Interview With Vinoth Kumar

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A Chat In The Cafe With Vinoth Kumar On Ditching A Secure Corporate Job For The Simple Life Of Farming

About farm volunteering, WWOOFing and the plight of the Indian farmer

By: Samah Mariam on Apr 7th, 2015

743SHARES

Vinoth Kumar studied electrical engineering and did his MBA in HRM, and worked as a corporate employee

with Standard Chartered Bank and Zoho. Then, one day, he left all that to turn to farming! Yes, you read that

right. How does someone from a secure corporate background decide to follow his passion for farming? We

interview him to talk about the trend of the modern-day Indian farmer, volunteering opportunities at his farm,

WWOOFing in India and more!

Interview With Vinoth Kumar http://www.polkacafe.com/interview-with-vinoth-kumar-1147.html

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1. Your Facebook page lists your occupation as ‘farmer’. Have you ever been asked about this?

Yes, a lot of people ask me about it, since it’s shocking for them. The reason why I specifically mentioned it, is

because we need to be proud of being farmers.

2. Can you give us more details about your farm? What do you grow there?

As of now, I have a vegetable garden, rice, millets and a few cows. My intention is to set up an Integrated Farm.

We should have varieties in livestock like cows, goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats and owls. We also want a fish

pond and a vegetable garden, medicinal herbs, fruit trees, millets, rice and pulses. We can attract the maximum

number of birds by being organic.

3. You had a safe and secure job, something most of us aspire for, so what made you quit the corporate

world? How did you turn to farming?

Yes, I had worked with the best companies in the market. In spite of that, a few years down the line, life had

become so monotonous and empty. Corporate jobs give money and designation but not “LIFE”. We were not

born only to make money, it’s our right to live a healthy and peaceful life! The traditional way of living is the


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way to live, like the intestine will be able to digest only the traditional food. Since I come from an agricultural

family, I chose farming, and it’s a very healthy lifestyle. Farming is the most noble profession in the world and I

chose an apple over an Apple iPhone.

5. Do you know any others who also quit their urban lifestyle to turn to farming in India?

Yes, quite a few people, and a lot of people are interested in doing this. It’s just that they might have locked

themselves with as many loans as possible and be trying to figure out how to get rid of that. Reverse Migration

has started happening after realising that the cities are nothing but a place where you attract a lot of deadly

diseases, nothing more than that.

6. WWOOFING (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is a loose network of national

organisations that facilitate placement of volunteers on organic farms. Is it gaining popularity in India ?

WWOOF-ing is not so common in India. It is mainly used by foreigners while travelling in India. People have

started searching for organic farmers, so WWOOF-ing will become popular in India soon.


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6. You told us your farm is looking for volunteers. What exactly will they be doing there?

Only long-term volunteers can learn the end to end process of farming. Short-term or week end volunteers can

learn farming, but I’m not sure whether they can do it by themselves. Long-term volunteers will be doing all the

work involved in farming, like a real farmer. Starting from seed selection, preparing the land for cultivation,

pest control and harvesting, and they will learn to take care of livestock.

7. Are there any apps or forums on the internet that modern-day farmers could use to gather information

and connect with others in India?

Unfortunately there is no app or a common forum for modern-day organic farmers, but there are a lot of

organisations which are formed locally in all states. If we get in touch with them, we will be able to reach the

modern-day organic farmers. It will be great if we can create a common platform. There is a lot of information

available on the internet about modern-day farmers and organic farming techniques.

8. How can India raise awareness on farming practices and importance of farming?

The Indian Government should take care of people who are involved in farming. If the problems are properly

addressed, our country has the best potential lands, manpower, and climatic conditions to do great results. More

than 60% of our population are still involved in farming. We have lakhs of villages and few cities. If we pay the


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same attention to villages as we do for cities, farming will become the most respectable, healthy, peaceful and

successful profession in India.

Vinoth lives in Cheyyur, 90 kms south of Chennai, along the east coast.

Address: Cheyyur Organic Farm, Cheyyur taluk, Kancheepuram Dt, Tamil Nadu, Contact:

[email protected], +91-999-454-8216.

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Samah Mariam

Samah is an ambivert who writes poetry. She likes the finer things in life, like Rs. 5 'Gone Mad' chocostick. She

is allergic to things she loves (like cats).

She blogs at www.thefilmislashbookiegirl.blogspot.com Read more

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15 comments

Naresh Solanki ·

Vinod is someone who got his priorities right and quit the rat race for the 'Quality ofLife'. Well done indeed, I salute you.

Reply · Like · · Follow Post · 19 hours ago

Follow

6

Vardaraj Acharya · Mount Carmel High School, Bowenpally

Hi Vinoth, Your journey is really inspirational.

Reply · Like · · Follow Post · 20 hours ago2

Yougander Nagaraju

Well done Vinod....all the best for your new role


Kishore Seven · · Works at Groupon India Pvt Ltd

Proud of you vinoth bhai!

Reply · Like · · Follow Post · 18 hours ago

Follow

1

Umer Shariff

Nice going ;)



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Interview With Vinoth Kumar

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