PALASH VOLVOIKAR
Engineer who left his job to become a farmer
The science behind growing plants always fascinated me. I treat my plants like my babies, and their well-being and growth means the world to me. Agriculture and farming has been a lifelong interest area. With my engineering background and work experience, I knew that introducing technology in farming can reduce the risk of failure.
In a country where farming is considered to be a tough job, Ajay Naik left his well-established IT career to pursue farming, and not just any kind of farming. Originally from Karnataka, Ajay is the founder and CEO of Letcetra Agritech, and runs Goa’s first vertical hydroponic farm, located at Mapusa, growing a variety of vegetables like lettuce, cherry tomatoes, basil and cilantro, in a controlled indoors environment. He believes in using technology to help overcome the limitations of traditional farming, and the success he has been having speaks volumes about his dedication to the job. I recently had a chance to talk to Ajay about his journey :
Tell us a bit about your journey towards starting Letcetra Agritech. Did a part of you always know that you would someday like to switch careers? Or was it something that you discovered within yourself, recently?
I was always a problem solver and I always wanted to help the world. After working in IT companies, one day I decided to quit my job and start my own company to solve some real life problems and help people. We started with a spiritual mobile app which helped people to go through their difficult times. It was a great success; we got a lot of users for our app. Our users liked the features of the app and they wrote to us, “you did make a good difference in our lives. Thank you”. This gave us a lot of strength to go on. Due to our big user-base and good rating of our apps, a German company acquired our company, after negotiations.
Following this, after doing intense, full-time research for two months, I decided to start India’s first hi-tech vertical hydroponics indoor farm to grow top quality pesticide free exotic vegetables.
This is a fulltime job for me and involves 100 percent dedication, hard work and commitment.
Did you always have a passionate interest in farming? Tell me more about it.
My mother’s parents were into farming. My grandparents (Mother’s parents) house is located in the middle of agriculture land. I still remember, when we were small we use to go to our grandparents house during school vacations; we used to walk through vast fields to reach their house. We lived in a town, so that was my only interaction with farms during my childhood.
The science behind growing plants always fascinated me. I treat my plants like my babies, and their well-being and growth means the world to me. Agriculture and farming has been a lifelong interest area. With my engineering background and work experience, I knew that introducing technology in farming can reduce the risk of failure.
I still remember the first time when the seeds we sowed germinated, it was a great feeling to see that. It almost brought tears in my eyes as we spent two months of intensive research and three months of setup time, working 18 hours a day, all to achieve the dream of growing healthy food, and we succeeded.
Hydroponic farming is probably not the first idea that would come to a person thinking of taking up this line of work. What made you pick it, specifically, as opposed to say, conventional farming?
There has been a huge drop in the quality of what we eat. We are what we eat. I have always been interested in what we eat, and how healthy it is. My interest in technology and farming led me to bundle the two together and develop solutions to real world problems, and inspired me enter hydroponic farming.
In hydroponics, one can grow healthy food without using soil in a controlled environment with very less land, water and labour. After doing research for two months, I decided to start India’s first hi-tech vertical hydroponics indoor farm to grow top quality pesticide free exotic vegetables.
How do you see Letcetra Agritech expanding in the coming years?
Now, we are setting up farms for private investors who see the potential of hydroponics as a high-growth business. Food production will always be in demand, and we don’t want to miss out. In the coming years, we would like to help set up many hectares of hydroponic farms and supply healthy vegetables from farm to the table.
Lastly, any words for youngsters out there looking to break out of the status quo and follow their passion?
Life is what you make of it. City or village, what work you do and where you do it, is entirely an individual’s choice. My message to youngsters is to follow their passion, and give 100 percent to what they are doing.
