BHAWANIPATNA: In Golamunda block of Kalahandi district, normal monsoon is an aberration. In this rain-shadow zone that witnesses seasonal migration, 51-year-old Krushna Nag and his band of fellow farmers are leading a quiet green revolution turning eight gram panchayats (GPs) into a vegetable hub for the region.
Kalahandi was once dependent on Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the vegetables but thanks to Agrahichasi Producer Company, those grown by farmers from Golamunda block is now reaching the two neighbouring states apart from different districts of Odisha.
With a few lead vegetable grower-entrepreneur farmers paving the way, the producer company was registered in 2022 with just 10 members from eight GPs. The total share capital of the company during the inception was a mere Rs 1.78 lakh.
Now the share-holders’ number has grown to 212, of whom 45 are women. In 2023-24, the total turnover of Agrahichasi was Rs 6.57 lakh which reached Rs 25.24 lakh by October-end and expected to breach the Rs 2 crore mark by the turn of the current financial year.
Believe it or not, the success has been reaped by growing and marketing tomato, bitter gourd and green chilli. Tomato has been grown over 200 acre and bitter gourd over 150 acre.
The producer company takes on board small and marginal farmers, giving them direction but more importantly, economic empowerment with support from the government and NABARD which has written the agricultural transformation.
Farmers are allowed to enroll as members with a fee of Rs 100 and pick up shares for which they can get matching capital from the government with a certain ceiling.
At present, the producer company covers Kegaon, Nuagaon, Khaliapali, Chapria, Mahaling, Dhamanpur, Sinapali and Kuhura GPs. Farmer members get farm inputs and technical services for their crop. After harvest, they are extended marketing linkage.
Agrahichasi started with Nag, Dhananjaya Naik, Lingaraj Bhoi, Kalpataru Sahu and Lohita Chalan in its board of directors. Nag who had started with just 2.5 acre land way back in 2006 and tasted success using farming and irrigation techniques, fertilisers and government’s progressive schemes was nominated as the managing director.
“When we started two years back, our lead farmers would camp in villages and sensitise farmers about the FPO. In all of eight GPs, we got 10 members. Our primary objective was to protect small farmers from middlemen and mentor them with farming, irrigation and fertiliser support apart from market linkages,” Nag says.
Now market linkage has been arranged in Raipur, Mahasamund of Chhattisgarh and Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Vishakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh besides and markets of Nabarangpur, Koraput, Jeypore, Balangir, Rayagada and Kalahandi districts.
From tomato, chilli and bitter gourd, the farmers are now ready to get into onion and potato cultivation. Awareness has been created for potato cultivation and seed distributed to farmers from Horticulture wing, Nag said.
Agrahichasi aims to enhance income of member farmers to at least Rs 1 lakh from 4 decimal land through vegetable cultivation and livestock farming with market linkage for the products.
The company got a 2,000 quintal cold storage on demonstration project of SELCO Foundation and 10 quintal capacity onion drier from Horticulture department. It has also a polyhouse to raise the seedlings. It gets financial support from central sector scheme through NABARD and will go for banking credit assistance later.
Kalpataru, one of the two women as directors, said the company is a boon for small and marginal vegetable growers.
“Vehicles reach the doorsteps on advance information to lift the produce.” A farmer from Padampur village, she has grown vegetable on one acre.
Nag, who hails from Sanchergaon, says the target is to increase the number of share-holders to 3,000 in next 5 years. “When the FPO makes profit, its members get a share apart from the earnings from their harvest. More and more farmers are now showing interest to join,” he says.
Dhananjaya, another lead vegetable grower and one of the directors, said market linkage by the company has boosted income of farmers, particularly small farmers. He himself grows vegetables on nine acre and was finding it difficult to reach the markets. “Now encouraged by the services provided by company, I have taken 15 acre more land on lease for vegetable cultivation in coming year,” added the farmer from Dhamanpur village.