• Bijay Kumar Singh

DHANUSHA: Dhirendra Kapar, 40, of Ganeshman Charnath Municipality-8, Dhanusha, used to shake hands a few years ago. He was running a family of at least six on a daily wage.

The Kapar family was going through a lot of hard work to make ends meet. Kapar had no choice but to support his family. He was forced to struggle to support his family due to lack of good food and shelter.

But now the Kapar family’s lifestyle has changed. The house that was about to collapse is now standing. Kapar is happy to send his children to private schools. The farming done on the banks of Kamala river between Dhanusha and Siraha has raised the living standard of 40 households including him.

The Janakpurdham-based Community Improvement Center (CIC) has been conducting agricultural farming under the Krishi Agro-Forestry Project on 6 bighas of upland land in Kamala River for the past two years. Forty local poor and extremely needy families are cultivating the land. UNDP is investing in the CIC project.

Farmer Kapar says that he has earned more than one hundred thousand rupees from farming in Bagar. He said that he has earned income from three farms in a period of two years. The income from radish, zucchini, melon and potato has been around Rs 1.5 lakh. Now I have planted melon as the fourth crop, ‘said Copper happily.’ It is nice to see melon seeds growing now. ‘

Local Rambabu Raut Danuwar is also enjoying farming in Bagar. Danuwar, who returned after working abroad for almost 11 years, is now relieved of his burden. ‘All the money I earned abroad was spent on my father’s treatment. Even that money could not save my father. A debt of Rs 1.5 million was added to the marriage of two daughters on the burden of money. Six years ago, they sold 15 blocks of land to pay off Sahu’s loan, ”said Danuwar.

Disappointed after returning from abroad, Danuwar has been earning around Rs 100,000 from eggplant farming alone. ‘Brinjal earned about Rs 100,000. The income has decreased due to insects in the kitchen. Otherwise, this time more than two lakh money would have come, ‘Danuwar added. He said that he has earned income from potatoes, vegetables, melons, radishes and sesame till now.

Now all the farmers in Bagar are busy sowing melon seeds. Most of the poor and destitute farming families, who used to make a living by working in other people’s fields, are now earning a decent income by farming in Bagar. They have also been assigned two agricultural technicians including JTE to facilitate them in farming. Farmer Shiva Chandra Thakur said that they are getting free seeds, food grains, agricultural implements and tools for farming.

Sanjay Kumar Sah, chairman of the Community Improvement Center Janakpur, said that the agriculture project was carried out on 6 bighas of river elevation land with the permission of the municipality. He informed that 40 local poor and extremely poor families have been given equal share of the land in the area. According to him, 200 mango trees have been planted on 6 bighas of land. Chairman Sah said that there is a plan to expand the project by making additional lands of Bagar cultivable.

Pawan Kumar Yadav, Program Coordinator of UNDP, said that he was happy to see the local poor and extremely poor families become self-sufficient in agriculture by cultivating bagar in a short period of time. UNDP, which is investing financially, will not allow shortage of seeds, fertilizers and agricultural inputs for the farmers of the project, said Yadav.