switzerland. His organic produce fetches him a 40 percent higher rate than crops grown through the conventional method of farming.

Patidar, hence, has been felicitated with the Padma Shri in 2018 for his efforts towards promoting organic farming at his farm — Swami Vivekananda Jaivik Krishi Anusandhan Kendra.

He has decided to get into organic farming after realizing that “conventional farming was proving dangerous and its harmful effects were visible on the health of people and the environment”. “I realized that land productivity was falling with conventional agriculture that uses chemicals and the soil was being harmed and crops were becoming poisonous,” he said.

Therefore, he started organic farming and helped turn his native village of Manpura into a fully chemical-free farm patch. Looking at his achievements, he has been included in the national curriculum committee set up by the Indian Council for Agriculture Research as he has expertise in growing organic oranges, pulses, onion, coriander, fennel, the bulk of which is exported to Europe.

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