Odisha: MBA graduate grows superfood Moringa to boost immunity, rural economy

BHUBANESWAR: A little way off on the Balangir-Chandabati Road after the bridge on river Suktel is a huge expanse of similar-looking trees that can attract any traveller captivated by the greens along the journey from the Balangir railway station. Five hundred metres on a kuccha road will lead to a huge farm of ‘moringa’ that is trending as a superfood currently.
The 3.5 acre-farm belongs to Siddheswar Mishra (37), a farmer by birth and profession, armed with an MBA degree from Sambalpur University.His casual encounter with ‘moringa’ started in 1999 when his father, a farmer, planted around 200 trees on the periphery of his farmland at Dhamanashar village in Balangir block.
Though the good money the leaves of ‘moringa’ and its fruit, the drumstick, fetched was the only attraction for the teenaged Siddheswar, it was not until his mature mind started researching about new mothers being fed Moringa leaves that he came to know of the actual nutrient value of the superfood.
“It was only in 2015 that I took up ‘moringa’ cultivation after I came to know of its high nutrient value,” Siddheswar said. Today, he has 30,000 trees. “My main objective behind growing ‘moringa’ is to combine immunity with an economy-building activity so that people from Balangir don’t have to go out in search of a livelihood,” he said, adding the regular intake of Moringa helps boost immunity.
Gobinda Chandra Acharya, principal scientist of Central Horticultural Experiment Station (CHES), Bhubaneswar, said ‘moringa’ leaves are rich in protein, calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, copper and Vitamins A, B1, B2 and C. “Moringa leaves contain seven times more Vitamin C than Orange, four times more Vitamin A than carrot, four times more calcium than milk and three times more potassium than banana, more iron than spinach, according to a research,” Acharya, who is doing research on Moringa leaves, said.
To keep the nutrition value intact, Siddheswar follows the organic system of farming and drip irrigation. He sprays a liquid extracted from boiling different leaves, including neem, datura, bryophyllum and Pogmania pinnata, to keep pests at bay and uses decomposed cow dung and goat dung in his farm. “I follow the natural method of cultivation,” Siddheswar, who is helped by his younger brother and five to six farmhands, said. “I usually delegate the heavy work to the men, while women pluck the weeds and dry the leaves because these require more concentration and patience,” the hands-on farmer said.
The ‘moringa’ leaves are naturally dried in the shade, powdered and packaged to be sold to traders from across the country. Around 200 kg to 300 kg of moringa powder is made from leaves plucked every 45 days. “Those who require it contact me and I supply it to them as per their requirement,” Siddheswar, who also grows baby corn and sweet corn to supplement his farm income as these are much in demand locally, said.
The farmer’s endeavour has caught the fancy of other peasants in the area. “Around 40 to 50 farmers have evinced interest in growing moringa. “This is the first step to achieving my vision of economic empowerment with immunity,” the farmer with a steely determination said.