Bajura, April 4

The barren land in Bajura has been irrigated and made ready for agro-farming after local farmers pumped water from the Karnali River to the remote village of Chhepi of Badhu VDC, of the district.

As many as four Non-Governmental Organisations Asia Networks for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB) Nepal, Mission East, ICCO Cooperation and Innovative Agro Solution (IAS) had technically and financially helped local farmers to irrigate the lands through solar power.

Solar panels with a capacity of 8.3 KW have been installed to pump water from the river. Around 14 bigaha land has vegetation in the village. The organisations, as their pilot project, have started to grow different crops in the village.

Field officer at ANSAB, Ram Shankar Dewadi, said 25 per cent share of the crops was segregated among the locals. A local, Dharma Lal Pandey, said, “Earlier, the lands were barren like desert, but water from Karnali River has made the dry lands fertile.”

It is said that saplings of tomato and chilly have been produced for the first time in the village. Dewadi said they were planning to export the saplings to foreign countries like Bangladesh. He informed that ANSAB targeted production of 50 kg tomato and one quintal chilly saplings in the first phase.

“We have agreed with Bangladesh’s Laltir Company Ltd for production of the saplings and the company’s staffers have technically supported the same,” he added.

The NGOs had reportedly studied the area beforehand for production of different seeds. Likewise, agro-farming has also started in Wai VDC following the same procedure.

The initiative of agro-farming is expected to soon relieve the locals from acute shortage of food.