How green is my land - Maoists make us believe

KOLKATA/LALGARG: If you walk through the villages of Kankradhara, Dhansola, Bulagora or Banisole - all under Lalgarh police station area - you will find acres of greenery. Even five years earlier, these areas were considered to be the breeding ground for the Maoists. Kudos to an NGO - ‘The Society Balivera Offer’, and a project called ‘Wadi’ that has changed the complexion and the socio-economic condition of the people living in these villages.
“When they came and told me that they will give me land a provide support so that I can earn, initially, I didn’t believe as I had lost all faith in the Maoist movement. Since I had nothing to do as such, I agreed. I had only one condition that if I felt it was not viable and they are making false promises then I shall leave. After three years, I am earning but more importantly, I can feel that if I work hard I can earn more,” Mongol Tudu, who was once an active member of the Maoist movement, said.
Tudu, who now earns nearly 50,000 per annum from gardening and intercropping is not the only one. There are thousands of other tribal villagers in these three blocks who have benefited by this unique project. Farmers like Madan Tudu, Baidyanath Murmu or Satish Hembram who were once active members of People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) have now they have become full time farmers. “The trees have just started bearing fruits but I am earning right now from the crops that I cultivate through the year. Once the trees start giving fruits, my income will be doubled,” Baidyanath Murmu said.
‘Wadi’ in Gujrati means garden and under the project in 2012, the Union Ministry of Tribal Development had given 1000 acres of vested land to ‘The Society Balivera Offer’ and in these three years, this NGO has turned this barren land into lustrous greenery. “We have taken nearly 32 villages in three blocks- Lalgarh, Dharmapur and Ramgarh and nearly 1000 families and trained them with the basics of gardening. We then arranged for irrigation and supplied manure and organic fertilizer. We also did the fencing and arranged for soil conservation,” Satyajit Ganguly - the main man behind the project, said.
“Keeping in mind the market demand, we have asked the villagers to plant mainly two fruit trees - Cashew and Mango. We have asked them to plant some other fruit trees for fencing. The first phase of the project has entered the third year and it has just started bearing fruits. We have formed groups in each villages who will look after the production and the marketing. We will arrange for the buyers and once they start doing business in the proper way, we will leave the place. We have taken a target period of five years and are hopeful that they will be able to become financially independent by that time,” Ganguly said.
When asked who will be the potential buyers, Ganaguly said, “We have a list of Indian and foreign buyers and we have made the initial approach. They are interested because the entire agricultural process is organic and as there is no middleman, they can get the fruit at a much lower rate. We are hopeful that we will be able to get potential market for the products”.