Keonjhar
Tribals in Balanipasi village under Harichandanpur block in Keonjhar district of Odisha had never done it before. Into vegetable farming, they dithered to go in for fruit farming. They feared that fruit farming, which they had been oblivious of, could boomerang disastrously. However, the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) went on prodding them to give strawberry farming a shot. Finally, 10 tribal couples consented to be in, collectively and cooperatively.
And guess what, it made the cut despite the fact that strawberry farming was taken up a little late, and adverse climatic conditions also did queer the pitch for them.
No wonder then that Indubati Biswal and Chitrasen Biswal, a Bathudi tribal couple, are over the moon. Their maiden venture into strawberry farming in the latter part of December last year under the Mukhyamantri Janajati Jeevika Mission (MMJJM) along with nine other tribal couples in three acres of barren land yielded a windfall this February.
“We planted 30,000 strawberry saplings provided by the ITDA. Though heavy rain and hailstorm that lashed our area reduced the production of the fruit by about 10-15 percent, we consider the outcome of our virgin venture satisfying because the weather turned rough at the fag end after fructification was complete. Had we taken up this farming in October-November, the yield could have been much more,” Indubati told The Indian Tribal.
“Though the ITDA had borne a major bulk of expenditure, each couple too had forked out nearly Rs. 20,000 to make the three acres suitable for strawberry farming,” she added. She, however, hoped that the next phase of strawberry season would not require any investment which would help fetch only profit.
The ITDA had roped in 10 tribal couples from two villages Junga and Balanipasi to take up this farming in six acres (three acres in each village under MMJJM with a budget of around Rs. 40 lakh. It started motivating the beneficiaries in November last year, trained them under successful farmers from Koraput and commenced the farming in December.
The farmers, under the stewardship of the ITDA, resorted to drip irrigation, organic manuring and polythene mulching. The pipes set up at a cost of about Rs 70,000 for drip irrigation availed water from the nearby Kanjhari Canal.
Certain parameters were set for the selection of beneficiaries. The ITDA focused only on those tribals who have their own land with a nearby water source, as strawberry farming requires 400-500 ml water for irrigation every day.
The ITDA also assessed the financial stability of the beneficiaries before their selection, as they too had to make a minimal investment for strawberry farming to get going.
“We took up this venture as an experiment that has now hit the jackpot. We will replicate it next season. However, the number of tribal beneficiaries and that of the villages and the area of coverage will be determined on the basis of the availability of fund from the state government,” said Poonam Raut, the project administrator of the ITDA, Keonjhar.
The ITDA procured 60,000 saplings from Maharashtra through Odisha Consumers Cooperative Federation Limited. Each sapling cost nearly Rs. 40 rupees. As many as 30,000 saplings were given to the team of 10 members who divided its share of three acres into six plots to flag off their strawberry farming.
Ideal temperature for strawberry farming is said to be 22 degree Celsius for a plant to yield 300 to 400 grams of berries, and the temperature of two targeted villages is claimed to vary between 15 degree Celsius and 28 degree Celsius during winter that is conducive to strawberry farming. In this temperature each full-grown and ripe strawberry can weigh 40 gram to 50 grams, according to experts.
“Each acre yielded about 2,00,000 to 3,00,000 berries, and we packaged 220 grams to sell it at Rs.100 in district headquarters Keonjhargarh on behalf of our beneficiaries. We tried to sell berries in Bhubaneswar, but the traders and retailers there pleaded to purchase the fruit at Rs. 250 per kilogram. Therefore, we dropped the idea of marketing in Bhubaneswar. Instead, we concentrated solely on Keonjhargarh to sell the fruit,” said Sachidananda Mishra, the project manager of ITDA, Keonjhar.
When strawberry plants bore fruits after 45 days of plantation, they were sold through six outlets of the ITDA in Keonjhargarh with the brand name ‘Gonashika Fresh’. However, the outlets have been shuttered down after the stock of harvested strawberries were exhausted, and they would be opened after the plants start yielding fruit again.
“Gonashika, the hub of Juangas, one of the primitive tribes in Odisha, is also the place where Baitarini River originates. It is closely associated with the identity of Keonjhar. Therefore, we have chosen the brand name ‘Gonashika Fresh’ to assert the fruit’s close affinity with Keonjhar’s identity, and to highlight its tribal kinship,” explained Sachidananda.
The success story of strawberry farming by the tribals is the outcome of their dedicated and relentless effort. The beneficiaries not only tend the plants cooperatively, but also keep watch on the plants to ward off trespassing animals and foil acts of fruit theft.
“While two women guard our field during day, two males keep watch during night. This trend continues in rotation till the ripe fruits are plucked for sale,” said Chitrasen.
“We kept the sale proceeds of over Rs. 2 lakh with ourselves. We planned to erect a boundary around our field, and set up a mini shelter where the batch of our two guards will camp to keep vigil. We will use a part of Rs. 2 lakh to undertake this job. When this is over, we will share the remaining cash equally among ourselves,” said Sumanta Khatua, another beneficiary of Balanipasi.
