Keonjhar: Hailing from a poor tribal family, Shakuntala Katei (40), a Bhuyan woman at Gonasika panchayat under Bansapal block in Keonjhar, has taken up farming and become self-sufficient. With her farming, she has been keeping her pot boiling.
Significantly, while the government has been implementing a host of schemes and benefits to farmers, Shakuntala has not received any help from the government.
What is more significant is that her husband used to migrate to Gujarat and other states in search of work but the farming has stopped him from doing so.
“My husband is no more going outside after we started farming vegetables and other crops on our own,” she beamed.
Shakuntala educates her son in local Adarsh Vidyalaya while her daughter studies in a Kanyashram.
This tribal woman has set an example for others.
Sadly, she has not got record of rights for the land where she has been raising crops. “Under Forest Rights Dwellers’ Act, I would apply for patta,” she added.
She has been growing varieties of crops – peas, maize, radish, brinjal, beans, tomatoes and cabbage, paddy, black gram and mustard.
To sprinkle water on crops, she has bought two pump sets which lift water from nearby Baitarani river. The farming is now going well, she said.
“With income from farming we are living happily. I can afford to pay for education of my children while my husband doesn’t go outside for work,” she added.
All the family members have been contributing their efforts for the farming.
She invests about Rs 40,000 to 50,000 annually in the farming and earns about Rs 2.5 lakh from it.
However, she expressed sorrow over the state of farming in her area. “For lack of awareness about government benefits and schemes, other farmers are unable to take advantage of farming,” she observed.
During the vegetable harvest season, she herself carries vegetables to Keonjhar, 30 km away from her village in the morning. In the evening, she comes back home after selling all her produce. Besides, she has taken up poultry, goat rearing and cattle.
Significantly, she does not use fertilisers but only natural manure to grow vegetables. That’s why, tastes of her vegetables is different from those grown with chemical fertilisers.
She admits that her vegetables are sold soon as traders have been waiting for her produce to buy. Anil Sonakar, a local trader, said that as vegetables are fresh and taste, they are sold quickly in the market.
The problem is transportation cost of vegetable to the market.
Alekh Chandra Patra, a retired officer, who is a regular customer of Shakuntala’s vegetables, said that the agriculture department should encourage more and more farmers to take up farming and help them become self-sufficient.