After a long time, the farmers of the district are a relieved lot. Sustaining crop loss for several years, the smile is back on their faces. The cause of rejoice is the king of fruits. The sweet success of the initiative taken under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA)scheme has finally made the farmers reap more than what they had sowed.
Two years back, the Horticulture Department had provided 15,000 mango saplings, fertilisers and pesticides to these farmers with the funds of ` 48.57 lakh allocated under MNREGA.
About 200 farmers of Derabishi, Rajkanika, Rajnagar and Mahakalapada blocks in Kendrapara district had planted the saplings over 150 hectares. This year the plants have bore fruits and the farmers are busy estimating profits to be earned.
“We had provided the farmers with saplings of Amrapali, Malika and Baiganapalei species of mango. We had even assisted the farmers in fencing their orchards,” said the PK Mahapatro, Assistant Director of Horticulture Department. The scheme has certainly helped the small and marginal farmers,” added Mahapatro.
One of the farmers, Krushna Das (43) of Derabishi village is expecting a windfall this year. He had planted 200 saplings over two hectares and all the trees are now laden with fruits. “I hope to earn about ` 40,000 this year,” said Das.
Like Krushna many other farmers are confident of earning good profits this year. The officials of Horticulture Department had also provided training to mango farmers in methods to protect mango trees.
The district Horticulture Department spent money under the MNREGA funds in a “fruitful” way for which large numbers farmers are reaping mango fruits this year, said Sarbeswar Barik a mango grower of Mahakalapada.
Despite the fact that plantation of perennial fruit bearing trees like mango can affect the crop pattern, the farmers opted for it due to various reasons. Harassed by constituent crop loss due to various reasons over successive years, the farmers were desperately on a look-out for an alternative crop which came in the form of mango.
Tapas Swain, a farmer of Rajnagar, said, “The government has promoted massive plantation of mango trees in the district as part of MNREGA without giving any thought to forward and backward linkages, markets and prices. Once you plant perennial trees such as mango, the land and crop cannot be changed unlike the seasonal crops such as paddy, millets, pulses and vegetables.”
But the farmers who opted for mango plantation had different reasons. Firstly, they were attracted by the subsidies offered for the crop under the MNREGA. Secondly, perennial tree crop is relatively easy to handle. Once planted, the operations are less. Besides, one does not have to deal with truant workers and tenants.
