Page 33 - XITE Magazine 2019

A visit to Rangamatia Sujata Das

Village.. BCA-III

If the farmer is rich, so is the nation! Xavier Chimes

Rangamatia, is one of the 600 villages covered by Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS) to
empower people, health and hygiene and generate livelihood. TSRDS along with National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) initiated the “Wadi” '(small orchard) Project to help
the farmers utilize their land well, so that they could earn more money than, they initially were, by
growing rice paddy. It is monitored by the District Development Commissioner (DDC). The project is
of 6 years' duration starting from 2016, which consists of 3 years of plantation and the rest 3 years of
maintenance of the plants.
The “Wadi” Project aims at giving benefits to the farmers without any investment. The land owned by
farmers is sowed by them, with the seeds and other inputs i.e., fruits grafts, neem cakes for natural
pesticides, azetobactor, water, fence for protection of the plants from animals etc. provided by TSRDS
and NABARD. So, when the plants grow and starts fruiting, farmers can reap their income through it.
The “Wadi” had plants of mango, guava and cashews with forestry species like teak & Sal plants on the
periphery of the land holding to meet the timber fodder and firewood needs of the family. Also, they dug
a pond as well to water the plants during summer. Intercropping is also taken up in the Wadi area for
selected vegetables and pulses like brinjals, tomato, beans, chilly, pumpkin, pigeon peas and daikon
so that till plants starts fruiting, it can provide earlier return to family and prevent weeds to pop up.

• What were the problems faced?
It was dicult for the project managers to make farmers understand why they should support
this project as some of them misunderstood that Tata Steel is trying to acquire their property.
Also, some of them did not care whether they would earn more profit or not. But, eventually
those who saw that this project would uplift their living standards, supported it.
• What are other income options available?
Other income options included the profit from the intercrops and working in a nearby factory.

• Why did the farmers agree to support this project?
Earlier, farmers used to work hard to gain minimal profit. For example, they grew 8 quintals of
rice per acre. Now, the selling price of 1 quintal of rice is Rs. 1400. So, they earned Rs. 11,200(8*
Rs. 1400) in which Rs. 5000 was the investment made. Hence only Rs. 6,200 was the profit per
acre for the whole year.
But, with the help of this project they can earn profits up to Rs. 2 lakhs.
For example- In a “Wade”, there are 112 mango plants which can produce 60 kgs of mango per
plant. The selling price of mango is Rs.
30/kg. So, the income would be Rs.
2,01,600 (Rs.30 *60*112) and the
investment being the labor cost which
would give profits up to Rs. 1,80,000.
Hence, there will be huge dierence in the
lives of the people of Rangamatia which
motivated them to support this project.

The main objective of the visit was to
enlighten us with one of the various ways
in which we can help our farmers.

"When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own 31 Volume-VII, 2019
self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness." - Joseph Campbell