Success Story: Know about Dr. Saravanan K.’s inspiring journey from being a soil scientist to organic farming
Success Story: Dr. Saravanan hails from Somangottai village, which is located in the Tiruppur district’s Mulanur block. Agriculture was a component of his home life even though his father was a teacher, and he became interested in it early on via hands-on labor on his family’s farms. He completed his Ph.D. in Agriculture with a focus on Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), motivated by his passion for the land and environment.
He served as an associate professor and postdoctoral scholar at TNAU and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College of Agriculture, where he conducted his early studies on pollution from tannery effluent and cement kiln dust. Despite his substantial scientific accomplishments, Dr. Saravanan’s passion was always to engage closely with farmers and the land. He took a very unusual step in 2017 when he left academics to work as a full-time organic farmer.
Farmer at Heart
He established Pasunthamil Organic Farm in 2019 and began cultivating organic moringa on 20 acres of certified land. Through a partnership and leasehold, he expanded the operation to additional farms in the districts of Tiruppur, Erode, and Madurai. He also cultivates fodder crops, coconuts, and papayas. His farm includes one North Indian breed and four native cows to support his organic composting system.
Dr. Saravanan recognized that during peak seasons, the traditional moringa grown for drumsticks was sometimes sold at distressed rates. He switched to growing moringa for its leaves, which have a high export value, in order to get around this. He entered into a repurchase agreement with a nutraceutical company that had steady demand and a reasonable price.
His farm provides a steady and lucrative source of income, bringing in Rs. 16 lakhs annually with a net profit of Rs. 12 lakhs.
Post-Harvest Innovation and Market Connections
Dr. Saravanan and the TNAU Post Harvest Engineering Department collaborated to create a hybrid shade drying technique that preserves the nutritional value of moringa, especially its vitamin C and chlorophyll content. This simple, inexpensive sun tunnel technique helps dried leaves retain more of their color and nutrition.
He offers farmers marketing services, organic inputs, training, and consulting via his business, Arms for Farmers Pvt. Ltd., which was founded in 2022. Strong supply chains for value-added products based on millet and moringa have been built by the enterprise. In addition, he coached around 300 farmer members while serving as a director of the Kodanthur Moringa Farmers Producers Company from 2021 to 2023.
Impact and Community Outreach
The nature of Dr. Saravanan’s work is very team-oriented. He has created a highly active cooperative model for farming organic moringa with his Farmers Interest Group (FIG), which consists of 20 farmers. Devi Velusamy and other female farmers have benefited from his assistance in switching to organic farming methods and gaining access to export-oriented manufacturing chains.
Through national meetings, stakeholder meetings, and ICAR-KVK initiatives, he has trained a large number of farmers in Tamil Nadu. Farmers now have access to scientific knowledge thanks to the hundreds of millions of views his YouTube films documenting moringa farming methods have received.
Broadening Perspectives
A 100-acre cooperative moringa leaf production initiative in the Chennai area is one of his most ambitious endeavors. There, he serves as the technical mentor for six current farmers and is guiding five more. His other endeavors include growing organic papayas on many farms using the Red Lady variety, which is well-known for its durability and portability.
Acknowledgment and Function in GFBN
Among the many honors bestowed upon Dr. Saravanan are the Isha Foundation’s AgriPreneur Award in 2023 and the International Moringa Research Organization’s Progressive Moringa Farmer Award in 2021. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the creation of a Moringa Export Zone in Tamil Nadu was also prepared under his direction.
He just became a member of Krishi Jagran’s Global Farmer Business Network (GFBN), which connects and mentors forward-thinking farmers. As a member of GFBN, Dr. Saravanan mentors others toward successful and sustainable organic farming by sharing his experiences, ideas, and lessons learned.
Prospects for the Future
Dr. Saravanan’s future goals include expanding cooperative organic farming, introducing moringa leaf production to additional farmers, and strengthening value chains connecting farms to international markets. Additionally, he keeps refining indigenous input-based and biodynamic techniques, which are founded on ecological principles but are being scaled up.
Dr. Saravanan K.’s career is a unique blend of academic success, community service, and entrepreneurial perseverance, spanning from research papers to compost heaps and from classrooms to shade-drying tunnels. It is not a narrative about growing moringa; rather, it is about growing farmers, communities, and a sustainable, health-based future.