Forced to quit MNC job, Madhepura man excels in medicinal farming

Patna: Justifying the age-old adage ‘where there is a will, there is a way’, 39-year-old Chandan Kumar Jha of Udakishunganj block in Madhepura district has ultimately succeeded in achieving excellence in the field of agriculture by adopting a relatively unconventional practice, initial setbacks notwithstanding.Today, he is not only considered as quite a successful farmer of his region, but also serves as a source of inspiration for others.For Chandan, agriculture was altogether a new field when he decided to take up farming as his livelihood. He was associated with an MNC after graduating in commerce stream from Delhi University, but he had to leave the job and return to his native village following the sudden death of his father. Unwillingly, he had to take charge of family farm activities.His family used to cultivate wheat and maize in nearly eight acres of their total 15 acres agricultural land holding. But income from paddy and maize cultivation did not prove much lucrative for him. Bereft of any concrete idea for diversifying his farming, he visited Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Madhepura, and consulted the farming experts there. He also participated in various training programmes organised for the farmers from time to time and learnt all the techniques concerning application of zero tillage method in crop production. During such interactive sessions, he realised that cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants could be a viable option for diversifying farming.With technical support of KVK scientists, he started cultivation of aromatic plant mentha, khas, chamomile and geraniums besides medicinal plant shatavari in four-acre land. Based on technical guidance of KVK scientists, he also started cultivation of white kewanch besides introducing organic farming of vegetables like pointed gourd, chilly, ladies’ finger and pumpkin in his mango orchard spread over one hectare land.Subsequently he installed two distillation plants provided by the Centre for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CMAP), Lucknow, at two different places in the district with the help of KVK. His net annual income soon increased from Rs1 lakh to around Rs3.5 lakh.Then, Chandan started motivating other farmers of his region to take up farming of aromatic and medicinal plants. He organised all the farmers of his locality and established a Farmer Producers’ Organisation (FPO) with the support of NABARD. Helping FPO members in selling their produce apart from making them available fertilizer and seed at a reasonable rate is the primary objective of the FPO.Chandan is also associated with marketing and operation of a farm equipment bank located at Saur Bazar block in neighbouring Saharsa district. He has been assisting farmers of his area in overcoming challenges of cultivation and harvesting by making available advanced farm equipment on rent.