Pune techie with six-figure salary grows his own veggies

IT company manager with six-figure salary travels 12 km every weekend to work on his family farm

Sagar Subhash Sathe, IT employee and farmer

Farming may be the last thing on the mind of today’s work force. But, an IT employee, who manages his day job while ploughing the field of his family farm, is hoping to change that.

Meet Sagar Subhash Sathe, 38, a manager with tech company IBM, who travels 12 km each weekend from Pune city to Narhe in Hinjewadi, where he and his wife Kavita cultivate rice, among other things. Sathe, who otherwise earns in six figures each month, says farming helps him earn an additional income of Rs 4 lakh annually and also bust stress.

Sathe holds degrees in automobile engineering and management, and has previously worked in Boston, Chicago and New York. However, despite working in the IT industry for the last 14 years, nothing satisfies him more than working in the fields.

In 2006, when his father passed away after a prolonged illness, Sathe returned home, only to realise that there was a lot of pressure to give up the land as the nearby areas were going in for redevelopment. "But, I was attached to that property and decided against it," he said.

A year later, his wife and he decided to start cultivating on the piece of land as finding labourers was difficult.

The couple began with traditional farming after watching some videos online. "Despite living a good life in the city, we would make it a point to travel every weekend to work in the fields," Sagar said.

Ten years on, the Sathes continue farming. They now grow rice, sugarcane, papaya, banana, groundnuts, and peanuts.

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