For many of us who have had the opportunity to travel to our ancestor’s villages, we know the joy that comes from frolicking around in the open fields. So, it isn’t a surprise when one hears people’s retirement plans include a farmhouse away from the humdrum of the city. However, Vangaal Deepthi Reddy provides us with an opportunity to partly live that dream right now.
Her start-up, ‘Farm Tour’, arrages for trips to farms where you can spend a productive day and appreciate nature. The idea was born after a disconcerting experience of being asked whether rice grows on a plant or a tree. As a horticulture graduate, to see that basic questions like that were being raised was too much, prompting her to see what could be done to make the urban population come out of this oblivion.
Deepthi decided that organising tours to the farms in and around Hyderabad would be the easiest way to attract people to engage with farms and the ecosystem. “I already had the experience of working in grass root level projects and also have experience of working with corporates. So I had a rough idea about what the corporate employees might expect from a tour and what a farm can offer them,” explains Deepthi.
However, Deepthi is not alone in the efforts that went behind ‘Farm Tour.’
When her friend Ram Devari, an MBA graduate and ex-employee of Adecco, got to know about it, he immediately joined the bandwagon.
“I feel it is the need of the hour as the educated community is unaware of even basic information like why our food needs to be farmed in a non-chemical environment,” says Ram.
Having understood the problem, and found a solution for it, the next step was finding farms close enough to the city as returning home within the same day seemed to be inevitable.
“Right now, we are selecting farms or concept farms within 150 kms radius from Hyderabad. But in the future, we would like to organise such tours to the farms in rural areas,” says Deepthi.
A day at the farm
“There is no rigid framework as the itinerary depends on the season, farm, farmer and audience,” says Ram.
A day can comprise of a walk around the field, bullock cart ride, feeding cattle, participating in farm activities like weeding, harvesting, sowing etc, sessions about concepts like organic farming and also fun activities like treasure hunt.
“I enjoyed harvesting tomatoes, cluster beans, sowing okra seeds and many more activities. I also learnt that animal manure is food for the crops,” recalls 11-year-old Nikhil when asked about his first tour.
It was not just kids who were new to the farm culture. Grownups were equally unaware of many things.
“Farm Tour was an eye-opener for me as I am someone who is conscious about what I eat but was unaware of how the vegetables we buy from markets contain less nutritional value. I plan to develop a farm on my own in our ancestral land,” says Pratibha Nalla who works with the Bank of America.
However, the way a day unfolds for you might be dependent on the the farm you visit. Most of these tours are theme-based and Deepthi and Ram are trying to find more innovative farms.
“The next few farm tours have been planned around Permaculture, Floriculture, Vegetable farms, sustainable farming, women farms, forest farming, tribal farms and so on,” informs Deepthi.
Details
A Farm Tour can cost anything between `200 and `900 (without transport) or `500 and `1500 (with transport). To find out when you can hop on the wagon, log onto www.farmtour.in or drop a mail at info@farmtour.in. For more information, you can contact 90109 05852 / 90300 51235
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Ayesha Minhaz – Hyderabad / April 12th, 2014