National Award for Best Farmer won by SRFSI partner Chandan Roy

Manisha Shrestha July 29, 2020

Starting out his career as a trainer in the Satmile Satish Club (SSCOP), Chandan Roy, a young farmer from Cooch Behar district gradually shifted to agriculture when SSCOP initiated the Directly Seeded Rice (DSR) method in West Bengal. As SSCOP started deepening their work in agriculture with the advent of the ACIAR-funded Sustainable and Resilient Farming System Intensification (SRFSI) project promoting CASI technology since 2014, Chandan’s experience and passion in agriculture expanded.

Guiding farmers out from traditional cultivation methods by sharing new knowledge was both onerous and gratifying for Chandan. But spreading awareness on modern farming practices and Conservation Agriculture based Sustainable Intensification (CASI) technology through repeated interactions, trainings and field demonstrations turned out to be equally advantageous and rewarding for him. Chandan Roy was granted the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Krishi Purashkar on 16th July, 2020 by the Indian Agricultural Research Council (ICAR) under the Government of India. This national award appreciates Chandan Roy as the best farmer in West Bengal, Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar states of India.

“There is no alternative to hard work to be the best farmer, but it has to be coupled with smart work with right knowledge and singular focus with innovation. The secrets are simple – keep your eyes and ears open and look at what is happening globally in terms of agriculture and use your own innovation as you understand your land and your ecosystem the best.”
— Chandan Roy, Technical Officer SSCOP

Recognizing the contributions of marginal, small and landless farmers for developing integrated and sustainable modes of agricultural farming since 2016, this award felicitates hardworking farmers every year.

“We are proud of Chandan and his winning this important award is a win for all the farmers of Cooch Behar” says the Secretary of SSCOP, Amal Roy. Honored that a SSCOP team member received such prestigious accolade, Amal believes in hard work and credits SRFSI project for introducing innovative CASI technology in Cooch Behar and North Bengal.

Working in partnership with SSCOP since 2014, the CIMMYT-led SRFSI project has effectively scaled CASI beyond the lifespan of the project by reaching out to more than 70,000 farmers directly and indirectly in Cooch Behar.

For more information, please contact Dr Brendan Brown ([email protected]).