: After 14 Years, Indian Woman Leaves Canada To Become Natural Farmer in Tamil Nadu #IndiaNEWS #Lede After living in Canada for 14 years, S Jayalakshmi returned to Chennai in 1992. However, she found

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After 14 Years, Indian Woman Leaves Canada To Become Natural Farmer in Tamil Nadu #IndiaNEWS #Lede
After living in Canada for 14 years, S Jayalakshmi returned to Chennai in 1992. However, she found herself in a conundrum — it was hard to find chemical-free vegetables for her daughter in the market, something which she had not struggled with back in Canada.
“I searched across many local markets, but most vegetables came laced with toxins. My daughter suffered from allergies. The best I could do was mix and match vegetables from the markets and some from natural farmers on the outskirts of the city,� she tells The Better India.
Jayalakshmi received help from her cousin, who, on noticing the ordeal his sister was in, offered a 5-acre patch from his 10-acre land to her for organic farming. However, Jayalakshmi was facing many issues, as her husband suffered from multiple health issues. As debts kept piling, Jayalakshmi eventually eventually plunged into losses.
Finding a helping hand
Jayalakshmi at her farm.
“My cousin offered me the land, but I did not know much about farming. With minimal know-how, I grew paddy, greens, and drumsticks. However, I could not yield success. Meanwhile, my husband suffered from a heart attack, fell into a coma, and underwent several surgeries. After he recovered, he decided to move back to Canada, both for health reasons as well as to find a better source of income. I stayed back in India with my daughter,� says the 54-year-old.
As she mustered the courage to go on, Jayalakshmi also suffered after people cheated her financially. “I could not repay my loans and eventually stopped farming,� she recalls.
However, in 2002, a ray of hope arrived in the form of Dr Shanmuga Sundaram, an orthodontist from Ramakrishna Ashrama Mission School. “He introduced me to the concept of Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) through a workshop held in the city. He offered me 3 acres from his 30-acre land so I could give farming another try,� she says.
Jayalakshmi started by growing paddy again, and slowly extended her farming area to 10 acres and began growing herbal plants, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, fenugreek and others, and drumsticks, which are herbs commonly found in South Indian cuisine. She also grew fruit varieties such as mango, guava and chikoo, also known as sapodilla.
While she could grow and harvest all the vegetables to the best of her abilities and skills, there was still a gap to fill. Jayalakshmi struggled to take her fresh, naturally grown produce to the urban market. “I felt confident as a farmer but had no marketing skills and did not know how to approach customers,� she says.
To help her with the issue, Dr Shanmuga introduced her to Arulpriya Senthil Kumar, a resident of Chennai working on various aspects of sustainability.

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