Buvi Krocha
Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | May 19
When 26-year-old graduate, Bunyi Krocha returned to his native village in Zhavame to venture into his childhood dream of animal farming in the year 2018, he didn’t quite win the hearts of farmer parents. Sending their children to school eventually meant securing a government job.
“Even graduates can’t get employment these days. What is the point of sending our children to school?” This is a passing comment he has got used to by now. But to change this narrative is exactly why he returned to his native soil while impressing upon that education is as important even if you decide to take the road less taken.
“I have always been interested in farming, especially animal farming and even as a student, I would rear rabbits, besides cats and dogs and despite the water scarcity in Kohima, I would even keep fishes,” he relates to The Morung Express.
When he finally graduated from Kohima College, Kohima in the year 2017, he did not give pursuing his childhood dream a second thought. With savings from his own scholarship and earnings from days he did not have classes, which he spent doing masonry in the state capital, he began his venture with 5 piglets and 2 goats in May 2018.
In the same year, he also underwent three-day training on Castration from ICAR in 2018, sponsored by Tata Trust and conducted for Livestock Service Providers (LSP). Today, he takes care of over a dozen pigs and 27 goats, four years since he took up animal farming.
A normal day for him starts at 5:00 am. By 5:30 am, he is out in the farm, cleaning the pigsty, making fire, feeding the pigs, cooking, taking out the goats for grazing, bringing them back—all of these before he comes home to eat his morning meal. “Then, I spend the day gardening by the farm, where I grow squash, pumpkin, yam, and any other seasonal vegetables,” he says.
While those villagers who rear one or two pigs in their backyards for their own consumption regularly venture out, foraging for pig feed, it amazed them that the young lad never had to do that. “How are you managing feed for that many pigs?” they would enquire. But thanks to the garden he maintains almost religiously, there is always enough to feed them.
The fifth child among eight siblings, Bunyi Krocha grew up with his elder brother, who is also into business. “I love my village and always wanted to come back here to live,” he says. His love for animal farming has also gone to bless the lives of the community. With the ban on import of pork to Phek district within the jurisdiction of Chakhesang Public Organisation since 2000, the community is often faced with the challenge of procuring meat even during festivals, celebrations or funerals.
This is where his venture has also saved a great deal of trouble. Recognising the scope and prospect of animal farming in the village, he hopes that more young people will follow in his footstep. As a matter of fact, he says, few of them have approached him, expressing similar interest.
There are tough days, he expresses. “It is such a challenge to take the goats out for grazing on rainy days and especially on Sundays,” he puts across. But there was never a day he regretted his decision to take up animal farming and he only hopes that more young people will join him. He is grateful to his supportive family, while making special mention of his father, who takes care of the farm in his absence.
Buvi Krocha is also instrumental in initiating the first homestay in Zhavame village with his friend, Truvi Rhi that was recently inaugurated under the banner “Buvi Homestay.” Buvi which means a “wonderful stay” in Poula language is coined from an acronym of their names- Bu for Bunyi and Vi for Truvi.
