Field Stories

Amidst the lush green forest in the foothills of Ajodhya Hill range lies a small village called Chirugora. The village has 121 households with a total population of 795 - 391 women and 404 men. Chirugora alias Chirudi comes under Baghmundi block of Purulia district, West Bengal.

“तोरपा FPO महिला किसान के विकास के लिए उत्क्रिस्ट कार्य किया है एवं आजकल किसानो को उचित मूल्य पर कृषि इनपुट सुनिश्चित करवाने एवं उनके फसल उद्पाद को बाज़ार व्यवस्था करवाने में FPO का सराहनीय योगदान रहा है |”   जीतेन्द्र मिन्ज, प्रखंड सहकारिता पदाधिकारी , तोरपा

One room, seven members in that – sleeping, eating, chatting – all there. Eating was less, especially during the months when their own crops would finish and there won’t be enough money to buy food. Muni Heprika, a woman belonging to the Kandha tribe from Karagadi village of Kolnara block in Rayagada district of Odisha, was brought up like this.

Diptimayee Nayak loves to eat fish. And, so do the other members of her six-member family, and most of the people living in Odisha (per capita fish consumption is 13.79kg/annum in Odisha, while the national average stands at 6.5 kgs per person).

Farmers of Nayagram block of West Bengal would work with all their might round the year to earn Rs.60,000 or so. That was all to meet their family expenses. Their crop looked exotic, but could never fetch handsome cash income from the local market.

Kadiganda, one of the remotest villages surrounded by dense forest in the Kandhamal district,has set a great precedent for others. Traditionally, the major source of livelihood was hunting in this area.

Ginger is an important cash crop cultivated by the tribal farmers of Odisha for their livelihood. Odisha is environmentally suitable for, and has the highest area under ginger cultivation in the tribal belt of Kandhamal, Koraput and Keonjhar.

Rayagada is a tribal populated district in the southern part of Odisha. Each year it gets around 1200 mm rainfall. The primary occupation of the people of Rayagada is agriculture followed by wage labor. Paddy is the dominant crop, primarily grown for consumption though cotton is also cultivated in large patches, for commercial purposes.

How it started Lakhimani Murmu, is an active member of Maniyardi Kadamjharna SHG in Maniyardi Village of Binpur II block of West Bengal. An ever-smiling Lakhimani, lives in a mud-house surrounded by forest, with her husband and two sons.

The remotest hamlet of Ranibandh Block, Chhatnigora, situated 90 km from the district headquarters of Bankura district of West Bengal.

Sumitra Devi is a farmer belonging to the Rakhiniketan self-help group of village Betulkhurd, Gola, in Jharkhand. Her family owns 3 acres of cultivable land but due to lack of irrigation facility and shortage.