Attabira: At a time when semi-skilled youths from farmers’ families prefer to flee to towns and work as labourers instead of working in their farms, a qualified engineer of western Odisha has made a fortune by taking up agriculture.
Inspired by his childhood memories, Brundaban Panda, the fifth child of late Hemalata Panda and Durgaprasad Panda of Satijori village near Chipilima in Sambalpur district, preferred to eke out a living by working in his farmland than to do a job as an engineer.
“I was inspired by a folk song in the glory of farmers that was very popular in my formative years. So, I decided to work in the field of agriculture,” said Brundaban.
Though he was born in Sambalpur district, he shifted to Deshbhatli village under Bheden block in Bargarh district with his family and became a successful farmer.
After passing Plus II, Brundaban did his diploma from Chhendipada Engineering College.
However, he was not attracted by the allure of a job as an engineer and expressed his desire to work as a farmer.
He first started cultivating rose and marigold on his ancestral farmland at Satijori village. However, he couldn’t make much profit from it. This forced him to move to traditional crops like potato, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal and chilli. After making good profit from the farming, he consulted Sudhanshu Sahoo of OUAT in Chipilima and started floriculture again.
Brundan was felicitated at Delhi after displaying his vegetables and flowers at an exhibition under the supervision of the then deputy director of agriculture.
At present, apart from raising paddy on 15 acres of land, Brundaban is the first man in the region to start pomegranate farming. He has made money by farming papaya on his yard also.
This apart, he also cultivates green gram, black gram, and cowpea and manages his family comfortably with whatever he earns from farming.
He wouldn’t have got such happiness by doing a job, said the successful farmer.
Brundaban also wants to impart training to interested farmers if he gets the support of agriculture and horticulture departments, said locals.
PNN
