CHAKIPARA, Feb 6 - Anybody who presently walks along the �kachha� road of Chakiapara, a remote village under Burhi nagar Gaon Panchayat in Sipajhar of Darrang district, for a moment there would be elusion in the mind that the farm land of the village has been covered under a huge yellow carpet. And yes, such an amazing impression of a landscape is created by the sea of yellow flowers blossomed on the grown up plants of mustard oil seeds. Thanks to a group of 16 women of that village who have transformed about 15 bighas of unutilised farm land into such a beautiful landscape with a possible ending of economic empowerment for each of them in days to come.
Majority of them are married and semi-educated, but there are a few others who are unmarried and highly educated ranging in between the age group of 25 years to 55 years. They are different in age, marital status or community, but they are united in empowering their weak economic status. They are very much determined to achieve a good harvest of 120 to 150 kg of oil seeds per bigha and earn a total of nearly Rs 70,000.
�We were thinking of earning for ourselves and help our families, taking time out of our day-to-day routine. Then we came in contact with a team of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Darrang, in November last and thus we were motivated to produce mustard oil seed in a plot of land which has been left unused following the harvest of Sali paddy,� said Sewali Kalita, one of the 16 women.
�We have received high yielding variety of seeds, pesticides apart from necessary technical guidance from Krishi Vigyan Kendra,� said the highly qualified housewife Sewali.
On being asked about the preparation of land for sowing of seeds, Beauty Kalita replied, �The land was prepared with the help of hired private tractors. The other works like spreading of cow dung, removal of weeds, protecting the field from cattle and birds are done by us.�
�However, the biggest threat came from the long-persisting dry spell and no water supply with defunct local irrigation projects namely Kalpani FLS, Niz Sarabari deep tube well etc.,� added Premalata Saharia Kailta.
Rinkumani Phookan, a young scientist of the KVK, Darrang, pointed out that they have taken up the village for mustard oil seed production as a part of their programme of �Cluster Demonstration on Toria� for the Rabi season 2016-17. �Toria is a kind plant which is very similar to that of mustard plant. However, it is very much suited in the environment like that of our state with a better production expectance. We have covered a total area of 20 hectares in as many as seven villages of the district. But project in Chakiapara is unique because here only the women have been involved aiming their equal economical empowerment as their male counterparts.�
She expressed her satisfaction regarding the growth and flowering of plants in Chakiapara village in spite of necessary rainfall and water supply and has expected a better harvest in comparison to that of the earlier mustard products in the area achieved by male farmers.
�We have applied high yielding seed variety TS-38, from which we can expect more than 120 kgs per bigha unlike the previous average production in the locality ranging from 60 to 80 kgs with the application of M-27 old seed variety,� she added.