A farmer par excellence and an award winner

I first met Nirosh de Mel as a schoolboy, at Colombo International School; then headed by its Founder, Elizabeth Moir. He was rather mischievous but bright; an excellent combination which has stood him in good stead on life’s journey.

Although I had met him with his parents on and off at family events, I was unaware of his success at farming as his parents are rather modest. It was just recently that I heard that he had been awarded the most prestigious awards by The National Agricultural Business Council; one for the ‘Best All-Island Farmer’ as well as for ‘Best Farmer’ in the Districts of Kurunegala and Nuwara Eliya.

Agriculture is undoubtedly in his genes on both sides of the family. His grandfather, the late V.M. de Mel, is mentioned in a rare journal of a bygone era, as one of the prominent 19th century coconut growers and he is a descendant on his grandmother’s side of the legendary C.H. de Soysa, a Sri Lankan pioneer in agricultural development.

I thought it would be interesting to meet Nirosh to find out more about his hidden talent. Following are excerpts of an interview:

By Ilica Malkanthi Karunaratne

Karunaratne: I know you went to Aberdeen University after CIS, what exactly was your degree in?

De Mel: I did a degree in agriculture, which had always been an absorbing interest for me; and returned determined to start a project with growing plants in greenhouses. This wasn’t part of the Sri Lankan agricultural concept at the time and there was little knowledge of it here. I brought in Israeli experts to advise me and developed the concept in our estates in the Chilaw area.

I began with tomatoes, which were extra special in quality and appearance and were soon snapped up by five-star hotels. This was a great encouragement for me to move on to exports. I then encountered some climatic problems which triggered off my move to Nuwara Eliya.

Here, in greenhouses I was able to expand with high yielding crops like broccoli, cauliflower, 15 varieties of lettuce, little known here, peppers and a wide range of herbs, grown in greenhouses and open fields. I was soon able to send a lorry load a week for export to the Maldives, Dubai and so on.

Karunaratne: It is good news to know that you are one of those responsible for the wide range of herbs we now see in supermarkets. I use herbs when I cook and relish the variety, freely available now.

De Mel: Several local farmers who saw what I was doing approached me for help; I was able to supply them with seeds, teach them new techniques and market their produce; so it is now very much a community project.

Karunaratne: This is excellent. I’m so glad that you have inspired local farmers too, by your example. Passing on knowledge to others is essential for progress and development and is of tremendous benefit to the country as a whole. Are the youth interested too? It is sad that children of farmers, craftsmen, etc. are going on to other greener pastures and not continuing in the tradition of their fathers.

De Mel: I have at least 30 farmers working with me in Nuwara Eliya, Welimada and Ragalla and most of them are young. I have also encouraged their wives to grow mushrooms and herbs in their own little gardens which gives them an independent income; even a kilo or two of their produce is bought by me and collected for marketing.

My involvement with the local farmers has helped them to improve their incomes as I help them with planting material and fertiliser too. Whatever they need to grow their produce, is always available in a shop I opened in Nuwara Eliya called Lanka Seed House, which always has stocks available including fertiliser, chemicals and garden tools.

We provide the knowhow and technical assistance and if they so wish, we buy their produce too. I always give them a fixed price; so that they don’t encounter problems if and when the market fluctuates. In this way, we guarantee a profit for the farmer right through the year.

Karunaratne: Your gesture has probably light into the lives of these young farmers. This is undoubtedly the greatest gift we can give others. Do you travel and visit farms in other countries to improve your knowledge?

De Mel: I travel both inside and outside Sri Lanka, look at farms, attend seminars and workshops and convert methods I learn to suit our climatic conditions. Although our farmers are enthusiastic, efficiency is low and they are unfortunately not quality conscious. These qualities have to be firmly instilled in farmers. Consumer resistance is also low here, although it is the consumer who has to determine what we should grow.We are unfortunately far behind our neighbours in the region in this respect and in modern techniques.

Karunaratne: What have you achieved in Kurunegala? I understand that this land was gifted to you directly by the late Tissera, a superintendent of your grandfather’s as it was left to him by your late grandfather.

De Mel: As this was primarily coconut land, I have tried interplanting with crops like pineapple, banana, chillies and ambarella. I have animals there too like dairy cattle, dairy buffalo, goats, turkey, chickens, ducks, quails and guinea fowl. These animals produce the manure for my Nuwara Eliya produce. With nutrients, I compost it with leaf manure which makes it a rich compost with environmentally friendly methods.

I encourage the villagers in the vicinity to have a cow, a few chickens for eggs and give them the chicken feed and chicks. I grow my own fodder like several types of grasses for cattle. I have freshwater fish and prawns in ponds.

I have recently begun a home delivery service to Colombo of Nuwara Eliya vegetables, which are delivered to the doorstep three times a week. I started this mainly to help relatives and friends who wanted vegetables directly from the farm to their homes.

The deliveries leave the farm late in the night and get to Colombo in the morning. I hope to have my own website soon.

Karunaratne: It was such a pleasure to talk to Nirosh; a young man on a mission with far-reaching vision for himself and others too. Not only is he following the tradition of his ancestors in agriculture, but has combined it with modern techniques. But the best part of it is that he is helping other to follow the same path. The ideal philosophy for life is to make others happy and to give them a new lease of life, which he is doing most admirably.