While most of the peasants in Chhattisgarh are still finding it extremely challenging and hard to move out of the paddy wheat cycle, a progressive farmer named Manoj Choudhary, who hails from Raipur district, has stupendously taken to floriculture and has been harvesting handsome profits from this venture.

This diligent farmer, 50, has scripted a magnificent success story and has proved to be

exemplary to the farmers of Chhattisgarh.This enterprising person has been arduously growing flowers orchid and gerbera in his farm sprawling over 11-acre land at a tiny village Tarra near Dharsiwa block and thereby earning a whopping profit of Rs 15 lakh per acre each year.

His flower farm has been under a colossal state-of-the-art Poly-House. By harvesting more than 15,000 flowers each day and selling it across country, he claims that he has been number one in the country in orchid farming under a poly-house. Adding another feather to his cap, he has been first in the country to have orchid nursery. He has visited nearly every major countries of the world to collect valuable information pertaining to the modern way of doing floriculture. His flower cultivation strategy and success mantra are something that several farmers across the length and breadth of country are now trying to emulate. Farmers from almost every states have been visiting Manoj’s farm for taking meticulous guidance from him.

His farm has such kind of soil that has been fully conducive for raising flowers and has also been well irrigated with ultra modern sprinklers and drip irrigation techniques. Nearly 45-50 labourers have been tirelessly working in his orchard. Recently, Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU), Raipur, has felicitated and awarded him for his outstanding contribution in promotion of poly-house cultivation in Chhattisgarh. IGAU has given this hard-working floriculturist a certificate of appreciation during a special national symposium on ‘extension plant pathology: Technological backstopping to the farmers/other stakeholders’.

After completing his Mechanical Engineering studies from Bangalore University and also achieving a degree in Management, Manoj had decided to do paddy cultivation. This assiduous man said, “I was the first person in my family to do cultivation. Initially I had no knowledge and no formal training whatsoever regarding agriculture or floriculture! But I was inclined to make my career in this field only. Come what may!At the outset, I adopted traditional way of doing paddy farming, which had not been a profitable business for me. My friends had been wonderfully doing flower cultivation at Bangalore. And I took focused training from them and jumped into floriculture sector. In the course of time, I can say that my business of growing and selling flowers has gained momentum and has been lucrative affair for me. I can also say that one can earn his livelihood satisfactorily by selling flowers”.

As they say,“Behind every successful man is a woman”.Likewise, Manoj has been ably supported by his wife Anaamika in this occupation. He emotionally said, “Without the cooperation of my wife, I would not be able to achieve this success. Full credit goes to my better half!” When asked whether his success has impact on local farmers? He said, “Yes, of course! Many local farmers have got inspired from my cultivation style and have been following it. I would like to advice my farmer friends that floriculture is definitely a gainful occupation. If done systematically, there is a great scope in it and therefore they must unhesitatingly try their luck in it.”

Making demands from the Government, Manoj said, “Effective training and more infrastructural support has to be given to our farmers so that they can flourish in floriculture”. Deputy director (Department of Horticulture, Raipur)Lavatre, wholeheartedly praised the efforts of this laborious farmer and said, “Our department has given subsidy to Shri Manoj Choudhary for making Poly-House in certain area of his farm. He is no doubt a trend-setter and torch bearer for other farmers of our state in Orchid flower farming”.

In the end, it can be said that Manoj Choudhary’s endeavours, leadership quality, innovativeness and responsiveness to change have made him an entity to be reckoned with in India as far as floriculture is concerned.