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Sanjay Anant Patil
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Agriculture · Goa

The farmer who let gravity do the watering

Sanjay Anant Patil looked at a barren Goan hillside and saw a long experiment. With natural farming and water that flows by gravity, about ten acres became a working farm, and scientists came to document how he did it.

Sanjay Anant Patilसंजय अनंत पाटिल
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Sanjay Anant Patil. Photo: via ICAR-CCARI

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State
Goa
Schooling
Up to the 11th standard
Field
Natural farming and zero-energy micro-irrigation
Honours
Goa Krishi Ratna; IARI Innovative Farmer Award; Padma Shri 2024
~10acres of once-barren land
2024Padma Shri

Barren land as an experiment

Sanjay Anant Patil’s story shows that farm innovation does not always come from a laboratory. PIB and ICAR-CCARI describe him as an innovative Kulagar farmer from Goa who turned about ten acres of barren land into a productive integrated farm through natural farming and zero-energy micro-irrigation.

He studied up to the 11th standard, but built field-based expertise in water conservation and farm engineering.

The Kulagar model

His Kulagar model joins plantation crops and livestock. With technical guidance from ICAR-CCARI, he brought arecanut, coconut, cashew, pineapple and other crops together under natural farming principles.

Inputs such as jeevamrut and a gravity-based, zero-energy approach to irrigation became his signature.

Farmer and scientist together

ICAR-CCARI documented his technologies and supported his Padma nomination. He has shared what he knows on state and national farmer platforms.

The 2024 Padma Shri recognised his own hard work, and also a wider idea: that small and progressive farmers can find answers to climate, water and input-cost problems by combining local engineering with natural systems.

Sources