Malkangiri
Their land in Bolada village of Malkangiri district in Odisha was rocky and barren with not a blade of grass. Then the district horticulture department stepped in to rope in about eight farmers of the Bhunjia tribe. Tied to the apron-strings of the department, the eight gave a shot at pomegranate farming in 2023. Now laden with pomegranates, the plants have turned out to be the delightful decorative of what was once a wasteland.
The hard labour of farmers like Keshab Korua and Madalash Chinda, coupled with the intervention of the district horticulture department, have yielded positive results: One acre of each of the farmers fetches nearly Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 in two phases in a year. While one phase comprises July and August, the other one encompasses October and November.
“We sell our pomegranates at Rs. 150 to Rs. 160 per kilogram in local weekly haat, and we sell off all our pomegranates to individual costumers and traders. Sometimes traders from neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh buy our fruit in bulk. This gives us immense pleasure, as the land that had been too barren to produce anything now earns substantially for us,” Keshab told The Indian Tribal.
Keshab and Madalash had to spend Rs. 2,000-3,000 for a tractor load of dried cow dung to make their land suitable for pomegranate farming that took off the ground under MGNERGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). Both the farmers used four to five tractor loads of dried cow dung, potash and urea prior to planting pomegranate saplings provided by the department. Non-government agency ‘Lok Drusti’ coordinated to forge the requisite convergence between the farmers and the department.
“We helped for convergence by procuring relevant documents available with eight farmers including their Aadhaar Cards that enable them to get payment from the department through their Job Cards,” said Sujit Kumar Baitharu, the former Cluster Resource Person of ‘Lok Drusti’.
“We spent about Rs. 18,000 in the first year (2023), and Rs.36,000 in the second year. However, we received Rs. 30,000 as the first instalment in the first year and Rs. 25,000 in the second year from the department. We have been promised a total of nearly Rs. 1.5 lakh from the department for pomegranate farming,” said Keshab.
Now Keshab, who also cultivates high-yielding paddy variety ‘Jamuna’ in his 1.5 acres, is satisfied with pomegranate farming.
Similarly, Maladash received Rs. 30,000 during each of the two phases till now. “The department pays to the beneficiaries on the basis of the number of saplings planted and area covered,” he said.
Keshab started farming pomegranate by procuring five varieties of 100 saplings ’Mrudula’, ‘Ganesh’, ‘Bhagwa’ ‘Sindura’. However farmers like Madalash and Durbar Sagaria preferred two varieties each—Bhagwa and ‘Sindura’. While Madalash planted 120 saplings in his one acre, Durbar planted 40 saplings in his 50 decimals.
“We procured pomegranate saplings from the Odisha State Seeds Corporation at Rs.40 per sapling. We distributed the saplings among the farmers as per the availability of land with them. Similarly, the department disbursed different amounts among the farmers in yearly phases on the basis of number of saplings provided to them,” said Manboth Majhi, assistant horticulture officer in Titilagarh of Bolangir district. Pomegranate farming was promoted Bolada village during his tenure as assistant horticulture officer in Bolada block headquarters of Nuapada district.
Pomegranates are rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin E, Folate, and replete with potassium, magnesium, manganese, according to Dr. Narendra Padhi, a Bhubaneswar-based expert in fruit science. The fruit, rich in fibre, has also punicalagin, a type of antioxidant. Now farmers in Bolada, who are mostly tribals, are proud to be farming such nutritious fruit, Dr. Padhi added
“Pomegranate farming needs hot summer and mild winter. A pomegranate tree, on an average, needs about 1-1.5 inches of water per week. This means the tree needs 0.14 inches to 0.23 inches of water every day. When climatic conditions during summer and winter are conducive to pomegranate farming in Bolada, some farmers have dug wells and sunk bore wells to irrigate their pomegranate trees in Bolada,” said Padhi.
However, Bolada’s current assistant horticulture officer Rabindra Nag gives all credit to the farmers. “Our department promoted pomegranate farming, but the hard labour and dedication of the farmers have brought out its real success,” he said.
