A Dry Zone green oasis
BY CHANDANI Jayatilleke in Anuradhapura
SISIRA Kumara and his wife sit together in a tiny room in their brick
house and sort out big onions, grade and pack them in bags of two
different colours - the red bag for the Dambulla market and the white
bag for Colombo.
The renovated tank |
Sisira and a group of other villagers of Poowarasankulama, a tiny
hamlet in Anuradhapura district, have harvested a substantial yield of
big onions this season.
They have also done away with middlemen and now transport their
produce to the main markets by themselves.
During the big onion season, which runs for about two months in a
particular kanna, these villagers send two lorries of onions to Colombo
and Dambulla on a daily basis.
A woman sorting big onions |
This is a clear indication of how farmers have gained much by
cultivating a new crop, with the help of the Dry Zone Agricultural
Development Project (DZADP) funded and implemented by the European
Commission (EC) and Care International.
Following the arrival of the EC/Care project, the farmers of
Poowarasankulama, a village about 10 kms away from the Anuradhapura
town, organised themselves.
Interestingly, many members of the new organisation are women. In
addition to their traditional housewives' and mothers' roles, these
women are actively engaged in farming and agriculture, thanks to the EC
project.
Baladakshamawatha farmers in front of their Resource Centre |
Sisira Kumara, one of the members of the Farmers' Organisation says,
"Our farmers were educated on big onion cultivation through this project
and we are immensely benefiting from this crop now."
They started in a small way but now they have a large area of about
60 acres.
"We were given training on farming and marketing. Now our focus is on
market-oriented agriculture. And we have a fair knowledge of what crop
should be cultivated in each season, depending on the water supply and
the dry climate which prevails in this area," said a woman farmer.
As fertiliser, they use compost and cowdung. Chemicals are used only
if necessary.
A few years ago, the villagers used to sell cowdung to traders for
peanuts not realising the value of the organic fertiliser in their own
agriculture.
"We used to sell cowdung to the traders, mostly from the North. But
now we use it in our own farms," the woman farmer adds. The villagers
have also built agri-wells. In addition, they get water from the
Malwathu Oya.
The project has helped empower the villagers in many ways. "As we
transport the harvest to Colombo and Dambulla on our own, and dispense
with the middlemen, we make a reasonable profit," says Sisira.
Three years ago, this village had only about five two-wheel tractors.
Now there are 44 and over 100 motor cycles. Because of the profit they
made due to the focused farming and marketing concept, they could
purchase more tractors and motorcycles.
Transport is a major issue for the villagers. They mostly use motor
cycles and tractors.
Renuka Seneviratne - Production Assistant (Agriculture Research) who
works closely with these farmers, said that she personally gained much
through the project. "I am grateful to this program, I personally learnt
a lot in farming and marketing.
This knowledge I have been sharing with the farmers in the village. I
would be able to inspire many others in the future too," she adds. R.D.
Vinitha, an Animator attached to the project, said she has developed a
mango nursery and several other crops in her home garden.
"I got myself trained through this project. I learnt about various
techniques in agriculture and remedies to issues such as soil erosion,"
she says.
Vinitha shares her knowledge with a large community. Even, schools in
the area send their students to her nursery for education.
"People benefit a lot from my own experience," a proud Vinitha says.
Womens participation in these programs is much higher than mens in
this village. At the same time they also play the role of housewife and
mother. Their time management is remarkable indeed.
Under this project, EC and Care have chosen a marginalised and
resourceless villages for development. In the implementation process,
Care is being supported by various Government and non-governmental
organisations.
The project which started in 1999, would be completed at the end of
this year, benefiting 16,000 families.
We also visited Helambagaswewa, a remote village about 25 kms from
the Anuradhapura town.
"This village was quite underdeveloped and its resources were
minimal," says Chamila Jayashantha, Care Team Leader, Anuradhapura, of
the DZADP.
The President of the Farmer Organisation in Helambagaswewa, Shaul
Hameed, said their village did not have a farmers' organisation till
2003. Under the EC/Care project it got involved in a lot of projects.
Eventually a farmers' organisation was formed. The young and the old
have got together to fight for one cause, improved farming.
"Our village does not have much facilities for education, and we all
ended up being farmers. Our children could not go for higher education
as there were no facilities nearby. Agriculture was the only thing that
we knew.
But unfortunately, we did not have sufficient water to continue
farming," lamented Hameed. Under the EC/Care project, the village tank
was renovated at a cost of Rs. 772,206, to which DZADP contributed Rs.
615,453. With the rehabilitation of the tank, the cultivable area was
expanded to 45 acres.
During a training program, the farmers in the village developed the
Integrated Watershed Management Plan for their tank. They have also
started a special fund to be used in future tank maintenance work.
"But, the water is still to come. Although Anuradhapura was flooded
after the monsoon last year, this village did not get sufficient
rainfall to fill the tank," the villagers say.
At present, the villagers (all Muslims), cultivate corn, pumpkin, big
onions, mango and paddy. Interestingly, many youth have taken to farming
here, following the encouragement they got from Care officials. There
are 38 members in the Farmers' Organisation, from the 35 families in the
village.
"We want to develop the Farmers' Organisation into a much larger one
by 2010," Hameed says.
There are 40 agri wells in the village now, but water for farming is
still a problem.
"If the tank is full, the water can be used to cultivate about 90
acres and used for three months," says Hameed.
The village has no electricity. And people have to walk a few
kilometres to get to the nearest bus stop. The dusty roads are in
terrible condition. Probably no politician has visited this village
except on a 'vote begging' mission.
Interestingly, the villagers speak both Sinhala and Tamil. This is
because they learn in Sinhala in the village school and speak Tamil at
home. The villagers have no objection to studying in Sinhala, because
their children can learn two languages at the same time.
Next we visited a village called Baladakshamawatha, which is rather
closer to Anuradhapura town, where women folks have taken the lead in
constructing a Resource Centre.
The two storeyed centre has a library with information in
agriculture. It has audio and video equipment and a facility to lend
agricultural equipment to needy farmers. Needy farmers use the centre as
a sales outlet for village produce.
The centre has a computer class and a montessori school too. It also
conducts cultural shows. To construct the Resource Centre they got about
Rs. 200,000 from the EC in two stages.
"But the villagers as a unit have done much more than that money
could have done. With our human resource contributions, the building
would cost about Rs. 750,000. All members in our families have done
their maximum to put up the building," says Champika, one of the key
persons who were in charge of the construction work.
"After Care came to this village, our people's attitudes have changed
remarkably. And now everybody thinks of doing well in their livelihood
and providing a good education to their children," Champika says. They
have also purchased equipment to be lent to farmers who cannot afford to
hire such equipment at the prevailing high rate.
However, water for agriculture is an issue in this village too. As a
remedy, the villagers have begun to harvest rain water with the
assistance of a community organisation.
Their Farmers' Organisation has 35 members, many of them are young
women. K. Pathmasiri, President of the organisation said they were
planning to find money to set up a rice mill so that they could start
milling their paddy and selling rice at a better rate.
"If we are to sell paddy, we do not get a good price, although the
Governments makes various promises," he says.
However, he adds that they need the state assistance to make this
dream comes true.
In all these villages, we met men, women and children who have made
great contributions to their own communities.
They face trying natural and man-made conditions, but they are
winning the battle with the helping hand of the EC/Care project. |