It’s rags to riches story for these villagers

Jambida(Jamnagar): Amba Bharwad of Jambida village, having a population of around 450, could not even think of owning land till 1995. He barely earned Rs 40,000 a year by grazing cattle. Cut to 2008: He is one of the richest farmers in the village taking home Rs 5 lakh a year by h a r ve s t i n g three crops a year on his own 15-acre land. His two sons are studying in good schools in Rajkot and Junagadh. Water harvesting with 30 small and medium checkdams constructed after 1995 in and around Jambida has helped script many rags to riches stories like Bharwad’s. Such has been its turnaround, that Jambida village in Dhrol taluka has become a study model for students of Masters in Social Work (MSW) of Gujarat Vidyapith. “We worked very hard but, we didn’t have water for irrigation. In fact, we didn’t even have drinking water 12 years ago. But now, we don’t have to worry much even in summers,” said Bharwad. The efforts for water harvesting were initiated by Arjunsinh Jadeja — an employee of Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in Rajkot — and his team about 13 years ago in this village. Jadeja, 45, is a native of Jambida. Once a stony expanse of land, one can now fetch water at just 20 ft depth, making Jambida a living example of how effective implementation of watershed programmes can bring prosperity to all community members living in the village irrespective of caste and community. Moreover, the cotton produce here was 60,000 kg a year. Today, one farmer alone produces 52,000 kg a year. In fact, Jambida is an oasis in this arid area of Dhrol taluka where nearby villages are still struggling for drinking water. “We made it a point to give equal priority to everyone while implementing watershed programmes so that the fruits of prosperity reached one and all,’’ Arjunsinh said. Interestingly, Jambida has around 500 tribals living on various farms and doing farming on a lease basis. “This could not have happened without water harvesting in our village,” adds Arjunsinh added. Ranjitsinh Jadeja, a farmer, says, “Our income increased 100 times after checkdams were constructed.” Now that Jambida’s farmers are making a good living after the water harvesting programme, they have also started acquiring agriculture land in nearby villages. “Jambida farmers have bought around 500 bighas (200 acres) of land since the programme,’’ says Ajitsinh Jadeja, living in Hadmatiya village adjacent to Jambida.

He is no less than Rain God to parched Rajkot villagers

Upleta (Rajkot): As soon as Premji Patel’s car enters Meshpur village in Rajkot district, people rush to give him a warm welcome. The reason — the octogenarian has made it his mission to bring water to parched villages using check dams. He has been instrumental in building 1,600 check dams in 27 villages in Rajkot district. For villagers, Premji Patel, better known as Premjibapa, is no less than God. “He has changed our lives entirely by helping us construct 45 check dams in our village,’’ says Meshpur sarpanch Rajendrasinh Jadeja. “Before he came to our village, we were facing acute shortage of drinking water and had to rely on government tankers. Now, farmers harvest three crops a year,’’ he adds. Each month, Premji donates Rs 50,000 and has contributed Rs 1.5 crore so far to this cause. He also provides free cement to farmers through his Vruksh Prem Seva Trust to construct check dams. His son is an industrialist in Ahmedabad who supports his father’s efforts financially. Says Premji, “According to government guidelines, there has to be an engineer to construct a check dam. But, I believe that farmers are rustic engineers and can best decide the site for a check dam, using their traditional knowledge.” The government’s ‘Watershed’ programme to build check dams is based on public partnership. People have to contribute at least 10 per cent. However, he has managed to get 20, and even 30 per cent contribution from villagers. As farmers benefit greatly from check dam construction, they are more than willing to chip in. And, this has increased the scale of work greatly. “I could barely earn Rs 45,000 from my 10 acres of land before 2003. Now, I earn Rs 3 lakh a year. Landless labourers no longer need to migrate from our village as they are able to find employment in construction of check dams,’’ says villager Ramesh Kandoria. “Earlier, farmers in our village had to migrate to cities like Surat for livelihood. They had land, but no water. But now, this has stopped, thanks to Premjibapa’s efforts,’’ says Girdhar Satasiya of Boriya village. At least, 20 youngsters who had found employment in Surat’s diamond industry have returned as they feel they can earn better from agriculture and have a better life in their own village, Satasiya adds. A distributor for a big textile unit, Premji Patel moved from Upleta taluka, 350 km from Ahmedabad, to Mumbai. But, unhappy with the lifestyle in the metro, he retired from business in 1987 and plunged into afforestation and water harvesting projects in Upleta.

Vadia girls not allowed in school

Vadia (Banaskantha): The state government’s ‘Kanya Kelvani’ drive kicked off across the state recently to enrol girl students in schools. But, Krishna, Rajni and Shagar of Vadia village in Tharad taluka, Banaskantha district, are worried that they may not get admission in boarding schools in the state this year too, because of their village’s infamous image. Needless to say, the girls were forced to discontinue their studies and hope for better luck next year. Vadia has a poor reputation because girls from its Sarania community are engaged in prostitution. Residents of neighbouring villages and even bureaucrats share this image. Families in the village push their daughters into prostitution - wives are spared. At present, 130 girls of the village are sex workers. Different agencies have tried to stop this practice and help the girls join mainstream society, but without success. The reason - people’s perceptions of these girls remains negative. “Last year, we sent five girls from this village to enrol in boarding schools, so that they would stay away from the traditional family profession. However, the educational fraternity rejected them. Schools said the girls would not change their ways and adversely affect the culture on their campuses,” says social worker Sharda Bhati, who has been trying to help Vadia women for the past four years. Confirms a villager, “When we approached boarding schools in the district they refused to give our girls admission saying they would spoil the school’s atmosphere.” Ramesh Sarania’s son Chandra is the first boy from the village to reach class VIII. He is studying in a school in Sidhpur and stood second in class this year. Says the proud father, “If only our girls were also given a chance to study, at least the next generation could stay away from prostitution.”

Potato glut gives food for thought

Modasa:Trust everyone in Gujarat to have an entrepreneurial spirit. It’s the only spirit that runs in the blood of people in this dry state. About 50 farmers from different districts in the state have pooled in Rs 1 lakh each to launch their own company to export commodities like potatoes, groundnut, cotton, mangoes etc. KP Agri International Pvt Ltd aims to export agri-commodities to foreign countries and is getting a lot of support from the Gujarati diaspora settled abroad in the Gulf and Africa. The group of farmers has already visited Dubai last month to tie up deals. “We have lined up agencies which will accept our products and we are now in talks with ports in Mundra, Kandla, Pipavav and others to select an export hub,” says company’s director, Maganbhai Patel of Modasa, who expects a massive Rs 50-crore turnover in the first year itself. If everything goes well, the first containers of potatoes will be heading for Dubai in the next 20 days. In fact, the glut caused by a bumper potato crop in north Gujarat, which forced many farmers to just destroy the produce, germinated the idea of farmers setting up their own export house. “Exports will always fetch better prices. We still have hundreds of tonnes of potatoes lying in cold storages,” says another share-holder, BK Patel, a farmer in Sabarkantha. All 50 members have been divided into sub-committees which will handle different crops. “We have already distributed seeds of cotton and groundnut to more than 700 farmers and assured them that we will purchase their crops,” says chairman of the company Ratibhai Patel.If this experiment succeeds, then it will be replicated by farmers across Gujarat.