By Breeding Goats And Fish, A Teacher-Turned-Farmer Sarpanch Transforms His Village

Baloda (Nuapada), Odisha

Nuapada district in Odisha is known for large-scale migration of people who go to states such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh in search of work. They usually find work in factories, brick kilns or construction sites as daily wage labourers. There, far away from the comfort of their families and villages, they live awful lives, exploited, illtreated and underpaid.

Santosh Sahu was one of these migrant labourers who was forced to leave his village Baloda in Nuapada and go elsewhere to work. Almost every household in Baloda has a family member who has migrated to find work elsewhere.

“I used to work in a brick kiln in Uttar Pradesh. Not anymore. Now I stay with my family and am perfectly able to look after them with the work I do in my village,” he told Gaon Connection. He now earns Rs 8,000 a month, which is a thousand rupees more than what he earned as a labourer. Also, staying home has cut down his expenses. “I could barely send home Rs 4,000 for my family. Now, I not only earn a thousand rupees more but also live with my loved ones which is priceless, and a lot less draining on my expenses,” Sahu told Gaon Connection.

What changed? It was the practices of a progressive farmer, Premlal Naik that not just positively impacted Sahu’s life but the lives of 25 others in the village, including women.

It all began when Naik quit his teaching job in Budhikomna village in Komna Block. “I passed class 12 in 1996 and the very following year I got a job as a teacher in 1997. But the salary was not enough and after sticking with it for 10 years, I quit in 2007, and decided to pursue farming,” the 48-year-old Naik told Gaon Connection.

Naik began to farm in his 24 acres of land but was disheartened when his traditional farming methods did not yield much for him by way of profits.

“I own 24 acres of land but it isn't very fertile. So, I knew I couldn’t depend on it for my livelihood,” the 48-year-old farmer told Gaon Connection.

“In 2016, I decided to change the way I farmed and began to scour the internet for ideas. It was then that goat rearing came up as a possible profitable venture,” Naik said. So, he bought 17 indigenous goats and today has 437 goats on his farm, which he said were the biggest revenue generator for him.

Also Read: A mother and daughter trained as Pashu Sakhis are helping increase profits of goat rearers

“I wanted to learn more and learn better so in 2017, I attended an eight-day training workshop on goat rearing at the Mathura-based Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG),” he said. There, he learnt about habitat management, disease prevention, sales and marketing.

The following year, he bought high-quality Sirohi goats from Rajasthan, Beetal goats from Punjab and Black Bengal goats from Bhopal in 2018 and made their health cards so he could ensure their timely vaccinations, that were an all important way of keeping the animals healthy, he said.

“We get the goats dewormed and vaccinated on schedule and this ensures their well being. The percentage of deaths in the goats due to disease is less than five per cent. This is the reason for our success. And, each healthy goat brings me an earning of five to six thousand rupees,” he explained.

Naik has also ensured his goats get clean and nutritious fodder. He cultivates the hybrid Napier grass for the animals and prepares vermicompost from the goat droppings. In 2018, he made a pond on seven acres of his land where he began to cultivate fish such as Rohu, Mrigal and Katla. According to him the profits from the pond of fish is nearly 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh rupees per acre. Besides the fish, he grows paddy on 13 acres and cultivates pigeon pea and chickpeas in an acre each. He employs 26 farmers and pays them anything between Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000 a month depending on the nature of work. Naik earns Rs 350,000 a month from his goats, fish and grains.

“The officials from the animal husbandry department were of great help and guidance. I was provided a loan of Rs 68,00,000 which helped me in expanding my business,” Naik acknowledged. He got the loan from the Mukhyamantri Krushi Udyog Yojana launched in Odisha in 2018, to provide subsidised loans for agri-entrepreneurs.

Modern farming practices

Naik has gone about running his enterprise in a methodical way. He tags his entire flock and maintains a database about the goats’ birth, vaccination status, pregnancy, deworming schedules, and infections.

“Most of the farm owners suffer losses because they don’t know the medical details about their animals. I maintain a health card for each of my goats. The card has all the necessary information needed to assess their health,” Naik said.

“I also keep track of how each goat reacts to medication. This helps me in knowing which medicines don’t go well with which goat. This information is vital for me to ensure the health of my livestock. By maintaining a mortality rate below five per cent, I ensure that goats don’t die a premature death,” he explained.

“The young kids up to three months of age are flocked together. Also, pregnant goats are kept separate from the rest of the flock. This segregation ensures that the bigger goats don’t harass the younger ones and the pregnant goats don’t get injured in brawls. It also ensures that weaker goats also get food to eat and their share is not taken away by stronger goats,” he said.

Also Read: A loan of Rs 4,000 and two goats took a Santhal farmer from penury to pride

“In this farm, there is work for everybody. Had it not been for this farm, I don’t know how far I would have to be from my family to earn money for them. There are at least 13 people in this farm who have come back home from other states,” Naik told Gaon Connection.

Vishwamitra Yadav, a farmer, works at Naik’s farm. He looks after the goats when they are out to graze. Yadav who has worked here for two years now said he earns Rs 7,000 a month for his work on the farm.

"I am able to earn money with dignity and I don't have to migrate to other states in search of work. Life has been better ever since I started working here," Yadav told Gaon Connection.

Naik not only practises modern farming techniques but also teaches other farmers to do their own farming. Many young farmers, inspired by his success story, come to him to learn.

“There are farmers from Berhampore and Bolangir districts who come to my farm and stay here for three-four days to learn modern farming techniques. The district administration also sends women from self help groups to come here and learn goat farming,” Naik said proudly. Many of them have started their own enterprise after learning about Naik’s successful business model.

For his scientific approach to goat rearing and fish farming, Naik won an award of excellence called Utkrisht Krishak Samman in 2023 from the Department of Fisheries and Livestock Development. In 2021, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Nuapada also honoured him

Naik has set himself a target of owning at least 1000 goats and generating employment for at least 50 more people. “When I began with 17 goats, I never dreamt that I would own nearly 500 goats. Today, nothing makes me happier than knowing that work at my farm has kept so many people from my village from migrating. They are home with their families and are able to feed them a square meal a day,” he said.

In order to implement his progressive ideas on a larger scale and extend the benefits to more families who bear the brunt of migration, Naik has contested and won elections to become the sarpanch of Bhainsatal Panchayat. His own village Baloda comes under this panchayat and he has won the gram panchayat elections in 2007, 2012 and 2023.