BARPETA, Feb 20 � Even as the majority of the farmers are relaxing after the harvest of sali paddy, and wide expanses of agricultural land lie uncultivated, some farmers have put in efforts to grow Rabi crops without taking any respite at this time of the year.
Tainuddin, a resident of Sonertari under the Chenga Assembly Constituency of Barpeta district, had graduated from Madhya Kamrup College, Subha, in 2001. He took to farming as a hobby during his student life. After graduation, he felt that running after a government job would be a futile exercise. So he decided to engage in cultivation in a professional manner.
Tainuddin, popularly known as Master, engages about 20 workers every day during the current growing season. Last year, he paid a sum of Rs 7 lakh as wages to his workers.
He told this correspondent that though he has only 27 bighas of agricultural land of his own, he has grown crops on 94 bighas this year. The rest of the land has been taken on lease from other farmers. Mustard has been sown on 27 bighas, followed by banana plantation on 10 bighas, potato on five bighas, sugarcane on five bighas, onion on four bighas, carrot on two bighas, garlic on 1.5 bighas, whey on two bighas, watermelon on two bighas and spices on the rest of the land.
Tainuddin avoids the cultivation of vegetables like knol khol, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, brinjal, etc., as they cannot be easily preserved and are highly perishable. With a keen business sense, he recently kept away from growing cucumber as the seeds were selling at exorbitant rates. He guessed that more farmers had bought the seeds, which would result in a bumper yield and low profits at the end. He had been proved right.
Tainuddin has stressed on the selection of right seeds. He stores seeds of mustard, potato and some other crops for the next season and pays special attention to the nursery plots. He claimed that 1,000 bighas of mustard have been cultivated by 300 farmers in his locality from the seeds provided by him. Besides, he sold about 50 quintals of potato stored in a warehouse at Sarbhog in the last Rabi season.
Tainuddin now travels along villages like Roumari, Roumari Pathar, Sata and Balartari to advise fellow farmers on measures for enhanced crop production. He pays maximum attention to high production at low investment.
Acknowledging government help, he said that the Agriculture officials have visited his farms and provided assistance in the form of seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. Shallow tubewells have also been provided to him by the Agriculture Department.
However, Tainuddin rued the absence of any irrigation system in the locality. Though all the land in his area is cultivated during the Rabi season, there are no irrigation facilities. Deep tubewells to provide irrigation will be a great help to the farmers, he said.
When contacted, Bhumi Datta, Agriculture Development Officer, Subha, said that a total of 235 hectares of land have been cultivated with Rabi crops in the villages under his jurisdiction.
