: Banker Quits Job to Become a Farmer, Now Earns Lakhs Empowers Thousands #IndiaNEWS #Agriculture More than seven decades after attaining independence, over half of Indias population remains dependent

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Banker Quits Job to Become a Farmer, Now Earns Lakhs Empowers Thousands #IndiaNEWS #Agriculture
More than seven decades after attaining independence, over half of Indias population remains dependent on agricultural activities.
Over the past couple of decades though, rural residents have been consistently moving base to metropolitan cities in search of non-farming occupations to better their standard of living. As many as 78 million Indians migrated from rural to urban areas, as per data from the 2011 Census.
Despite these figures, it is a rarity for a majority of these residents to find economically viable employment opportunities, and they may often end up settling for substandard living conditions. It was this troubling reality that propelled Bihar-based Abhishek Kumar (35) to leave his well-paying job as a management professional in 2011 and take up farming in his village instead.
A native of Barauli village in Bihar’s Aurangabad district, Abhishek now cultivates a host of aromatic and medicinal plants such as tulsi, lemongrass, turmeric, tuberose, giloy, gerbera, moringa and marigold on his ancestral land spanning 20 acres. He also grows the traditional crops of paddy, wheat and maize, generating an annual income of Rs 15 lakh.
“I come from a farming family but moved to Pune to work at a private bank and another banking consulting firm. I noticed that most people working as security guards here are from Bihar, even though they usually have enough land back in their villages to make a living by farming. Most of them do not end up making enough money to afford good accommodation and hygienic food. They leave their families behind to lead extremely painful lives,� Abhishek tells The Better India.
“Moreover, crops in Bihar are not grown as per the land’s production capacity. With this in mind, I decided to quit my job and take up farming. I wanted to create a profitable agricultural model that could be replicated by such people and help a little in stopping the migration from Bihar,� he adds.
On his return, Abhishek says, he wanted to pursue farming on his own rather than just advising people. “This helped them establish their faith in me and perhaps, is one of the reasons that lakhs of Indian farmers are associated with me today,� he says, adding that he’s involved with as many as 95 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in the country.
Since 2011, Abhishek has mentored and provided marketing assistance to more than 2 lakh farmers from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, among other states.

Bringing horticulture to Bihar
A few months after Abhishek had moved to Bihar from Pune, he met with a road accident that left him in a critical condition. Even as he gradually recovered and mustered the strength to pursue his newfound ambition, he says he faced a fair share of resistance from both his family and community.

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