Youth see greener pasture in organic farming

By: Pragati Prava

Migration of tribal youths in Malkangiri district to far-off places like Hyderabad and Bangalore in search of livelihood continued to rise over the years. They used to work as bonded labourers and often end up getting tortured in the hands of their employers hogging media headlines. But the growing popularity of organic agriculture concept has heralded some bright prospects for the fleeing jobless youths of this district.

Earlier, farmers used to boost soil fertility by applying chemical fertilizers. But, of late, organic farming, a system that strives for the enhancement of soil fertility by prohibiting synthetic pesticides, antibiotics and chemical fertilizers has received overwhelming response from the farmers’ community. This has generated quite a few scopes for the youths who had been struggling to meet ends.

One such opportunity is to become self-reliant through vermi-culture, a method of composting waste material through earthworm and other worm species, to enhance their earning. This has prevented mass exodus of jobless youths to other states in search of work.

Daiguda is one such village in Dalapatiguda panchayat of Mathili block where the jobless youths have achieved self-sufficiency through production of vermin-compost.

In the beginning, only five vermiculture projects were launched in the village and six unemployed youths were engaged. It came up under Rainfed Area Development (RAD) Scheme on behalf of watershed mission of soil conservation department. These six youths were trained and taken to various regions of KBK districts to gain field experience. They set up their projects under RAD scheme after having enough experience. They were first given 30 poly beds – each bed producing nearly seven quintals of compost after three months. This made them earn Rs 2.10 lakh from the compost and another Rs 50,000 from the earth worms in just three months.

In a bid to expand their business, they bought two cattle of Jersey breed and replaced their poly beds with beds made from brick and cement. The total capacity of these beds would be around 50 tonnes, claimed the youths.

Meanwhile, the youths’ success story was taken note of by the district administration and the officials took a decision to establish a vermiculture unit in the village.

The project director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), during last fiscal, asked the watershed mission to construct at least 100 vermicompost beds.

The other villagers got trained on the methods of vermicompost production and were taken to other centres to acquire field experience. Their hard work and sincerity turned the project a success.

No wonder, the district administration recommended the project to get award at national level. The award panel expressed satisfaction on the project, especially on the mass participation.

To produce compost, the youths are using cow dung, mahua leaves and straws which they used to torch earlier.

Dalapatiguda sarpanch Damu Nayak and Daiguda village chief Sana Burudi said the project has solved the bonded labour problem in the village.

The project now helps nearly 100 families of the village and each of earn more than Rs 3,000 a month while the farmers in the area are no more using synthetic fertilizer to increase soil fertility.

Talking on the benefits of vermicompost, Dr Jagatbandhu Mohapatra, project coordinator, India for Eco-Food Campaign, said, “Vermi compost enriches soil in the most natural and organic manner and also increases the quality, fertility and mineral content of the soil. Unlike chemical fertilizers that destroy beneficial micro-organism, the organic fertilizer is completely harmless and provide rich organic soil that is best for plants.”

Dr Mohapatra further added, “It is high time the government came up with more schemes to provide ample scopes to the youth to take to entrepreneurship with vermicompost production. This will not only make them economically self-reliant, but promote organic farming in their respective areas.”