GUWAHATI, April 24 � With an aim to augment the income of the small and marginal farmers, the Lions Club Guwahati Care distributed 6,000 saplings of fruit bearing plants to 600 families of Borka village of Kamrup district today.
The NGO has adopted the village, which is 40 kilometre�s from Guwahati, six months back, as a part of its �Reach out villages� programme.
The Lions Club Guwahati Care, one of the premier NGOs with 63 members is working for the cause of environment care. A seminar was also organised at Guwahati today as a part of the Earth Day celebrations by the NGO.
�A huge number of villagers took part in the programme that was flagged off by past international president of the Lions Club Mahendra Amarasurya. A team of the NGO also went for a field survey to monitor the results of the seeds and saplings distributed a few months back,� said Rajkumar More, past district governor of District 322D, Lions Club.
Borka have more than 700 families, majority being farmers. In an initiative to enhance their earnings, the club has taken this programme of supporting the farmers with hybrid vegetable seeds and hybrid fruit and wood plants that include cash crop and plants.
Vegetable seeds�and fruit plants were distributed in large quantity to villagers in a phased manner in January 2011 and March 2011.
�The response from villagers have encouraged us to support them consistently with technical know how on high yield crops. A mechanism has been developed to monitor the ground conditions and also the use and results of the materials distributed,� he added.
The NGO today also announced that it would introduce modern techniques of agriculture in the village and would help the farmers to adopt the new techniques. A nursery would also be raised in the village itself to help the farmers get the plants locally.
Sujit Bakhareria and Narendra Lodha of the club also extended their support in making the programme a success.
