In Hiregunjal village in Karnataka’s Dharwad district, farmer Malleshappa Gulappa Biserotti has spent years developing an approach to agriculture shaped by one of the biggest challenges facing farmers in the region: water scarcity.
What began as an effort to revive a struggling farm has gradually evolved into an integrated farming system built around crop diversity, livestock, locally available resources and soil health. His journey demonstrates how farmers can adapt traditional agricultural knowledge to address contemporary challenges while reducing dependence on externally purchased inputs.
From a Drought-Stricken Farm to a New Beginning
Around two decades ago, Malleshappa’s 20-acre farm was severely affected by drought. With water sources becoming increasingly scarce and agricultural productivity declining, conventional farming was becoming difficult to sustain.
The search for a solution began with an agricultural officer introducing him to the use of earthworms for improving soil health. Around the same period, Malleshappa encountered the natural farming principles promoted by Subhash Palekar, including the use of Jeevamrutha, a microbial preparation traditionally made from cow dung, cow urine and other locally available ingredients.
However, there was a practical problem. Preparing and applying liquid Jeevamrutha required water, something his farm could not afford to use in large quantities.
Rather than abandoning the approach, Malleshappa began looking for a method better suited to his farm’s conditions.
Developing Ghana Jeevamrutham
His experimentation led him towards the use of cow dung as a central input for soil management.
Drawing on traditional agricultural practices and his own observations, Malleshappa developed Ghana Jeevamrutham, a solid form of the natural farming input. He incorporated earthworm larvae into the preparation, creating an input that could be used without the larger quantities of water required for liquid preparations.
For Malleshappa, the innovation was less about introducing an entirely new technology and more about adapting existing knowledge to the realities of his farm.
The experience also changed the way he viewed agricultural resources. Instead of treating livestock, crop residues and farm waste as separate elements, he began developing a system in which they could support one another.
Building an Integrated Farm
Today, Malleshappa’s farm combines field crops, horticulture, spices and livestock.
His crops include chilli, mustard, ajwain, gram, wheat, jowar and groundnut, while his horticultural plants include areca nut, custard apple, guava, curry leaves, amla and neem.
This diversification provides more than variety in production. It creates a farming system in which different crops occupy different spaces and contribute to a broader agricultural ecosystem.
Livestock forms another important part of the model.
Malleshappa keeps nine indigenous cows, a bull and two oxen. The animals provide cow dung and other materials that are used in preparing compost, vermicompost and Ghana Jeevamrutham.
As he explains:
“Agriculture cannot exist without cows; they are essential to the land and life itself.”
For Malleshappa, livestock is therefore not simply an additional farming activity. It is integrated into the nutrient cycle of the farm.
Working With What the Farm Provides
One of the defining features of Malleshappa’s approach is his emphasis on using locally available resources.
Neem is another important component. His farm has around 17 neem trees, from which he produces neem cake and uses neem leaves in vermicomposting.
He also produces substantial quantities of solid Jeevamrutha on the farm. These practices allow him to make use of materials generated within the agricultural system rather than relying entirely on commercially purchased inputs.
Such resource cycling is an important principle of integrated farming: crop production, livestock and soil management are treated as interconnected activities rather than independent operations.
Farming Under Water Scarcity
Water remains one of the biggest challenges for Malleshappa, particularly during years of poor rainfall.
His farming system has therefore evolved around the need to make limited resources work harder. The shift from liquid to solid forms of farm-made inputs was one response to this challenge, while crop diversification provides multiple sources of agricultural production.
According to accounts of his farm, annual income has varied according to rainfall and water availability, ranging from approximately ₹3–4 lakh during water-scarce years to around ₹7 lakh in more favourable years.
The variation also highlights an important reality of farming: even diversified and resource-efficient systems remain closely connected to weather, water availability and local growing conditions.
Recognition for Sustainable Farming
Malleshappa’s work has also received recognition beyond his village.
In 2021, he was reported to have received the Dharti Mitra Award at the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival for his contribution to innovative and environmentally conscious farming. The recognition brought wider attention to the farming practices he had developed over years of experimentation.
For a farmer whose work began as a response to drought and declining farm productivity, such recognition represents another stage in a much longer journey.
A Vision Beyond His Own Farm
Malleshappa’s ambitions extend beyond improving his own agricultural productivity.
He believes that farming needs to balance economic livelihood with the long-term health of soil and the wider environment. His approach places importance on traditional knowledge while also adapting that knowledge to present-day challenges such as water scarcity and rising dependence on purchased agricultural inputs.
For him, the objective is not simply to produce more. It is to develop a farming system that can remain productive while maintaining the resources on which agriculture depends.
“We must prioritise the quality of the food we produce and honour the knowledge passed down by our ancestors.”
Sowing the Seeds of a Different Agricultural Model
Malleshappa Gulappa Biserotti’s journey began with a farm struggling under drought conditions. His response was not to abandon agriculture, but to rethink how the farm itself could function.
By bringing together crops, horticulture, livestock, composting, vermicomposting, neem and farm-made inputs, he has developed an integrated system suited to his own circumstances.
His story also offers a broader lesson about agricultural innovation. Innovation on a farm does not always have to mean expensive machinery or new technology. Sometimes it can mean looking differently at the resources already available—cow dung, crop residues, trees, earthworms, livestock and traditional knowledge—and finding ways for them to work together.
For Malleshappa, sustainable farming is ultimately about more than this year’s harvest. It is about leaving behind soil, knowledge and a farming system that can continue to support future generations.
In nurturing his farm through difficult conditions, he has also demonstrated how resilience and experimentation can become powerful tools for agricultural change.
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