Earlier today, my husband brought me to visit a small farm in Tg Malim. At first, I thought it was a business recce meet up kind of thing. Little did I know, we were actually visiting his old friend who gave up city life to be a full-time farmer.
As my husband keeps feeding me the details of his friend's journey, so many questions start to flood my mind. It's so rare to hear an urbanite actually choose to start setting up as a small farmer.
Although commodity business is evergreen and there's increased local agricultural productivity during the pandemic, the outlook for farming isn’t rosy, as we've seen many headlines about farm incomes being down, but that doesn't stop this friend of my beloved husband, who used to be a DJ, from making a leap of faith.
So, remember when people say that farming is a place where hard work and persistence pay off? Could you build a business from scratch? Well, don’t tell this ex-DJ that anything’s changed. He would beg to differ.
My husband said that when he first broke the news to my husband, he really believed in what he was doing and was aware that it held significant risk. He is determined, and there's no turning back for him. COVID-19 has stunted the economy's growth badly, especially in non-essential industries. His guts and strong will are admirable. He refuses to just sit and wait, but instead, takes a 180-degree turn (headed in the exact opposite direction). Unlike the usual scenario, where people choose to migrate to the city to make a change in their fate.
It's so inspiring to witness all his sacrifice and effort were fruitful, although for now, to fund his dream, he depleted his savings. Spending is reserved for necessities until he has more financial security, which he is working on.
He pushed himself to be everything necessary to really work the land for a good, decent living.
His farm is still young. Most of his energy and capital money has to be invested in the land, which is, as for now, basically a one-man show farm with him as the chemist who made his own fertilizer, the engineer who built up the systems, the electrician etc. But, hopefully, it will grow and be a success for him soon!
This man is living proof of one of the famous quotes:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
--Theodore Roosevelt
