Potato, tomato, brinjal, kundru, bitter gourd, barbatti, cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal, tomato and pea are now on the vacant land after paddy cultivation.
Raipur. 23 February 2021. The taste of both food and life of Sri Dika Prasad of Potka village in Surguja has changed. Now she is beginning to taste and enjoy more than ever in the hand craft of life partner Mrs. Lakshmania. And why don’t you come! Ultimately, these are their own farms, which Dika Prasad has grown for the first time in association with Lakshmania and is watered and decorated with water from her well made of MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). The life of this family has changed since the well was excavated in the enclosure of the house from MNREGA. Now Dika Prasad has started being called vegetable producer farmer.
Dika Prasad and Lakshmania, a farmer from Potka, 20 km from Lakhanpur development block headquarters in Surguja district, live with their two children. This change in his life started about two years ago. Before digging the well, he was able to grow only the family’s paddy in the kharif season in the two-acre field adjacent to his house. Due to no means of irrigation, this land was lying vacant at the other time. Lakshmania also had to struggle hard for the daily water needs for the whole family. He had to fill the water with a public hand pump 300 meters from the house in the morning and evening.
On the initiative of Gram Panchayat, the construction of a well in Dika Prasad’s Bari opened the way to solve the problems of his farming and family. Two years ago, a well constructed at a cost of two lakh and ten thousand rupees from MNREGA started a change in his life. As the depth of the well was increasing, so did the light of their expectations. During the well drilling, his family also got 90 days of direct employment under MNREGA. This earned him a wage of Rs 15 thousand 840. The construction of the well was completed in December-2019 with the hard work of Dika Prasad, Lakshmania and eight other MNREGA workers of the village. As the follicle-making work moved towards perfection, Dika Prasad and Lakshmania also got their baris ready.
After becoming well, Dika Prasad grew potatoes, tomatoes, brinjals, kundru, bitter gourd, barbatti, cauliflower, cabbage, brinjals, tomatoes and peas in his garden last year. The family earned 15 thousand rupees by selling them in the market. The well water also helped in paddy cultivation and produced seven quintals of paddy. After the paddy crop this year, they have planted cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal, tomato and pea in the garden, which they have earned six thousand rupees by selling so far. Pointing to the vegetables grown in her garden, Lakshmania says that she used to buy vegetables from the market earlier. Now since the well has been made, since then it has been cultivated to break vegetables from its own fence. Every member of the family eats vegetable-vegetable grown with their hard work. At the same time, Dika Prasad says that for the first time in Bari, the income was earned from vegetable production, Bought an electric motor pump from him. With our hard work and wells made of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, we are hopeful for better future of children. By strengthening our livelihood, we can provide good education to both the children.
