Guwahati: Sanjeev Kumar Sharma walked away from a 39-year career to get his hands dirty. The former Assistant Registrar at Dibrugarh University retired in 2020 and poured his energy into Sharma Agro Farm, an organic operation built on 10 bighas of ancestral land in Jamira Motok Patra village. The soil is now busy. It supports 56 varieties of produce and a total collection of 111 types of plants, including mustard greens, radishes, spinach, French beans, and tomatoes.
The operation is a massive nursery. Sharma tends to 15,000 Assam lemon cuttings, known locally as kaji nemu, alongside pomelo, sugarcane, and marigolds. He rejects chemicals for soil health. Instead, he uses cow dung and compost made from biodegradable scraps to keep the land fertile. Four full-time workers handle the daily grind, while the business has helped 10 local people find steady, independent work.
His roots in the dirt go back to childhood. After his father died during his ninth-grade year, Sharma sold vegetables at the Barbaruah market to keep his family afloat. He balanced his education at Dibrugarh Kanoi Commerce College and later earned an MBA from Sikkim Manipal University in 2015 while climbing the ranks at the university. He put his farming dreams on ice for 14 years to pay for his children’s education before returning to the soil in 2016.
He wants others to see farming as a real path forward. He believes parents should push children to learn the land early. "He has stressed the need to introduce children to farming at an early age and encourage parents to view agriculture as a viable career option rather than merely a traditional occupation," according to the report. For Sharma, the shift from the Examination Department to the fields is about sustainability. He is turning his life experience into a job engine for the next generation.
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