An ‘oasis in the ‘desert’: How ‘asardar’ sardars turned arid land in a Tamil Nadu village into green orchard

A small band of sardars from Punjab turn a parcel of arid land in drought-prone Tamil Nadu village into an orchard. From this orchard in a village of Ramanathapuram, the Sikh farmers also harvest a steady crop of vegetables, which brings a steady income to meet the daily expenses of the Akal Farms

By KV Lakshmana
@kvlakshman

Deep inside the southern tip of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, there are some 400 acres of land on which a “mini-Punjab” has come up – a place where the inviting smells of traditional Punjabi food waft through the air in greeting a visitor.

Don’t be surprised, as the scene one encounters at Akal Farms, located at Vallandhai village of Kamuthi taluka in Ramanathapuram district is a band of Sikh farmers from Sangrur and neighbouring areas of Punjab working from dawn to dusk. Of course, Punjabi is the lingua franca in this tiny “oasis in a desert” – the result of three years of hard work: from preparing the arid lands into a fertile orchard with mango, guava, amla, papaya and sapota.

The enticing aroma of freshly sautéed daal tadka and aalo gobhi ki sabzi wafts through the air as the farmers sit down for lunch. There is a tractor and a car and a jeep parked adjacent to rows of vegetable-laden crates in a makeshift tin shed. The charpais complete the rural Punjab setting erected at nearly 3,000 km in Tamil Nadu.

The sardar farmers are both a source of inspiration and jealousy for local Tamilians, who rue the fact that they sold their farmlands dead cheap (for as less as Rs 10,000 per acre) to the Sikh farmers way back in 2007. Today these owners eke out a living as daily wagers in neighbouring villages or small towns.

‘The Singh farmers’

Unmindful of the resentment they are generating, the “Singh farmers” as they are called here, carry on with their work in the manner they best know – immersing selves in their mission in life – grow more in more lands.

The contrast cannot be more striking: for a few kilometres, as one approaches the Vallandai village, on either side of the broken metaled road, lie acres and acres of barren, dry parched lands that sport wild growth of bushy, thorny plants and trees.

Suddenly, as the sign board of Akal Farms springs up in welcome, the fields dress themselves in dark and light green, in mango groves and coconut plantations.

Sardar Manmohan Singh, 75 a towering six-foot farmer, is among the first settlers here. “Bohat acha chal raha tha,” (it was going very good), he told The News Porter, when we caught up with him at the farm over a relaxed lunch on charpais.

“Yes, Corona [Covid-19] has completely destroyed business as nothing is moving,” he said, but his steely resolve “pher khada kaar lenge” (we will get the business back) was greeted with cheerful approval from the other members of the Akal Farms, some as young as 24. At present, there are 17 members of the Akal Farms.

Resonating success story

Their success has resonated in Sangrur and has had a demonstrative effect – more Sardar families arriving or making firm plans to arrive to live in the peaceful state of Tamil Nadu.

Sardar Manmohan Singh has already picked up a smattering of Tamil that he delivers with a thick Punjabi accent.

More important, he and other Sardars are able to communicate with the locals. And, in fact, so has the local ex-Panchayat president as a regular consultant to the Akal Farms. Sardar Mamohan Singh also has a Ph.D holder, D Kannan, as an advisor at the farms.

Kannan said: “Akal Farms was most easily the most scientific farm in this part of the world. It is amazing to see this kind of a farm in a drought-prone Ramanathapuram area.”

He said he had advised the Akal Farms to concentrate on high cash crops and increase “inter-crops” as a strategy to earn regular monthly income. “We would use plastic mulching technique and some tools to increase the yield of crops,” Kannan said, adding that experimenting with successful techniques were slated for the expansion phase.

Sardar Manmohan Singh was checking the results from the 4-acre test farm on the campus. “We have got the results of the test farm and we will take what we need for our expansion programme,” he said.

“In 40 acres we will do amla and add papaya also as a fruit,” he said. “The idea is to eventually develop 80 to 100 acres every year.”

At present, the Akal Farms has 17 member-owners, who scouted for cheap lands and began buying farms in 2007. “Until 2009, we only worked on developing the land,” said Darshan Singh, another key member of Akal Farms.

Initial doubts

“At first they must have thought we were committing a mistake by taking up lands there. But today, they are astonished and some surely regret having sold off their lands,” he said, adding, “one positive result of the farming success is that land prices in this village and surrounding villages have shot up by 10 times”.

“First we spent six months flattening the surface, removing shrubs and trees and waste from the jungle-like area, using earth movers,” Darshan Singh said. “They (villagers) told us there is no water, but we found water and use drip irrigation for our farming,” he said.

Initially they took the help of local experts in soil, nature, weather and farming practitioners on the kind of fruits and plants they could raise. The Sardars then zeroed in on cash crops – fruits and vegetables (for steady income until the fruit crop begin to give yield in three- or four-year’s time).

Right now, Akal Farms have fruit plantations of mango, guava, amla, sapota and papaya. And for inter-crop, the vegetables being planted are cucumber, water melon, pumpkin and musk melon.

Money wise, the vegetables give the farm an income that is used to cover daily expenses. For example, every day, 200 kg of cucumbers is sold. For the first time, the mango plantation gave crop after Akal Farms started operations and the sale of different mangoes put together yielded a sum of Rs 10 lakh, Sardar Manmohan Singh said.

“In two years, you will see a much bigger ‘Punjab in Ramanathapuram’,” a beaming Sardar Manmohan Singh said waving at the green ‘forest’ of fruit trees of choicest of mango brands – Banganapalli, Alphonso, Ratna, and Himampasand – guavas and sapota.

With their success, these farmers have brought greenery to the arid area and ringed in hope to the local farming community.

The transformation

When they bought lands, the land prices here were dead cheap (as compared to lands in Punjab), said Darshan Singh, who has not seen the inside of a middle school while growing up in Sangrur. The demonstration effect and the impact of the “green evolution” painted by the Sardar farmers is that many others in the region have taken to farming again. They take the help of Akal Farms for “lecture demonstrations on the farming techniques as also for advice on farming operations”.

Former village agriculture officer Sayeed Segana, joined Akal Farms after retiring at a princely salary of Rs 10,000 per month. This adds to the Rs 10,000 he gets as pension, allowing him a relatively comfortable life. He is the one who handles all work with government agencies, administration, and police.

“Yes, they have done a commendable job for which they must be appreciated,” said Dr G Natchiar, vice president of Madurai-based Arvind Eye Care. An ophthalmologist, she helped set up the eye care hospital in Madurai.

She is also an organic farmer and had visited the farm and spent time with the “super sardars”, as she called them. “They have done a wonderful job in the area that is not fertile,” she said, adding, “they are an inspiration; their dedication and hard work are lessons for anyone”.

What the villagers find it a bit galling is that the Singh farmers do not give any jobs to the locals. Barring a few odd women, most of the work force is imported from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

The villagers have an explanation as to why the Punjab farmers succeeded – they have huge money and staying power and can wait for long duration. But most of the village farmers are marginal farmers.

“We have to get money back quickly and cannot wait for cash crops with long gestation, so we cannot replicate the success of the Akal Farms,” said Kannimuthu.

• The author had visited Akal Farms sometimes ago. Members of Akal Farms spoke with The News Porter over phone from the farm location

[Lakshmana Venkat Kuchi is a senior journalist tracking social, economic, and political issues and takes a keen interest in sports as well. He has worked with Press Trust of India, The Hindu, Sunday Observer, and Hindustan Times.]