Teacher's Day 2024: Farmers as Mentors, Shaping the Future of Agriculture

A teacher is not just someone who gives us formal education, but each and every individual who taught us something valuable in our life can be considered as a teacher. Teaching is one of the highly respectful professions in the world, that’s why in many epics around the world, teachers are considered as God. The knowledge a teacher shares serves as a stepping stone, enabling students to climb toward success in life.

There are so many examples of the teachers who had made their student’s life successful and India is filled with such examples. In India, many agriculture specialists are there who are educating end number of people about the basics of farming and solving their queries related to agriculture and farm management.

Joseph Lobo 

Joseph Lobo, an urban agriculturist from Udipi, Karnataka, is training thousands of farmers and non-farmers every year about the innovative farming techniques. He gives more emphasis on organic farming rather than conventional and chemical farming. He believes that chemical fertilizers and pesticides are making the fields barren and infertile and is constantly dropping the nutritional value of the harvest.

His approach is helping farmers to increase their profit margin and reduce their initial investment. People from all the neighboring regions of Udipi and Karnataka, comes to gain the knowledge Joseph is providing free-of-cost. He educates people via online classes, live meetings and gives on-field practical lessons related to the cultivation of pepper, coconut and areca nut. Every day he guides hundreds of people through live classes and solves their queries on calls from 6 to 8 P.M. Joseph Lobo, mentions that, “farmers and scientist are the ones who learn something new every single day, farmers learn new things from the day they are born to the day of their death.”

With this hard work and dedication towards the agricultural sector, he educated more than one lakh people till now. Joseph's humble advice to farmers - “Believe in practical learning rather than just watching it in videos.”

Yash Dayal

Yash Dayal, a young agripreneur and educator from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is educating the Indian farmers about vermicomposting – an organic technique to replenish soil fertility. 

Till now he had educated more than three thousand farmers around the country and dominantly from the states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. Most of his classes are free-of-cost expect some classes on in-depth knowledge related to vermicomposting, for which farmers have to pay some amount. He educates via both online and offline mediums, like taking online theoretical lesson and practical sessions of compost-making.

Yash mentions that “if a farmer will learn from the nature and environment itself, then the cultivation will be highly profitable and nutritious.” He believes that a healthy yield is possible, only if the soil is healthy and free from all the chemical-made-fertilizers.

Sarwan Singh Chandi

Sarwan Singh Chandi is a great agriculturist from the land of Punjab and has his expertise in beekeeping and horticulture. He had educated and trained more than two thousand people till now in the field of beekeeping and horticulture. Not only Indians but people from all around the world join his classes to gain knowledge about the techniques and unique style of his work, he has students from countries like, Russia, Germany, New Zealand and Canada.

He believes that artificial fertilizers are not safe for the environment and for the human body as well, cultivation should be done with natural fertilizers and compost, and he encourages the concept of organic farming. He believes in social work and provides the beekeeping training without taking a single rupee from the farmers.

Sarwan mentions that “I’m a proud Indian, who is putting efforts to make his motherland developed and prosperous in the field of agriculture.” He also stated that, “people should stay in India and work for its development together.”