A green challenge to red brigade

His efforts paid off with agriculture now becoming the mainstay of farmers who had once left the land barren for fear of Maoists. Maize,wheat,potato and guava yield has doubled and women have left the kitchen for the fields.

Manoj first convinced farmers about the zero expenses involved and the need to use biological compost. He also had to wean away several of them from playing cards and wasting time. The club gave him access to farmers of over 150 villages under 20 blocks and helped him reach the district administration and banks to farmers.

Woman farmers,who have not yet shed their veils,have also come out to become club members. They want to know how to optimize their agriculture yields and are very keen to learn the grafting method. Some of them successfully planted mango,lemon and guava using the method. The club has 50 woman members.

The farmers use the srividhi method maintaining eight-inch distance between two plants for optimal growth to grow rice as well as the alternate cropping technology in which two-three crops are grown at the same time. They grow five crops in an year,including high quality guava,mango and litchi.

All this is the result of Manojs perseverance in villages where people had virtually given up because of the Naxal threat and little government help reaching them.

Places like Tengrari,Ranikeda and Paigampur surrounding Minapur are the worst hit by Naxal violence. A landlord and three members of his family were killed by the ultras only one-and-a-half years ago.

With construction of approach roads speeding up during the last five years and the state government focusing on education and health services,Manoj found the conditions perfect to form the farmers8217; club. As he had been taking up farmers8217; causes,teaching them new agriculture methods,he never came in direct confrontation with the ultras.

We have over 100 trained farmers to interact with farmers in several villages on rotation,we do not pose any threat to them. Our theme to get maximum from our land using natural compost and using latest methods, said Manoj Kumar.

Thanks to Manojs efforts,the district administration has started helping farmers with high quality seeds and technology.

Surendra Prasad,a farmer who benefitted from Manojs efforts,said: He helped us set up vermicompost units with help from SBI. Our per katha 136 sq ft yield of wheat has gone up from 60 kg to 100 kg in the last four years.

Prasad said over 100 vermicompost units had come up in Mustafganj and the surrounding villages,thanks to the clubs efforts. It is now easy to convince banks,which now believe we can return loans,8221; he said.

Nirmala Devi,a woman farmer of Minapur,said: Now we know about 46 guava varieties. We only need a good market to earn more. A person having three-four acres of land is well-off. The grafting method for mango and guava has become very popular with woman farmers.

Manoj said his 15 acres of land now gives him an annual income of around Rs 5 lakh. When I took to cultivation,eight acres were mortgaged. I started with cultivation on only two acres. In subsequent years,I not only freed my eight acres but bought over five acres, said Manoj.

Rajmangal Prasad,another farmer,said: Manoj and the club members have given us special training on how to grow spices such as turmeric and ginger. For the first time,we learnt that there is seed treatment of turmeric as well.

He,however,rued the unavailability of a good market. We sell high quality guava at Rs 10-16 per kg here. But it sells at double the price at Patna.