Fruit plantations new way of earning income for tribals 

Now tribal farmers in Sundargarh are making good source of income by fruit plantation. Farmers are growing various types of fruit in order to have a sustainable source of income. The farmers are growing saplings of mango, cashew and lemon in their unused land. The Integrated Tribal Development Agency, ITDA Sundargarh provides necessary support to farmers for the same.

This fruit cultivation programme is operational in a total of 9 blocks under ITDA Sundargarh. Between 2020-21 to 2022-23, more than 1170 beneficiaries have been added to this initiative. Currently, over 1,900 acres of land is under mango, cashew and lemon farming. During FY 2022-23, Lemon grass cultivation is also being promoted as part of the plantation programme.

Currently, 794 beneficiaries have planted mango saplings on about 1256 acres of land. Similarly, more than 250 beneficiaries have cultivated cashew on 450 acres of land, while 90 tribal farmers have cultivated lemon on 140 acres of land. For the first time, 40 beneficiaries have cultivated lemon grass on 60 acres of land.

“Fruit Cultivation is one of the long-term programmes of ITDA Sundargarh. It has been envisioned to financially empower tribal farmers in the area. By adding Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to the programme, the local villagers are also able to earn a living. We aim to spread the programme to other areas in the coming days”, informs Ramkrishna Gond, Project Administrator ITDA Sundargarh.