Journey of Nurse to Become a Farmer

Introduction

• Ms. Nabanita Das, daughter of Late Ananda Das of Jorhat district in Assam is a young, energetic and dynamic progressive woman farmer. After passing her High School Learning Certificate Examination, she got trained as a Auxiliary Nurse. Though she nursed the ailing human being, being a daughter of cultivator; she nursed a ‘farmer’ in her heart all along.

Training and Motivation

• While working as a nurse, she developed an attraction to farming on seeing the green fields on both sides of the road on her way to the hospital.
• After few years she chose farming as her occupation leaving nursing profession from a government hospital of Jorhat and started organic farming from the year of 2010.
• Now she is an established progressive farmer of repute and owner of “Nabanita Organic Farm”.
• Her first formal training was a training programme on Horticultural crop in 2014 organised by Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Assam (GoA). Thereafter, she attended trainings under Horticulture Mission for NorthEastern and Himalayan States(HMNEH), RKVY, Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART), GoA at various times.

Achievements

• With the trainings and handholding from District Agriculture Department, Assam; Assam Agricultural University and Krishi Vigyan Kendra; she made significant progress towards becoming a progressive farmer and agripreneur.
• Now she is an established progressive farmer of repute and owner of “Nabanita Organic Farm” at her village.
• She converted her previous typical mono cropped rice land by adopting raised and sunken bed method into a model flower crop based farming system with integration of horticulture, fish pond and animal husbandry etc.
• At present her farm has become a small agri-hub with production of flowers (Anthurium, Gerbera, Gladiolus, tuberose etc), rice, different pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, fish (local type and carps), eggs, milk, goatery and different poultry breeds viz. Silky Chicken , Rainbow Roaster, Bonroja, Kadaknath, Turkey, Guniea fowl; Pigeon ((Masokali); duck breeds (White Peikin), Indian Runner and indigenous duck.
• The beauty of her farm is she has utilised every inch of the farm land as a productive asset utilizing vertical space also.
• Recently she has introduced vermicompost production and Azolla culture. y Her earning from the land was merely Rs 4000/- before government interventions. Now she earns Rs. 30,000/- net profit in first year (2014) Rs. 56,000/- in 2nd year (2015), Rs. 96,000/- in 3rd year (2016), Rs 1,10,000/- in 4th year (2017) and Rs 1,25,000/- in 2019.

Contributing Factors

• Regarding organic farming, she always says that, ‘low cost of production, quality produce with best taste and opportunity to get good premium price organic production is really economically viable. As it has been a good demand in my locality as well as my nearest town Jorhat where buyers from different State and National level institutions along with local people are eagerly ready to buy these produces. In fact my organic farming and its produce has provided a viable income which encourage me to quit my government job. Converting from nursing to farming is the excellent example for my financial security.’
• She cultivates and preserves different type of indigenous scented rice genotypes like Keteki Joha, Kunkuni Joha, Kolajoha etc. Moreover she is cultivating black rice which originated in Manipur and is used to make different products of black rice.

Awards & Recognition

For her excellence in the field of Agriculture, she bagged some special awards.

1. Awarded for outstanding contribution in field of Agriculture by Vice-President of India, 2018 at Assam Agricultural University,Jorhat.
2. “Innovative Rice Farmer Award” by Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Patna in 2018.
3. ‘Progressive women farmer award’ in New Delhi on the occasion of Mahila Kisan Diwas, 2018.
4. On various occasions she has been Awarded by the Hon’ble Governor, Hon’ble Chief Minister and Hon’ble Agriculture Minister of Assam.
5. Moreover, she availed the chance to visit Vietnam to know about innovative cultivation practices along with other progressive farmers of the State sponsored by Govt. of Assam in the year 2019
6. Many distinguished personality has encouraged her by gracing her with their visit which include Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Hon’ble Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly, Hon’ble Agriculture Minister (GoA) & Vice Chancellor of Assam Agricultural University.

Influence on other Farmers

Many farmers and youth visit her farm to take a glimpse of her success and many have followed her footsteps.

Source : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare