: Thirteen-year-old P. Akshay is a proud student-farmer.
His initiative to take up cultivation of vegetables on 2.5 acres of land owned by his school, PKHMO UP School at Edathanattukara, near Mannarkkad, has won him the Kerala government’s first Student Farmer Talent Award (Vidhyarthi Karshaka Prathibha Award).
Now a Class 8 student at nearby GO Higher Secondary School, Akshay has taken up the project in the new school apart from using his weekly holidays to continue with the vegetable cultivation at PKHMO School.
Inspired by Akshay, over 200 students of PKHMO are now actively engaged in vegetable cultivation in the school compound, making the institution the top in terms of agricultural production.
Akshay received the recognition from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the State-level Farmers’ Day function held in Palakkad Town Hall on Tuesday.
The audience comprising agriculture experts and successful farmers received him with thunderous applause.
“My father Murali is a daily wage rubber tapper. Mother, Sumithra, is a homemaker. Agriculture is in our blood and by brother, Adarsh, who is in Class 4, too has begun showing interest in vegetable farming,” said Akshay in an interaction with The Hindu .
His wish
Akshay said he wished to become an agriculture scientist who could contribute significantly to the nation’s food security. V Rasakh and Abdul Wahab, his teachers at PKHMO, had inspired him to focus on vegetable farming. He held the student coordinator position in cultivating vegetables till leaving the upper primary school.
“We planted almost every vegetable, including plantains, tapioca, tomato, beetroot and potato. There was high yield despite our stringent determination on organic farming. The produce was sold in the local market and the profit was used to ensure various student amenities,” said Akshay. He said he is cultivating vegetables even on the seven cents of land owned by his family.
