Taking a cue from the changing climate pattern and driven by her strong passion for farming, a young village girl has chosen organic farming as her calling over and above everything else, while many youths of Manipur are leaving their home in search of greener pastures citing dearth of employment opportunities as reason.
But for Sorormi Shimrah, a young village girl from Lungshang Chingkha in Manipur's Ukhrul district, who is in her early twenties, "no work is of lesser importance as it is how one does it that matters." Introduced to the world of farming from a young age, the experience she had gained along the journey makes her want to do more in this sector, but in a more refined way.
A matriculate by educational profile, she discontinued the rote memory system of education and switched over to practical mode of learning with farming as her initial subject of experiment. Poverty might have come in the way to pursue further studies, but she has no regret about it as education is not all about memorising and amassing degrees but rather a lifelong process of learning.
"Everything in life requires proper policy and planning (blueprint) before they are executed. And farming is one such area," she emphasised.
As one reaches the facade of her farm site, one could see through the fruits of her labour, the endurance she made for the breakthrough in her farm. "Lemon, banana, avocado, passion fruits, grapes, turmeric, ginger, ground apple, etc, are some of the most common varieties of fruits growing in her farm, in addition to scores of vegetables.
She had planted over 150 lemon trees, over 110 bananas, 15 stink beans (yongchak), 10 plus avocado, 20 plus passion fruit, seven wild nuts, five plus theikanthei and 10 plus tree tomatoes, among others. Moreover, as a trial basis she planted two-three of many other fruits including grapes.
From her farm production, she generates around Rs 10,000-20,000 per month as income on average; this includes the amount she earns from selling her farm produce in the state capital, Imphal.
She tapped into this venture in 2021. However, to earn quick money was not her top priority, as for her nothing is comparable with the joy she receives from nurturing, tending and seeing the plants grow and bear fruits through one's own sweat. "People who have experienced farming or in any other work might agree that anything achieved, received or eaten from one's own effort tastes better, lingers longer. The satisfaction which I derived from my farm work keeps me going," Sorormi confided exclusively to the Imphal Free Press.
The rich potential organic produce holds and to make the best use of it is my main target and mission, she added.
Elaborating further on its potential, she said, "I took up farming with the solid intent to leverage the huge potential that organic promises today and in future. In a world where mushrooming of ailments has been widely reported across the globe, I believe that health is one main area where organic products have an edge over chemical-based products in terms of quality and demands in the market."
To earn more money farmers in our region have also started applying chemical fertilizers. Purely organic has better taste and thrives longer compared to chemicals infested ones which rot faster than we expected. That's the difference.
An avid nature lover, Sorormi Shimrah, a native of Lungshang Chingkha in Ukhrul district felt the changes in climate albeit slowly but steadily in recent years.
Talking about environment conservation, she said mother earth must be reeling under intense pressure from man-made activities. Nature has been tenderly taking care of us but all we do is to destroy them, she lamented.
We don't require rocket science to understand the importance of nature. It is a universally proven truth that no living beings can live without air and water, and the tree is our main sustainer - an elixir of life.
If every man plants at least ten tree saplings in a year, our mother earth would have been a better place to live, she reasoned, adding she wants to contribute, be it in a small way, but through organic farming farming and planting more trees in my area.
She continued that a hill district like her home town Ukhrul is getting warmer and warmer amidst high humidity level. "The intensity is more pronounced this year. I can feel the change taking place in our immediate environment and there is an urgent need to mitigate the problem posed by climate change," Sorormi Shimrah said.
Her tryst with wine making started early this year, although still at an experimental stage. She intends to promote indigenous wine by planting more grapes.
She also plans to grow more fruits and vegetables this year.
There is no dearth of farm sites and any interested people could take up farming as a profession, she said, adding that the demand for home grown organic products is highly in demand. Unfortunately, what comes first in our mind is profit. But everything will fall in its right place once the detailed plan is worked out. One cannot expect immediate success, like a magic wand. What joy would one get by becoming overnight rich, and again this is not practical, she said.
"I have spelt out certain goals with an eye on long term perspective. I do not simply rush to my farm and start planting whatever comes to my mind. It takes time and every plant has its timing," Sorormi said while sharing her journey exclusively to the Imphal Free Press.
In my observation, incentives or schemes given by the government have made our people lazy, while they should be toiling in the fields, she said referring to farmers and those stay home youths who do not want to work but eat, eat and develop fat belly. These trends are fast catching up like our young ones coming under the influence of Korean pop singers (Koreanization), she pointed out.
Farming runs deeply in my heart since my childhood, helping my parents during holidays and school summer breaks. There I saw the plants I had planted, growing in good shape and they would brighten my days after spending months in school. And the feeling I had, eating the fruits from my own sweats and labours, she recalled with immense joy.
On being asked the inspiration behind taking up farm work and not another job or profession or career, she stated that it was her true calling and no one inspired her. "All I can say is that I love what I am doing and have long term plans," she added.
"Ever since completing my high school (matric), there was no looking back, for farming has become a part of me and I enjoy what I love doing and not because others are doing it. It seems like I am not working at all. There is no tension or workload attached with what I am doing and that's the beauty of following one's dream," she concluded, while arming herself to exploit the opportunity offered by it to its fullest.
