By: Varun Rattan Singh
Often we hear people saying in Himachal: “Nothing can be done hereâ€. These words have been abused to an extent that the very idea has become firmly engraved in minds of young people in Himachal. The basic idea of Young Guns column at HimVani, here is to break this thought process. So far, the kind of youngsters the column has covered, come from a city background with families to support them. The story, which follows is, of a novel and noble idea pursued from fancy to reality by two brothers belonging to a remote village in Himachal Pradesh.
Mahunag is a small village located on the periphery of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The nearest town is Karsog which is roughly 35 km from the village. Like most of the villages in the state, the civil infrastructure is well in place. Mahunag has a High School with nice small playground. There was even an eco-tourism club in the school. Other amenities such as drinking water supply, 24 hours electricity, forest rest house, rural telecom exchange, bus service, health centre are well in place. The visible signs of development were attributed to two local politicians, Mansa Ram and Mast Ram. Both belong to rival political parties and did their bit for the constituency when voted to power.
In spite of the development in the physical infrastructure and connectivity, the place is fairly remote. The remoteness was not just in distance but in our minds considering that there was nothing worthwhile for city sticklers like us to do. The best way to while away time was to strike a conversation. The chowkidar of the Forest Guest House was more than willing to oblige. The discussion meandered around various subjects till we chanced upon the income sources for the village. It came as a surprise to know that he was cultivating Broccoli. Vegetables are cultivated in Himachal to a large extent but mostly they are of a desi variety. To add to it, he was also cultivating other Chinese herbs. Four years back, Balanandra and Jayanandra, two brothers from the village came from Delhi. One was working as a manager in a hotel and the other was with a retail store. They started cultivation of Broccoli in their own fields. Their neighbours too got interested and started planting the exotic vegetable. Today the village produces almost 100 tons of Broccoli alone. Each bigha of land gives approximately five tons of Broccoli.
Broccoli
Broccoli fields, post harvest
It has now become customary for the brothers to come to the village in the month of April. They bring seeds of vegetables along with them. Then, another trip in the month of June is made to the village to pool all the produce. The produce is taken by them to Delhi where the going rate for Broccoli ranges from Rs 60 to 100 per kg, depending on the season. The farmers are paid between Rs 35 and Rs 60 per kg again, depending on the season, produce and quality of the vegetables. Man Singh who owns five bighas of land earns almost Rs 20,000 per bigha for an investment of Rs 3000 – 4000 per bigha.
A local forest official was however complaining. Though happy with the change in the economy of the place, he could not find labour to work in resin tapping work. He has to rely on unskilled labour from other parts of the state and Bihar who were making a mess of resin tapping operations. However, the local farmer is happy, as he gets a reasonable return for his produce. It also reduces his dependence on apple crop, which over the years has become increasingly unpredictable due to vagaries of nature.
During our short stay in the village, we could not meet the two brothers, but Man Singh was happy and attributed it all to them. Hopefully, we will see more Balanandra and Jayanandras who will take upon themselves to change the socio- economic conditions in their villages for better. Proving us all wrong who keep on harping ‘Nothing can be done hereâ€
Some photographs of Mahunag village
Mahunag Temple
Mahunag High School
BSNL Rural exchange
Forest Rest House
Devdar Eco Club Mahunag
HRTC Bus Service .
his is indeed a very good initiative and I pray for the success of Karsog farmers.
Farming in India is totally in clutches of aartiyas or middlemen. Farmer hardly gets 5% of the retail value and has to invest back this amount for the next crop. Practically farming is left with no money at all.
This is ironic that a farmer has no say at all to sell his produce. A soap manufacturer fixes a MRP of 10/- for his product and after deducting his cost and adding his profit sells it to the retailer for say 7/- but this never happens with a farmer in the supply chain.
Farming has become a loss making proposition today with costly inputs and very less returns. On the other hand the middlemen made money on farmer’s expense. To quote an example, the new generation of apple traders in Azadpur mandi in Delhi have made huge investements in reality sector and are big players in the builder industry.
How come the middlemen became richer and richer and the farmers are moving away from there land!!