From Silicon Valley to soil

Joseph Pappaly uses his engineering skills to bring out the best in organic crops he grows on his far in Tirupur district

Joseph Pappaly (64), once a computer engineer based in Silicon Valley, now wants to be known as a farmer.

He has a 75-acre farm at Sandookal in Tirupur district, where he grows 13 organic crops, not commonly raised by other farmers in the district. many of which are not raised on commercial scale by other farmers in the district.

Mr. Pappaly uses innovative methods to irrigate his farm. The water comes from rain that is collected in a 60 ft deep tank and nine smaller tanks.

“Since the farm is situated on the foothills of the Western Ghats, we get considerable rain. The surface water flows into the the smaller tanks and from there to the huge tank through pipes laid beneath the soil,” he explained. Pappaly has used his computer knowledge to develop pre-set methods to pump water to the crops at appropriate intervals.

His crops include jack fruit, cashew, cocoa, vanilla, pepper, amla, coconut and lime.

“Being a certified producer of organic crops, I am able to find the market and good prices for the produce. Since the crops are diversified, revenue flows in round-the-year”, he pointed out.

Mr. Pappaly and his wife Tessy have recently ventured into poultry farming.