Rekha Rose Dukru (second from right) at Eden farm with her family members.
With an ageing population of farmers, Rekha Rose Dukru, one of the few young Naga farmers says Nagaland’s agriculture sector can grow only when educated youth engage themselves in this profession
Vishü Rita Krocha
Dimapur | November 12
While farmers are responsible for providing food to our tables daily, farming is an occupation that is often avoided by young people, and is considered as a last resort employment. Most young educated people refrain from choosing farming as a profession.
That is precisely why people are taken aback when Rekha Rose Dukru introduces herself as a farmer. She herself never envisioned that she would become one in the future because she grew up hearing: “you will end up as a farmer if you don’t study.”
Opposed to what she was fed with, she learnt over the years that there is a great need for more educated youth to get into farming. With very few takers however, she found herself actively involved in farming for the last 7 years despite plenty of odds. When their family venture under the name, ‘Eden Farm’ began functioning in 2001, little did she know that she would eventually forego every other opportunity and stick to farming.
A graduate of St. Aloysius College, Mangalore (Autonomous), she also received a PG Diploma degree in Mass Communication from Nagaland University (in collaboration with IIMC, New Delhi). While Dukru has indulged herself in television journalism and was instrumental in making several documentaries, her first love remains farming, which is why she also turned down an offer to be a media officer in the government sector a couple of years ago.
Having found her passion in farming, Dukru however expresses concern that “although Nagaland is an agriculture state, it is not growing.” She laments the fact that there are not many young people engaged in this profession, despite there being a lot of scope. “Most of our parents come from the farming background but they barely encourage their children to take it up as a profession. At this rate, the farming community in Nagaland will really go down in 10 years’ time,” Dukru states.
She feels that one reason why farming is not growing in the state despite production having reached a certain level, is because there is a missing link, which, Dukru emphasizes can be filled by the educated youth. “I am not telling them to get their hands dirty, but what farmers need at this point of time is proper linkages to the markets,” she articulates and adds that there is a need to facilitate the farming community in terms of marketing, production, farming rights, understanding government policies and educating others.
While acknowledging that many young Nagas are excelling in the corporate world, she laments that the same is not the case with agriculture. “Sometimes it is very lonely because there are very few educated people in the agriculture sector,” she adds.
However, determined to make farming attractive, she says: “I want to bring that respect to agriculture. We (Nagaland state) can be the biggest supplier of at least one or two products; not necessarily in terms of quantity but quality, because we have the potential for that.”
Asserting that farming is a very precious resource, she further expresses concern over the poor roads and electricity. “Farmers outside are talking about things like quality, grading, processing, cold storage, etc and we are still stuck with poor power supply and bad roads.”
Speaking from her experiences outside Nagaland, Dukru says: “your problems (poor roads and basic things) become irrelevant because the farming community outside the state is one step ahead of us.”
Pointing out that half of the expenditure is spent on transportation by farmers, she goes on to state that “we are not even asking for subsidy or grant-in-aids, but only a good government policy for agriculture.”
Many people have been surprised to see the growth of ‘Eden Farm’ when they learn that it has never availed any subsidy or grant. “Most of them think we received a lot of funding from the government, but I am proud to say our farm is a result of our hard work and commitment,” she says.
Eden Farm, which engages in Integrated Farming, grows a variety of fruits and vegetables including kiwi, apples, peach, plum, raspberry, persimmon to name some and it also produces at least 2000 kgs of kiwi a year. Eden Farm, which first began on an area of 15 acres has now grown and been expanded to over 75 acres at the foot of Kapampdzü Peak in Zhavame Village under Phek district. It also has a fishery, rears cattle, pigs, etc.
