Born into an agricultural family in rural Karnataka, Divakar Channappa’s father always wanted him to excel in life but away from his farming roots.

Hailing from a small village Begur, Divakar recalls, “Our village lost its existence with an unprecedented expansion of Bangalore city. With this, farming became unprofitable for us. My father was forced to buy land around 100 km away from the city to continue farming. He never let us visit the land as he wanted us to move to Bangalore for better education.”

Divakar, who went on to become a project scientist with ISRO, remained completely disconnected from his farming roots until 2009 when his father suffered a stroke that left him paralysed. That is when Diwakar chose to move to his village.

“In the first year I spent with my father, I understood that I did not wish to lead the city life. During the same time, I happened to read a book called ‘One Straw Revolution’ by a Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka. On the fourth day of reading the book, I gathered the courage to go to the farm that my father kept hidden from us,” says the 46-year-old.

Soon after, Divakar turned to farming and never looked back. His journey led him to transition from cultivating local crops to growing dates, a desert crop, in Karnataka! He currently earns Rs 6 lakh per acre.

Finding his life’s calling

After completing his higher education in social work, Divakar worked with several non-profit organisations and was a visiting faculty at Tumkuru University. In 2008, he got an opportunity to work as a project scientist for a social development project with ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) in Bengaluru.

After his........

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