Biridi: Despite being an engineer, he finds the lines ‘chasa kama jahar kede sukha tahara, sei sina dunia ku jagauchhi aahaara’ (He who takes up agriculture lives happily, provides food to the world) meaningful. Meet the engineer-turned-successful farmer Chinmay Dash of Chashikhand village of Baisi Mouza under Biridi block in Jagatsinghpur district.
Chinmay, son of Chittaranjan Dash, a retired teacher, was working at a private company in Hyderabad after obtaining a degree in engineering. However, he did not have job satisfaction and returned home. During the initial days of the COVID-19 outbreak last year, he decided to try his hand at farming. He not only gave it a thought but also started working on it.
Now Chinmay is regarded as a successful farmer in the locality. He has constructed a pond in his backyard and is into fish farming. This apart, he is cultivating strawberries and capsicums of different varieties on pots on his rooftop. There are also varieties of fruit trees in his garden.
Chinmay’s strawberry and capsicum rearing has attracted the attention of farmers of other villages also. They are visiting him to get some information on the farming of these two items.
“I am happy that farmers are showing interest in giving up traditional farming. It gives me immense pleasure when they visit me. Block assistant agriculture officer Pradipta Behera and his associates have been offering their valuable suggestions on occasions. I have a dream to see more and more youths take up agriculture instead of running after jobs,” Chinmay said.
“I also urge the government to give more priority to agriculture, make farmers aware about advanced technologies and create marketing facilities for their produces,” said the engineer-turned-farmer.
When contacted, assistant agriculture officer Behera said, “Chinmay has set an example for others by taking up non-traditional farming. What he is today is due to his interest and endeavours.”
PNN