Kadapa man quits bank job, earns Rs 5,000 a day from vegetables
Ravuri Sekhar of Chennam Raju Palli village in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district joined Andhra Bank in 2017 but quit in 2025 after his father Nageswara Rao died, returning to the family's five-acre farm. He dropped chemical fertilisers and now grows vegetables between long-term crops such as avocado, coconut and mahogany. The farm yields over 100 kg of vegetables daily, earning about Rs 5,000 a day at an average Rs 50 per kg, he told 30Stades.
Source
Times of India — Top · read the original report ↗
Desk check · some claims need care
What the desk checked (5)
- Ravuri Sekhar joined Andhra Bank in 2017 and quit in 2025 after his father Nageswara Rao died. — Attributed to Sekhar in a 30Stades interview; dates and names appear in source and are internally consistent.
- The five-acre farm produces more than 100 kg of vegetables a day. — Figure appears in source, credited to 30Stades; self-reported farm output, not independently audited.
- Average selling price of about Rs 50 per kg yields around Rs 5,000 daily income. — Quoted to Sekhar; arithmetic is consistent with the stated 100 kg output but is a self-reported gross figure with no cost details.
- Avocado on two acres, coconut and mahogany on one-and-a-half acres, with fruiting in 2-3 years and timber in 12-15 years. — Attributed to 30Stades reporting; timelines are stated expectations, not verified outcomes.
- Farm uses Jeevamrutha, Ghana Jeevamrutha, bird perches and yellow sticky traps. — Directly quoted from Sekhar; no independent or official verification in the source.
Analysts’ view opinion
This is less a feel-good career switch than a lesson in farm cash-flow management. Avocado, coconut and mahogany are long-gestation assets that pay out over two-three years to twelve-fifteen years, while vegetables grown in the gaps generate daily income that funds the wait. The highway-side location adds a second economic lever: selling direct to consumers lets the farmer keep the margin that intermediaries would otherwise take.
- The Rs 5,000 a day figure is gross sales turnover — labour, seed, irrigation and transport costs are not given, so net profit is not established.
- Dropping chemical inputs for farm-made Jeevamrutha is primarily a cost-reduction strategy; the story itself cites rising input prices as a trigger.
- Direct-from-farm selling depends on the highway location, which makes the model hard to replicate for farmers far from a road or market.
- Vegetable prices (tomato around Rs 40, okra around Rs 60 a kg) are notoriously volatile, so annualising one price snapshot overstates reliability.
- Running roughly ten vegetable crops alongside tree crops is effectively portfolio diversification against price crashes and pest loss, but it demands far more labour and skill.
What to watch — The real test comes in two to three years when avocado and coconut start fruiting — whether those crops find steady buyers and firm prices will decide if the model scales.
The story does not establish capital invested, net margins, any borrowing, or how the income compares with the bank salary he gave up, and one farm's experience is not evidence of a broader trend.
Deep dive
Research brief · 8 facts · 5 dates · exam-readyThe brief
Context
Ravuri Sekhar, from Chennam Raju Palli village in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, joined Andhra Bank in 2017 while his parents managed the family's five-acre farm. After his father Nageswara Rao died in 2025, he quit the bank job and returned to farming. He abandoned the family's earlier paddy and pulses cultivation with chemical fertilisers and pesticides, shifting to a multi-cropping model that mixes long-gestation trees with short-duration vegetables and relies on farm-made natural inputs such as Jeevamrutha.
Key facts
- Ravuri Sekhar joined Andhra Bank in 2017 and quit in 2025 after the death of his father, Nageswara Rao.
- The family farm at Chennam Raju Palli village, Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, is five acres.
- Avocado is planted across two acres; another one-and-a-half acres is under coconut and mahogany.
- Avocado and coconut are expected to start fruiting in two to three years; mahogany is expected to give timber returns in about 12 to 15 years.
- The farm produces more than 100 kg of vegetables a day, including tomato, okra, brinjal, cluster beans, cucumber, chilli, carrot, turmeric, beetroot and cauliflower.
- Tomatoes sell at around Rs 40 per kg, okra about Rs 60 per kg and brinjal around Rs 50 per kg; the average of around Rs 50 per kg gives a daily income of about Rs 5,000.
- Natural inputs made on the farm include Jeevamrutha (cow dung, cow urine, pulse flour and jaggery) and Ghana Jeevamrutha, applied through irrigation and spraying.
- Pest management uses bird perches and yellow sticky traps as part of an integrated approach to crop protection.
Timeline
- 2017Ravuri Sekhar joins Andhra Bank; his parents continue managing the five-acre family farm.
- 2025His father Nageswara Rao dies; Sekhar quits the bank job and returns to the farm.
- After returning (2025)Shifts from paddy and pulses with chemical inputs to a multi-cropping model with natural inputs; farm now yields over 100 kg vegetables daily.
- In 2 to 3 yearsAvocado and coconut expected to start fruiting.
- In 12 to 15 yearsMahogany trees expected to provide timber returns.
Who has a stake
- Ravuri Sekhar — Left a banking career to run the family farm; his income now depends on daily vegetable sales and future tree crop returns.
- Sekhar's family — Loss of the father who managed the farm; livelihood now rests on the new multi-cropping model.
- Consumers buying at the farm gate — Access to vegetables directly from a highway-side farm; repeat purchases cited for quality and taste.
- Local mandi — Remains a sales channel for the farm's surplus vegetable produce.
- Other farmers in the region — The farm is being used in the local agricultural context as a working example of natural, multi-crop farming.
Why it matters
The case shows how intercropping short-duration vegetables between long-gestation trees can give a farmer daily cash flow while waiting years for avocado, coconut or mahogany returns. It also illustrates a shift away from costly chemical inputs towards farm-made preparations and non-chemical pest management, with direct farm-gate sales cutting dependence on a single market channel.
UPSC angle
Prelims pointers
- Jeevamrutha: natural farming input made from cow dung, cow urine, pulse flour and jaggery; Ghana Jeevamrutha is its solid form.
- Yellow sticky traps and bird perches are non-chemical, integrated pest management tools.
- Kadapa district is in Andhra Pradesh; the farm is at Chennam Raju Palli village.
- Mahogany is a timber crop with a long gestation, cited here as 12 to 15 years to returns.
- Multi-cropping/intercropping: growing short-duration vegetables between young long-term trees to use space and earn interim income.
- Soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio is linked to microbial activity; declining biological activity can raise nutrient deficiency, pest problems and costs.
Mains framing
Rising input costs and the uncertainty of single-crop paddy and pulses cultivation push small and marginal farmers towards diversification, and Ravuri Sekhar's five-acre farm in Kadapa is an instance of that shift: chemical fertilisers and pesticides were dropped in favour of on-farm inputs like Jeevamrutha and Ghana Jeevamrutha, and long-gestation crops (avocado and coconut fruiting in two to three years, mahogany timber in 12 to 15 years) were combined with ten vegetable crops that yield over 100 kg a day and about Rs 5,000 in daily income at an average Rs 50 per kg. The implications are threefold: intercropping converts idle inter-tree space into immediate cash flow and cushions the long wait for tree income; integrated pest management using bird perches and yellow sticky traps reduces chemical dependence; and the farm's highway location enables direct consumer sales alongside the local mandi, improving the share of the consumer rupee. The limits are equally clear: such models depend on location, family labour, soil knowledge and market access, and the tree-crop income is still unrealised. A way forward suggested by the case is wider extension of natural-input preparation, soil health awareness linked to carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and microbial activity, and support for farm-gate and direct marketing channels so diversified smallholdings remain viable.
Key terms
- Jeevamrutha
- A liquid natural farming input prepared on the farm from cow dung, cow urine, pulse flour and jaggery, applied via irrigation and spraying.
- Ghana Jeevamrutha
- The solid/dry form of the same on-farm natural input used by Sekhar along with other homemade preparations.
- Multi-cropping model
- Combining long-term crops such as avocado, coconut and mahogany with shorter-duration vegetable crops on the same land.
- Bird perches
- Structures placed in fields to attract insect-eating birds, helping control pests without chemicals.
- Yellow sticky traps
- Coloured adhesive traps used to monitor and control certain insect pests as part of integrated crop protection.
- Mandi
- The local agricultural market where Sekhar sells produce, in addition to direct farm-gate sales along the highway.
Practice questions
- Examine how intercropping short-duration vegetables with long-gestation tree crops can address the cash-flow problem of small farmers, using the Kadapa example.
- Discuss the role of on-farm natural inputs and integrated pest management in reducing cultivation costs. What are the constraints in scaling such practices?
- How does direct farm-gate marketing change a farmer's income compared with mandi sales? Illustrate with the case of Ravuri Sekhar's farm.
Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.