Vruksha Ayurveda Farming: Developing Healthy Plants that Produce Healthy Food

“My Family has been involved in agriculture for generations. Until a few decades ago, in our country, most of the families were doing farming or connected to farming. Now, this connection is lost and its impact on our community, culture, food and ecology are grave. There is an urgent need to re-establish the connection between agriculture and the people. When people were connected with land and agriculture, it had a healthy bearing on our cultural sensibilities. I was taught that the food we ate was not to be valued in terms of money, but ‌as a gift from Mother Nature.”

– Radha Krishna

Radha Krishna preparing Jeevamrutham on his field (Photo: Anil Uppalapati)

The story of Radha Krishna’s Vruksha Ayurveda Farming began in 2014, when he, a Marine Engineering graduate and ONGC employee, quit his well-paying job. It was not an overnight decision. His long-held dream of becoming an entrepreneur and providing employment to people made him a water pipeline contractor. His family and friends did not welcome his decision to quit ONGC to start a construction firm. He proved all of them wrong by expanding his firm to work in five states and employing hundreds of people. His journey as a contractor earned him name and fame. But he felt tired of what he was doing. It felt like he was running hard in a race, which he realised he did not want to win. He decided to go back to his village and take care of his farm.

Radha Krishna had a good network in cities and hospitals, and most relatives and friends used to stay with his family during hospital visits, he would accompany them sometimes. Hospitals were always full of patients, even infants are affected with cancer and neurological problems and hormonal imbalances. In his life, he has seen many of his friends and their families suffer from these chronic diseases and who lost their people even after spending huge amounts of money. Despite a wait for many years, Radha Krishna and his wife Gayatri Reddy could not have children because of infertility issues that persisted.. They had visited every doctor, every temple, and tried many treatments for years. In this process, they both became anaemic, and exhausted both mentally and physically. The moment they found Gayatri’s health was deteriorating, they decided enough was enough and told themselves it's okay not to have kids. He learned about the toxicity of harmful chemicals in food and milk on human health. It alarmed him to see how humans pollute ourselves and the environment. He wished to provide his people with safe food.

Radha Krishna and team after work. (Photo: Anil Uppalapati)

Vruksha Ayurveda is an Indian traditional science of plant life that focuses on producing high-quality yields from healthy plants for use as food and medicine. The physiology and pathology of plant life, identical to that of animal and human life, are clearly defined based on the philosophy of the ancient Indian system of panchamahabhuta and its products. This study of plant life has also visualised various parameters for nutrition, disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment based on the Tridosha (Vata, Pitta, Kapha) philosophy. It is a part of ancient Indian health sciences' health framework (combining plant, animal, and human health) that was created many centuries ago. This method was inspired by the ancient knowledge of saints and rishis. Applying the same sort of nurturing to the plants is the main motto of vruksha ayurvedic method of farming. Radha has visited and learned this method from the different ashrams in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. He volunteered in different places and trained himself to come and practice on his own farm.

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