nandigram a large number of farmers in nandigram who had once fought for the protection of their farmlands a cause championed by mamata banerjee that helped her topple the 34 years of left front regime 10 years ago have now turned into prawn cultivators and converted their fertile farmlands into artificial water bodiesthe farmers who now culture white legged shrimps and tiger prawns have also switched from their farmfocused poll demands a decade ago to stress on exports and food processing units in the area this electionas a result bengals most high profile constituency this year is in focus not only for the heavyweight candidatures but also for the paradigm shift in demands and aspirations of its villagersit has been eight years since i have quit farming and took 20 bighas of land on lease earlier i used to earn rs 7000 by growing eight quintals paddy now i earn rs 50000 from prawn cultivation in the same one bigha land i cultivate bagda tiger prawn as well as bhenami prawn and export almost my entire produce to abroad almost all other farmers in this area has also converted into prawn cultivators over the years that guarantees higher income said sukdeb manna a resident of mohammadpur in nandigram i manna owns a twostoried house in the village and his children study in kolkata colleges life has certainly changed for the better due to the shift he saysnandigram located some 132 kms from kolkata was the epicentreof farmersagitation against land acquisition in 2007 fourteen villagers were killed in police firing while protesting against the then left front governments proposed land acquisition for a chemical hub of indonesias salim groupbut over a decade later farmers from villages like kendamari mohammadpur garchakraberia gangra haripur bhekutia daudpur khejuri and sonachura all of whom were actively involved as part of bhumi uchhed pratirodh committee to protest against the land acquisition have now changed their profession the location of the proposed chemical hub was later shifted to nayachar and the proposal was finally scrappedalamgir hossein a senior leader of the shrimp cultivators in the area who was also part of the farmland movement said that with time the demands of villagers also changed earlier we used to fight for the rights of the farmers but now our focus is on prawn and shrimp cultivation and we plead before the political parties to facilitate smoother exports to foreign countries like the us china and japan said hosseinthe shift from farming to pisciculture had first begun at moyna block in east midnapore the trend was soon observed at other coastal areas including nandigram now east midnapores net district domestic product derives one fifth of its earnings from fisheries the highest amongst all the districts of bengalthe change has been evident in the last one decade while prawn and shrimp cultivation is seasonal we help them grow saltwater fishes like american pomfret and milkfish during other times of the year said suman saha district fisheries