N’PADA FARMER SHOWS WAY; DOUBLES INCOME IN 5 YEARS
N’PADA FARMER SHOWS WAY; DOUBLES INCOME IN 5 YEARS
Tiritram Patel of Bhera village of Godphula panchayat in Nuapada district has set an inspiring example by doubling his income from agriculture in five years.
Tirit's family consists of eight persons, including his wife and school/college going children, parents and brother.
"It was difficult for us to manage our family with a single yearly crop i.e. paddy. Now it is diversified, paddy in rainy season, followed by vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage and tomato in the first round and again cauliflower, ladies finger and bitter guard in the second round," says Tirit.
"The income from vegetables, especially from gobi and bhindi is Rs 1.5 lakhs per season," he claims.
The family has repaid all loans incurred five years before for cultivation of paddy, which failed regularly due to uncertainty of rain and pest attacks. "Single crop cultivation is always risky in drought situation, so we decided to change practice both in cropping pattern and water use," explains Tirit. Tirit had come to Nuapada on Thursday to receive an award for his endeavour on vegetable cultivation. He along with some other farmers was awarded by the district administration in a meeting held by Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), OUAT on the eve of lunching the programme of "Sankalp se Siddhi - New India Manthan (2017-22)". It was a meeting to generate awareness among farmers. Tirit keenly listened to the speeches of the guests in the dais which included dignitaries like Rajya Sabha MP AV Swamy, Collector, Nuapada Dr Poma Tudu, ZP President Namita Pradhan, BJP leader Khamsingh Majhi and officials of KVK and Agriculture departments. The officials told about the schemes and technologies for enhancing production as well productivity. "The Government has a dream to double the income of farmers in five years and the seven-point programme under the mission of Sankalp Se Siddhi brings that opportunity for farmers," said the officials and spoke in detail about the 7-point programme - water, technology, storage facility, loan and insurance etc.
Tirit, who never took significant help of the Government officials in farming operations, said "What is the use of such schemes when they are not delivered to the farmers at the doorsteps?" However, he gave credit to the KVK for training support. "They trained us on new inputs like hybrid seeds and pesticides," he says.
The officials elaborated about dairy and fish farming. Mayadhar Rana was awarded for integrated fish farming, Krishna Bemal was awarded for maize farming, but none of them credited the Gvernment schemes for their improvement.
Farmers, people's representatives and SHG members who attended the meeting however remained inquisitive of the slogan - Sankalp se Siddhi. Some farmers were expecting an answer in the slogan to the
current drought situation of Nuapada. "We expected that the high officials present here would talk something about the current drought situation, but no one seems interested," says a farmer.
Farmers like Tirit, Mayadhar, Krishna and about 70 per cent farm households of Bhera village, who have increased their income more than double in last five to six years, hold clue to the success of slogan like Sankalp se Siddhi, but the Gvernment officials have to think how to replicate the experiences. MP Swamy rightly said in his speech in the meeting, "The salary of the Government officials would be doubled after the implementation of 7th pay commission; now we have to see whether they are doubling their effort to achieve the dream of Sankalp se Siddhi"
Comments
Post a Comment