Upendra Bhukta* from Lodha Community of Nedam village in Odisha has set an example to show how he changed the land-use practice and had helped in fulfilling the daily need of nutritious vegetables for his family. It is more surprising to see that Upendra Bhukta has learnt organic farming. This also enhances the scope of his earning by selling the surplus of the vegetables in the nearby market especially during the COVID 19 pandemic period.
Traditionally, sabai-rope making has been the primary occupation of the Lodha community. Collection of tassar cocoons and sale of firewood are other avenues of supplementing their meagre income. Though, recently they have shifted their occupation to cultivation and collections of forest produces. They also go for wage earning which is one of the main occupations of Lodh .
As Upendra did not have a proper way of earning, he was suffering from poverty and malnourishment; hence for meeting the immediate need he learnt the skills of organic farming from IBRAD (Indian Institute of Bio Social research and Development) under the ARAMBH Program. Soon after the completion of the training Upendra got motivated and established a nutrition garden of land adjacent to his homestead area. The land which otherwise remained fallow for most of the time of the year is now used for cultivating different types of vegetables like brinjal, corn, bitter gourd, angled gourd and various leafy vegetables around the year.
As a result of this, he has now started earning some income from his garden. He not only sold 16 kg bitter gourd, 12 kg corn, 12 kg brinjal, 20 kg angled gourd, 15 kg luffa but also had enough for his own consumption of these non-toxic vegetables. He is now also associating himself with mustard cultivation.
The money which he is earning by selling vegetables may not be very high in quantity to start with but it gives him the strength for further activities and encourages starting production at a large scale and changing the land use practices accordingly. Apart from this, he has developed the skill to produce vegetables in organic manner by using the locally available materials.
** Here pseudo names are used so that their identity is not disclosed.
