Shree Padre, originally a freelance journalist who wrote in both Kannada and English, was instrumental in exposing the usage of endosulfan, a highly potent neurotoxin, as pesticide for cashew farming.
Padre was also an areca nut farmer and part of the Mangaluru-based All India Areca Growers’ Association. When betel nut prices plummeted in the 1980s and incomes suffered, farmers felt the need for a bulletin to facilitate information exchange and cohesion. Padre was entrusted to lead this effort.
“Rural journalism was always handled by city journalists who rarely ventured into the field,” Padre says. Instead of filling the magazine with the technicalities of agri-science, Padre chose to teach farmers to communicate their real-world insights.
The office is a sparsely furnished journalists’ room, with every edition of Adike Patrike stocked on its bookshelves. While ‘Adike’, or areca nut, is the catchphrase for the magazine, it focuses on issues relevant to all farmers, such as research and innovation, marketing, banking and animal husbandry.
The exceptional reception to early issues prompted Padre to turn Adike Patrike into a monthly magazine instead of publishing it every 3-4 months. Here, the team has gathered to discuss the upcoming special issue’s cover stories on manure management and soil health.
Padre proudly highlights how each part of the publication process, from reporting and fact-checking to printing and distribution, is managed by farmers.
Farmer A. P. Sadashiva Marike describes how the magazine helped him revive his land, which was expected to become barren within a decade. With guidance from the farm magazine, he dug canals and rain pits to harvest rainwater, and converted it into a thriving forest.
The magazine has a finger on the pulse of rural India. It focuses on aspects like water conservation, farm-based value additions, organic farming, unconventional local farmer initiatives like banana flour and jackfruit dosa batter—becoming a bellwether for trends across farming in the coming years.
Beyond the written word, Padre engaged in outreach through talks and presentations at farmer gatherings and collectives. He finds these travels critical to communicating with farmers. They also helped him be in touch with agrarian concerns and spot small farmers engaging in innovative practices on the field.
Meanwhile, the magazine’s efforts to spearhead underutilised foods continues. One standout example is the ongoing effort to popularise jackfruit, a fruit that grows abundantly in southern India, but often goes to waste thanks to a lack of awareness and preservation facilities.
