Bokaro: During the months-long lockdown this year, while some found time to follow their passion, others found new passions and dedicated time for them. In Bokaro too, the trend is similar, but here a chunk of the urban population has taken up farming in the villages of the district. The fashion to shift to a village for a few days to practice farming had started a few years ago, but it found more takers when during the lockdown, many wanted to trace back to the roots.
While some are taking land on lease, others are buying acres of land to cultivate organic crops. Yet others are simply collaborating with farmers and promising them better technologies to grow their crop with a sole motive — to fulfil their passion of farming.
From community health experts to engineers and agriculturists, TOI spoke to a few such urbanites who have taken up farming and are heralding a change.
Dr Siddharth Biswas, a community health expert, lives in Delhi with his wife, but his passion for farming bring him to Bokaro at least twice a year. His interest in farming has led him to introduce enriched vegetables and grains that have more food value.
Biswas said, “Research has proved that grains, vegetables and fruits have suffered nutrition loss in the past 100 years. The spinach which used to have 64mg iron in 1914, at present has 2mg iron. We are working to enhance nutrients and micro-nutrients in the crops using native seeds and increasing carbon contents in the soil using cowdung and natural biomass.” Biswas practices farming in Chakuliya village under Chas block, which is slowly becoming an farm-friendly destination for urbanites.
Arti Sinha, wife of an officer of Bokaro Steel Plant, said, “We had initially cultivated seeds on a 10-acre land and will soon expand it to 50 acre. At present we have harvested black rice, adan shipla (red rice), bhukti, navin arwa and tulsi mukul varieties of rice in the farm.” Sinha too practices farming in Chakuliya.
Both Biswas and Sinha are engaged in Amrut Krushi — an initiative where more than a hundred farmers are now engaged in growing crops with native and genetically modified seeds that enhance micro-nutrients and minerals in the crop.
Prasanjeet Kumar, a resident of Datu village under Kasmar block, is a young agricultural scientist who made farming his passion. Instead of a job, Kumar saw his future in cultivating stevia — a medicinal plant.
He also went to Chennai to learn the tricks of stevia cultivation. He said, “Stevia has medicinal value. Their leaves are plucked and packed by the two dozen women I have employed for the work. These leaves are supplied to Patna, Prayagraj, Pune, Ahmednagar, Bengaluru and other places. I also sell them online.”
Passion for farming also made two brothers — Vijay Kisku and Ram Kisku — of Shyampur village under Jaridih block to leave their plum engineering jobs. The Kisku brothers have become role models for other youths of their village who now have joined them or are getting encouraged in giving up jobs to take to farming.
The Kisku brothers studied electrical engineering from RVS Engineering and Technology College, Jamshedpur and later started farming on a seven-acre land. They brother said, “Initially we found the work difficult and taking care of plants was a tough task, but we did not lose hope. We got help from Sunil Oraon who knows a lot about farming and adopted modern techniques by seeing YouTube. Our hard work bore fruit and our vegetables sold in the local market, yielding us unexpected returns.”
Vijay said, “In a month, we are churning out around Rs 50,000. About 20 to 25 youths and villagers have joined us in farming.”