The youth of Jharkhand’s Bedia tribe are setting a great example for the society.

It is said that if the spirit is strong, water can be extracted even by ripping open the chest of a stone. The youth of Bediya tribe living in Kurkutta, a village of tribals located under Dadi block of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, are giving meaning to this saying. He is successfully doing organic farming by making the stony land lying fallow for decades fertile. There is abundance of minerals in this area of coalfield. Here, the earth’s womb is filled with coal etc. in abundance. There are coal mines around Kurkutta, from where coal is excavated in tonnes. There was a time when the residents of Kurkutta were employed in the coal mines, but after the mining of coal from the mines near the village stopped, the people of the Bediya tribe started farming on the village lands.

By Sushil Swatantra

There are many closed stone quarries in the village, from where limestone was harvested and supplied to the cement factories established in the vicinity. Gradually, due to the closure of cement factories and coal mines, open mines started getting waterlogged. The people of the Bedia tribe living in the village collected rain water from the abandoned mines and converted them into a reservoir. Water from these reservoirs is now used for irrigation in agriculture. During one rainy season, so much water accumulates in the limestone mines that the Bediya tribals irrigate their fields throughout the year. Solar water pump has been installed to draw water from the mines. Green vegetables are being grown on stony land by tribal youth farmers through organic method. Tribal farmers are getting good profit by selling these vegetables in nearby mandis.

In this village of about two hundred families, people of the Bediya tribe predominate. Young farmer Baldev Bedia and his gotiyas (close family members) together do organic farming, poultry and fish farming on nine acres of ancestral land. In a conversation with ‘Dalit Dastak’, Baldev Bedia says that due to the stony plateau land, their lands were of no importance for the past several generations, but ever since the Bedia tribes have started farming, now this barren land is spewing gold. . He further says that tomato, capsicum, cucumber, okra, green pepper, bottle gourd and bodi pods grow well on this stony soil. The youth have also started lac cultivation for a few months.

Completely organic farming

The land of Kurkutta village is full of stones and pebbles. This is the reason that commercial mining of stone continued from here for a long time. Lime stone from this village was supplied to the cement factories operating in the nearby areas. Despite the rocky land, what makes the agricultural business of this village important is the completely organic farming being done by the Bediya young farmers here. Krishna Gope, a teacher working in the village, says that the farmers of Kurkutta’s Bediya tribe do not use any chemical pesticides or fertilizers in their farming. Cow-nectar and vermicompost are manufactured from cow dung in the form of manure in the village itself and they are used in agriculture only. Woman farmer Rinki Kumari says that to protect the plants from insects and fungi, an organic pesticide prepared in the village by grinding neem and dhatura leaves is used.

Use of modern agricultural methods

Kurkutta farmers are successfully growing a variety of vegetables on several acres of barren land with modern methods by installing greenhouses, dripping systems and solar irrigation pumps. The water collected in the closed stone quarries is taken to the beds with the help of modern dripping system. Green and fresh vegetables are being produced abundantly in abundance by using less water and using modern agricultural methods. Jharkhand is situated on the Tropic of Cancer and because of this, the sun’s rays fall straight and sharp on the earth. Young farmers have made polyhouses and greenhouses to protect vegetables from the scorching sun and pest attacks. Cucumber, capsicum, okra, green pepper, bottle gourd and bodi pods grow well in these greenhouses.

Best use of renewable energy

The rain water collected in the closed abandoned stone quarries is transported to the fields through motor pumps. The result of the young thinking of the young farmers is that they do not have to rely on electricity supply for irrigation, rather the motor pump is operated with solar energy. Apart from irrigation, solar energy is also being used to run lights and fans in farms and poultry farms. For this, solar plates have been installed on the open land near the mines. So much energy is produced from sunlight that all the equipment used for agriculture, poultry farming and lighting are being operated by solar energy.

Fish farming in abandoned mines

The stone quarries in which excavation work has now stopped, due to the accumulation of rain water, such quarries have turned into small and big reservoirs. Young farmers of Bedia tribe have started fish farming in the water stored in these stone quarries. A sizeable number of Rohu and Katla fishes are being reared in these mines. These fish are used for food and business.

Poultry is getting economic strength

Along with organic farming and pisciculture, poultry farming is also being done by the farmers. The business of poultry farming started with about two thousand chickens earns forty to forty five thousand per month from one unit. The business of poultry farming has become an important means of providing economic independence and strength to the tribal youth. Seeing the success of poultry farming, many new units are being started in the village. At present, the business of eggs has not been started in the poultry unit, but the farmers are earning well only by selling chicken. Chicken excrement or excrement is called beet in the local colloquial language. The tribal farmers are getting the additional benefit of doing poultry farming and organic farming together that chicken manure is used as manure in farming.

Normally 32 to 36 grams of beets are available from a hen in a day. It contains 40 percent moisture. This organic fertilizer is highly beneficial for vegetables. Horticulturist Rakesh Kushwaha explains that the amount of phosphorus in this manure is more than other fertilizers and this phosphorus works to increase the size of vegetables. The manure made from chicken droppings is completely organic and has no side effects. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium are found in poultry beet, which are very beneficial for plants. Farmers can also earn well by selling beets when there is more production of chicken beets.

Getting government and non-government help

Young farmer Baldev Bedia told that Jagruti Jal Umpushak Samiti, an organization of farmers of Bediya tribe of Kurkutta village, has been receiving financial assistance from time to time for drip system, solar plates, green house and motor pump by Jharkhand Government and Tata Trust. Training and technical guidance for advanced farming is also being given by the government.

Market challenge

The produce is being sold in local markets and vegetable markets. Farmers transport their vegetables for sale in the vegetable markets of Giddi, Religada, Nai Sarai, Ranchi Road and Ramgarh. The farmers doing organic farming do not get any special price in the vegetable market even after growing chemical poison free vegetables. By adding chemical fertilizers, the yield of vegetables is high and the vegetable is ready to be sold in the market in a very short time. On the contrary, the farmers who grow vegetables by organic method have less yield and the vegetables are prepared late. Vegetables grown by organic farming are safe for health but no different price is available for organic vegetables in vegetable markets. The farmers doing organic farming are forced to sell their goods at the same rate as the vegetables of the farmers who use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. If there is such an initiative by the government and the society that free from chemical poisons, safe for health and beneficial vegetables grown organically can get a slightly higher price, then organic farming will be further encouraged.

According to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1976 and incorporated by Act 30 of 2000, Bedia tribe is one of the major tribes of Jharkhand. Kurkutta village is situated in the same area of Jharkhand, where Bediya tribe is said to be the original place, although this is still an unproven fact. It is believed that the people of Bediya tribe had been living in a place called Mahudigarh since the primitive era. Then due to some reason migration started among the people of Bediya tribe and the people of this tribe spread in different parts of Jharkhand and Bengal. The Bediyas, who migrate to West Bengal, do the work of catching snakes, showing spectacles and selling herbs. Mahudigarh, which is said to be the original place of Bedia tribe, is located near Barkagaon in Hazaribagh district. Near Mahudigarh is the Mahudi mountain, on which rock-cut caves and ancient temples are still there. The hill on the edge of Kurkutta village is called Ranjhi and the other is called Tutki. These hills are part of the same Mahudi mountain range from where the Bedia tribes migrated to different parts of Jharkhand.

As long as the coal mines were operating smoothly, a large number of people of the Bediya tribe, residents of Kurkutta village, continued to work as coal workers. After the closure of coal mines and cement factories, the Bedia tribe has learned the skill of making their barren lands green and now agriculture is their main occupation. Like all other tribals, the people of Bediya tribe are nature lovers by nature. That’s why when they adopt agriculture as their profession, concern for environment, cattle and earth is also included in it. Integrated agriculture being successfully done by tribal youth in Kurkutta village is a unique example, in which various components of agriculture like production of crops and vegetables, cattle rearing, poultry farming, fish farming, use of renewable energy, sale of agricultural products from the market. activities have been integrated in such a way that they complement each other. Surviving the battle of survival against hunger and moving towards self-reliance, the story of young farmers of Bediya tribe of Kurkutta village inspires

The author is a freelance journalist and author. He is especially interested in ground reports and issues related to the deprived-exploited society. Dalits have been associated with Dastak since its inception.

Courtesy : Dalit Dastak

Note: This news piece was originally published in dalitdastak.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights