It’s like a dry and desert land... the Malkangiri district in Orissa was rarely in the past considered by outsiders, including the people from other parts of the state, an ideal place for living. Nor was it recognised by the local poor tribals as a land with abundant resources to sustain livelihood.
However, things are changing very fast. Malkangiri is slowly transforming to become a place of activity via development of farmers through initiatives taken up by various government and non-government agencies.
People from the district who used to migrate to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in search of work, are now preferring to stay back to eke out their living very much in their own environment.
Thanks to the efforts of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), the district administration and Sahid Laxmana Naik Development Society (SLNDS) which have joined hands to address the issue of poverty by providing alternative livelihood to these people at their doorsteps.
The Wadi project implemented in since 2007 by Nabard through SLNDS has revolutionised the socio-economic life of the local people, most of whom are tribals. The project under which the farmers are provided with every possible support to undertake cashew and mango cultivation on their lands has seen not only the district nearly attending self-sufficiency in production of the two horticulture items but also developing the capacity to supply them to other major markets like Berhampur and Bhubaneswar in Orissa and border towns in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Brajen Kisku of MV-4 village had left home for Chhattisgarh and worked there in a brick kiln, He has earned `20,000 this year from his one-acre orchard where Nabard and SLNDS had planted cashew and mango saplings. He sold the mango at `35 per kg in the local market and raw cashew nuts at `60 per kg.
“The Wadi project has given me a new lease of life. Five years ago, I used to struggle for two square meals a day. But now I leading a decent life with my own income from the orchard,” says Kisku. Like Kisku, his neighbour Babulal Soren, Bhima Kabasi and Nirmal Hembram of Siadimal village and Ramachandra Darua of Chalanguda have reaped good harvests of fruits this season. According to Nabard assistant general manager, Malkangiri, Mr Subash Mangaraj, as many as one 1,000 orchards have come up in the district with the bank’s financial assistance and technological support. Experts guided the farmers on inter-cropping and inter-culture patterns in the orchards. This helped them to reap good harvests of vegetables and groundnuts.
Under its tribal development fund, Nabard has provided each beneficiary a non-refundable financial help up to `25,000 while SLNDS executed the programme on the ground. “In the beginning, it was an arduous task. The beneficiaries, most of whom are illiterate, were reluctant to work in their own field as they did not see any immediate profit in comparison to the money they earned in other states working as labourers. We had to do a lot of cajoling and finally they agreed to stay back and today they are quite happy,” says Bhaskar Behera, secretary of SLNDS.
The Wadi beneficiaries have formed at least 80 Udyan Vikash Samitis (UVS), each of them comprising 18 t0 20 members. Efforts are being made to form a cooperative society of these beneficiaries to facilitate collection and better market management of their produce.
“We are in the process of setting up of a cashew processing unit. The farmers who are selling raw cashew at `60 per kg, would get `600 per kg of processed nuts and the benefit will directly be deposited in the farmer’s account,” informs SLNDS secretary.
The fruits harvested by Malkangiri farmers were seen in great demand in the recently held fruit festival in Bhubaneswar.
Nabard has started Wadi project on a pilot programme basis in Malkangiri, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Nayagarh and Nuapada districts. Sources say it would be subsequently replicated in other districts of Odisha.