Sponsor seeds and fertilizers for an underprivileged tribal farmer by Janmitram Kalyan Samiti

Appeal Manjhi family goes from being debt-ridden to making Rs.76,000/- in a year!

Appeal Manjhi is 52 years old. He belongs to the Manjhi tribe and lives with his family in a little village called Puri.

Puri is a small village in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. The Manjhi tribe depends on the forest for their livelihood. The area is rich in non timber forest produce. Appeal family used to work in the forest. But most of their produce went to a few businessmen at a nearby town called Kudumkela.

This was the reality for most of the Manjhi tribals in Puri. The businessmen in Kudumkela provided cash, clothes, and other requirements on loans. The loans were repaid with forest produce.

This led to the family living hand to mouth. They longed to live without having to worry about their next meal. Their problems became worse when Appeal son, Rajnikant got addicted to alcohol.

It was during this time that Janmitram started the agriculture development program in their village. They worked to make better use of the degraded and waste land by developing horticulture and vegetable promotion.

Appeal wanted to take their help and develop his land. However, the program failed as villagers were unwilling to cooperate with Janmitram.

But Appeal vowed to change this with help from Janmitram. He planted fruits and vegetables on whichever parts of the land he could. In the first year, the produce was not good. Puri was a place where open grazing was common which affected his crops.

His son Rajinikanth also squandered the minimal earnings they received on alcohol.

In spite of all this, nothing could derail Appeal from the path he chose.

With the support of Janmitram, he brought up the issues he faced with open grazing in the panchayat. He erected a fence around his land. *Janmitram helped Appeal choose crops that improved soil such as sunflower, pea and cauliflower. He erected a hut in the field and kept around the clock vigil. He then helped his son stop his alcohol habit with constant motivation and got him to work on the farm with him. *

All the hard work paid off and that season he sold a whopping Rs. 76,000 worth of vegetables.

His farm inspired those around him. In the next season, many other residents of Puri replicated Appeal farm. Most of them enrolled in the Janmitram program and succeeded in earning well.

Over time, more and more villagers began to shift to agriculture until the old system was completely done away. In 2016, the whole village produced 26 tons of onion alone!

f you do good, things will turn good for you,says Appeal, with a toothy grin.

Appeal Manjhi appeal in Puri is now unanimous. He is however, most proud of his son Rajinikanth who left alcohol and turned into a passionate farmer.

Your help can transform many more villages like those of Puri. You can donate so that the poor farmers can get resources to start farming and get out of the cycle of debt. You can give with confidence because every program listed is [GIVEASSURED] (https://monthly.giveindia.org/giveassured).