PHULBANI: Following a freak accident six years back, Rajkishor Digal of Danganika village in Kandhamal district lost a leg and the opportunity to earn a livelihood. He was just 22 then. Today, he is one of the progressive organic farmers of the district and how!
“Losing a leg and the thought of walking with the help of crutches for the rest of my life did break me psychologically. But when I realised that this is the reality, I decided to take disability in my stride and work harder to make things better for myself and my family,” said 28-year-old Rajkishor.
In April, 2017, he accidentally stepped on a live 11 KV wire which was lying on the road while returning home. Rushed to SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack, he was left with an amputated leg. It took him two years to recover completely. “My father was a daily wager then and his income was our only source of livelihood,” he said. Rajkishor decided to get into vegetable cultivation the village was known for.
As the family was without any land holding, he took four acre of land on lease from a villager and decided to grow vegetables and paddy in 2019. In two acre of land, he cultivated paddy and in the rest, cauliflowers, cabbage, tomato, beans and other vegetables. But what made him successful vegetable grower was his organic approach to cultivation wherehis co-villagers depended on fertilisers and pesticides.
As a result, the demand for his produce grew among wholesalers and retailers in and around the village. Such is the demand now that vendors from Phiringia, Phulbani, Baliguda and Sarangada pick up the produce from his agricultural land.
“There has never been a necessity for me to go to the market to sell paddy or vegetables. I did not use pesticides or fertilisers. All that I used to grow the crops is cow manure,” he said. Rajkishor has now hired a few farm helpers and manages to make a business of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh annually, depending on the climatic condition during cropping seasons.
While his father no longer works, he takes care of his family of six - two siblings, parents, wife and son. “We do not have much expenses and my entire family believes in saving. My siblings and wife are also assisting me in growing crops and selling them,” he said.
With the savings he made during the last four years, Rajkishor was able to open an LPG cylinder supply business in the area recently. “I had never expected that this mishap would turn my life around for good. But this change would not have been possible had I given up,” he said. Apart from running the farm and LPG business, he has been helping the differently-abled people in the block with money and in kind.