ASSAM: Growing up in an impoverished 11-member family, Tileswar Handique worked as a daily wager earning just Rs 6 a day. A small incident sparked an idea that led him to farming and changed the course of his life. More than four decades later, he has developed a sprawling 40-bigha farm in Assam’s Charaideo district, cultivating a variety of vegetables and fruits.
One Saturday in late 1979, Handique, then 15, had returned home, in Cholapathar village, from work for lunch when a stranger arrived with an unusual offer. He was willing to pay double the market price of Rs 24 for a bunch of bananas. He sold it off and received Rs 24. Handique didn’t think much about it at that time. He returned home that evening, with his earnings of `36 from six days as a daily wager.
Then it struck him: why he should toil as a daily wager when a bunch of bananas could fetch Rs 24. He realised he had to pursue farming. Recalling those early hardships, Handique says there were many days when his parents and their nine children—three boys and six girls—could barely afford one meal. His father was a Grade IV railway employee, but his meagre salary was insufficient.
“My parents did not pressure me to earn. I decided to work as a daily wager without the knowledge of my family. I wanted to earn to support my parents,” says Handique, a bachelor, recalling that he and his two brothers could afford only one pair of clothes each. In 1980, he managed to start a banana plantation. He wouldn’t have imagined he would cultivate only bananas for the next 20 years.
“By 2000, I was able to save enough money to think of diversifying into other crops. I began growing a variety of vegetables, mustard, and betel nuts. I also ventured into horticulture, planting different kinds of fruit trees. In addition, I took up fish farming, set up a poultry farm and began rearing ducks, goats and cows,” says Handique. He now has six fisheries, supporting seven local fish species. He buys fingerlings and yearlings from traders in Nagaon and Morigaon in central Assam.
His poultry farm has around 700–1,000 chickens. He also owns six Jersey cows, which yield six to eight litres of milk a day throughout the year. The milk is sold locally, as are his goats and ducks.
He grows paddy on 16 bighas, using the husks as fodder for his pigs, chickens and ducks. He does not use chemical fertilisers or pesticides, relying instead on natural manure such as cow dung and broiler litter. Six labourers work on his farm throughout the year, with the number rising to 15 when more hands are needed.
Handique estimates his annual turnover at Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh, with profits of around Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. He does not need to take his produce to the market, as buyers collect it directly from his farm. “My produce is in high demand because it is organic and relatively inexpensive. I get a good harvest every year as I follow scientific farming methods,” he says.
To illustrate the diversity of his farm, Handique says the only things he needs to buy are clothes, salt and soap. “I don’t need to go to the market to buy food. I have everything in my field by God’s grace,” he says.
Many families in upper Assam are moving away from farming and turning to tea cultivation in pursuit of higher profits and larger markets. Tea bushes also require little labour once fully grown, as they do not need regular tending. But Handique kept away.
“Some people I know call themselves tea planters even though their plantations spread just one katha of land. I don’t have big dreams and I am happy with what I am doing. I love being called a farmer. I would not mind being called anything that is considered inferior to the word farmer,” he says.
Handique still considers himself a student preparing for an examination.