“In West Bengal, Mandals are known to be
cultivators. So despite earning my trade as an electrician at ITI, I turned to
the 30-acre family farm to work hard and build a business.
I’ve always tried to
push the boundaries – try new techniques and technologies. I had spent my life
growing rice the old-school way, but when I adopted the System of Rice
Intensification I saw immediate results and motivated others to follow. I planted 6 bighas of fruit and timber to
diversify and started exploring exotic fruits and vegetables too. Then one day I decided to optimize the two
talent ponds on my land and kickstart aquaculture – that’s when business really
took off! I’d never really grown fish before but once I started, I had a definitive goal in mind – to take a scientific
approach to raise fish and achieve the state average of 10quintals of produce
per bigha. But no one had ever achieved
that and the local average was just 3-4 quintals so I’d set myself quite a
task. I learned everything there was to
know about fish and aquaculture and everyone was surprised, not the least
myself, when I hauled in 24 quintals of production from my 3 bigha ponds! I was honored by the Government Agriculture
Department and today my pond is a demonstration pond where I teach others how to
achieve similar results. I didn’t quite make the state average, but there is
the next year to do that!”
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