Success story of Manipur's vegetable farmers

Imphal, May 17 : Villagers in Manipur are increasingly taking up vegetable farming and are reaping handsome profits from the venture.

Sixty five year old P. Manaobi Singh of Wangoi Thoudam Leikai in Manipur is a successful vegetable farmer.

After taking voluntary retirement from the state police, he has been managing his farm for the past 20 years.

Manaobi's 1.5 hectares of land is under vegetable cultivation. He grows a variety of vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflowers, onion, peas and tomatoes.

Manaobi also provides jobs to local people to help him and his wife during the peak-farming season.

He pays Rs.150 per day to those who work for him.

"After taking voluntary retirement, in order to support my family, I bought land to start farming," Singh said.

"It is not possible to do farming alone with my family on such a large scale. So, I hired people from the locality to help me out," he added.

Aided by the State Department of Horticulture and Soil Conservation, other farmers in the village like A. Sanahal and L. Dinamani have also taking up vegetable farming.

Farming equipment like diesel water pump-set, UV films, community tank, organic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides with sprayers and seeds are provided by the Technology Mission, Manipur to these farmers.

Recently, Manipur Governor Gurbachan Jagat and his team visited these farms to encourage the farmers.

"I'm very happy to say that these farmers are progressing like other farmers in other parts of the country," Jagat said.

"The state horticulture department provides seeds, insecticide, pesticide and fertilizers. I'm grateful to the horticulture department for helping me. But the only problem that we are facing now is scarcity of water," said A. Sanahal, a vegetable farmer.

Such endeavors by the farmers in the area have enabled them to generate an annual income of around Rs 2 lakhs.

"Not everyone can get a Government job. Farming is another option for self-employment. It helps us lead a simple life without many problems. If we have a lot of money, militants will harass us with monetary demands," said P. Manaobi Singh, a vegetable farmer

"If more families devote their time farming vegetables on a large scale, they can make more than 1.5 lakh annually by marketing their produce even outside the state," said L. Dinamani Singh, a vegetable farmer

Such inspirational efforts will go a long way in motivating others to undertake new ventures to become self-reliant.