Kharko Chhaano to Tinko Chhaano
Kalasi Rawal (30), a hard working farmer by occupation, lives with her husband and three children in a small house on top of the hill at Bheriganga-2, Sisneri, Surkhet. The only source of income for the people in that area and her house was to collect stones from the nearby river or do occasional laboring, which too was seasonal. The work was very tiresome and paid less. These types of earning was not sufficient for running her daily chores. She does have 12 ropanies of land, but due to scarcity of water and distant water source, her production was limited to monsoon season. Meantime, seeing the water need, Anukulan project selected her village to construct gravity MUS. Though MUS had fulfilled her water requirement for household and kitchen garden, it still was insufficient to irrigate her whole land.
Anukulan project had also formed a farmer group among the MUS beneficiaries. She says, “At first not expecting much, I agreed to be a member of Sisneri Women Farmer Group. But when I participated in the Off-season Cucumber Production training and learned from the staffs that there are technologies such as drip irrigation and mulching that can help produce vegetable using very minimal water. That night I didn’t get sleep out of excitement, thinking that I can sell vegetables using those technologies. The very next day, I asked Bimal Sir (Agriculture Technician) to help me get a Drip irrigation set and a Silpauline plastic.
He called a CBF from Madhyapaschim and informed him about my check list. The next day CBF, brought all my stuffs and I paid him right there. I get help from Anukulan staff in construction and layout of poly tunnel to raise off-season cucumber. In first season, I earned Rs.14,000 by selling cucumber in just 4 Dhur (about 60 sq.m) of land. I also earned Rs.18,000 fromcauliflower and Rs.12,000 from tomatoes by cultivating in 3 ropanies (1500 sq.m) of land. This year, I had added 2 High Tunnels to produce monsoon tomatoes using Integrated Pest Management practices. Beside this, I am also raising seedling of chili, tomato and cauliflower to plant them in 6 ropanies of land.” All thanks to her hard work, in Anukulan-X she has been selected as a “IPM demonstration farmer”. She now uses the complete IPM package for high value crops in her field and also teaches other farmers.
She says, “I am very thankful to Anukulan project, that I am able to raise crop and earn money from my, previously, arid land. I use this income in children’s education, food, health care and smart agricultural technologies. Now, my husband income goes to our total saving which we are thinking to replace our Kharko chhaano (traditional roof) with tinko chhaano (Galvanized roof).”