Bhopal: A farmer from Jhijhan village in Madhya Pradesh named Mohar Singh wanted to plant an orchard in his field but didn’t have any knowledge of it. When he became a ward panch (a local representative), he came in contact with the officials of the Agriculture Department. Later, he got the information about the government’s various schemes regarding plantations of orchards; he started planting an orchard in his field, which proved a boon to him.
He further added that after winning the ward panch election, he had to attend several village meetings as a local representative. He got the information from the officials of the Agriculture Department about orchard planting. After that, he realized the benefits of it and decided to go ahead with it.
Mohar Singh did all the hard work and planted about 75-80 seasonal trees per bigha (measurement of land), around 160-170 fruit trees. Although some plants did not grow, most of them survived and started producing fruits. The Agriculture Department also encouraged him to plant trees. He hired several workers to help him and take care of the trees as well.
He said the plants started giving fruits after three years, and at present every tree has been producing around 70-80 kg of fruit, which is sold for about 50 to 80 rupees per kg in the market. This gives him a hefty amount of money. Orchards need less water, and the cost of setting them up is a one-time investment, and once the fruit comes in, there’s no need to spend money. Occasionally, farmers have to spray medicine on the trees.
