Father-son duo in Patacharkuchi thrives with scientific, sustainable farming

Patacharkuchi, Dec 31: For Binay Das, a farmer of Daloigaon village near Patacharkuchi farming is not merely an occupation – it is a way of life. With unwavering determination to earn his livelihood through agriculture, Binay, along with his 70-year-old father Kamalakanta Das, has emerged as a example of self-reliance, through systematic and scientific farming.

Through well-planned cultivation, they grow a wide variety of vegetables on the same plot of land – like cabbage, radish, pumpkin, okra, tomato, garlic, broccoli, mustard greens, potato, brinjal, bitter gourd, cucumber and many more.

They have been selling their produce in the market for quite some time now, mainly at the Patacharkuchi market, earning around Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 lakh this winter season. This season, tomatoes are being sold at Rs 50-80 per kg, brinjal at Rs 50-60, olkabi at Rs 40-70 and cauliflower at Rs 40-60 per kg. Due to the freshness and quality of their produce, customer demand remains consistently high. Binay Das shared that this year he planted around 12,000 olkabi saplings. Tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage and 250 brinjal plants have also been cultivated.

Binay Das follows a crop rotation system – after early cabbage harvest was sold in November, they planted okra, bitter gourd and other vegetables on the same land. This ensures a continuous supply of produce to the market for most of the year, making maximum use of limited land.

Binay Das has grown into a skilled, capable farmer by observing his father since childhood. Today, he leads a self-reliant and dignified life, supporting a family of six, including his parents, solely through agriculture.

Das’s farm is well-organised. He primarily uses home made manure and cow dung for fertilizer, and resorts to pesticides only in unavoidable cases. For irrigation, he depends on the hand-pump installed in his vegetable farm. He uses a solar-powered water-pump to draw water from the hand-pump. With support from the Agriculture department, he has installed net fencing and built a greenhouse.

Apart from vegetables, this year Das also cultivated paddy in several bighas of land, besides potatoes and mustard.

Currently, Das along with his father, are concerned about the increasing menace of monkeys in the area, which threatens their crops. The father-son duo stands as a powerful inspiration for the younger generation, proving beyond doubt that agriculture can be a sustainable and fulfilling profession.