Small field, big crop
-
07/04/2009
-
Civil Society
Lakshman Oraon and his wife Sarla are no ordinary farmers. On less than an acre of land, they grow paddy, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Their crop of paddy has just been harvested and you can see the dry remnants sticking out of the soil. But they are getting ready for a second major crop. It could be wheat with mustard and pulses in the margins. Water harvesting structures at Mosodih village in the Seraikela- Kharsawan district of Jharkhand have given Lakshman and Sarla stable irrigation and moisture in the soil. Things began to change for Lakshman and Sarla when the Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS) embarked on land and water management projects with the support of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) under its Central India Initiative.