Chitra Devi’s journey from IT to organic farming

Chitra Devi, a software professional from Tamil Nadu is now helping farmers to do organic farming.

The 29-yeaer-old information technologist has done her Master’s in Computer Science, but soon felt she should do organic farming as a personal activity and started it is Manapparai, her native place.

Before getting into organic farming, she studied the farming in desert areas like the Arab world and that motivated her to take up organic farming. She also attended workshops and training programmes by Indian Council for Agricultural Research. Soon her personal activity, became her profession and she started selling organic seeds and fertilisers to farmers.

She now grows organic vegetables, from which seeds are extracted and sold as well as given free to people. Chitra Devi also encourages roof top gardening and many families have benefitted by her techniques, by growing their own vegetables.  

Her dream is to make Tamil Nadu chemical-fertiliser free and as of now, around 10 per cent farmers have gone in for organic farming.

The organic fertilisers made by her are becoming popular and she now sells two tonnes of it annually.

In order to inculcate the habit of organic farming among the masse and to get people interested in it, she also visits schools and gives talks on organic farming to the school children.