J. Longkumer
The Farmers’ Cell, SASRD, Nagaland University, Medziphema Campus, comprising of a team of teachers, conducted a two day training programme on Pest and Disease Management in Rice and Vegetables, Piggery and Poultry Management, Land use Capability Classification and Agri-biodiversity Conservation while the demonstration was on Home scale preservation of Fruits and Vegetables at Yongam village under Longleng district on 27th & 28th September 2006.
Yongam village in Longleng district is located 11 km from Longleng town comprising of 146 households with a population of approximately 800. There are three khels in the village namely, Aope, Veijong and Shaujong. The nearest market town is Longleng town. The village has two primary schools and the lack of a High School is creating a high incidence of school drop outs as many cannot afford to go to Longleng town for further schooling. There are no branch post office, telecommunication facilities and primary health centre. The lack of a primary health centre especially is causing extreme hardships to the villagers as they have to go to Longleng for even the basic medicines. When villagers get ill, they are carried to Longleng by their relatives on foot as there is no transportation facility at all. This is the major problem that the villagers face and their main concern is to get a health sub centre in their village.
However the team from Farmers’ Cell, SASRD, Nagaland University, Medziphema Campus observed that the electricity and water supply is adequate. Yongam is located in the foothills there is continuous water supply. An abundance of wild indigenous vegetables and fruits are also found in the village area as well as a number of indigenous rice, colocasia and maize crops.
The location of the village is excellent for growing vegetables and fruits as the river banks are fertile and the scope for horticultural production is very good. There is also the potential for growing spices like cardamom, ginger and black pepper etc. The village is fed by three rivers namely, Shisha, Yungnyü and Shiyong, therefore the problem of irrigation does not arise. In fact the village is striving to become a vegetable village in Longleng district with the encouragement and support of Horticulture Department, GoN. The Land Resources Development Department, GoN, has also distributed arecanut, orange and cardamom seedlings while the Horticulture department distributed pineapple suckers and the Agriculture department supplied ginger. The villagers have cleared three plots for vegetable cultivation and about twenty varieties of vegetables will be grown year round. The thrust for vegetable cultivation has been necessitated by the fact that the yield of jhum rice is very poor and each year the production is decreasing. Particularly this year due to prolonged drought, the harvest was very poor; therefore the farmers are going for large scale cultivation of winter vegetables as a substitute crop. With the guidance and supervision of Mr. B. Nyenghong Phom, SDAO, Jalukie who is a native of Yongam village, the villagers are slowly emerging out of the traditional mode of agriculture so as to improve their socio-economic condition.
The road to the village is narrow and accessible by small vehicles only but the widening of the road under process now is a boon for the villagers and it is hope that public transportation such as village bus service will be introduced soon. It is expected that with the development of the road connectivity the village will thrive through vegetable cultivation as the markets can be reached easily. As of now the women trek on foot the uphill track carrying 20-30 kg loads of vegetables on their heads to sell in the road side in Longleng as there is a big demand for vegetable produce from Yongam there.
The Farmers’ Cell team also noted the eagerness of the villagers to learn ways to improve and manage various aspects of vegetable and fruit cultivation. The strong sense of community and unity observed among the villagers is also a plus point as this will also contribute towards future development. The technical sessions were conducted in the Church as it was the only place that could accommodate all the 150 odd farmers. The demonstration on home scale preservation of fruits and vegetables comprising of around 30 women was conducted at the Shaujong Morung in the middle khel. The resource persons were Dr. Kigwe Seyie (Genetic & Plant Breeding), Dr. Pauline Alila (Horticulture), Dr. J. Longkumer (Agril. Extension), Mr. Tongpang Longkumer (Agronomy), Dr. N. Tiameren Ao (Plant Pathology), Dr. Nizam Uddin (Animal Production & Management) and Mr. Sewak Ram (Soil Conservation). The Audio Visual Specialist, Mr. Temjenmenba documented the whole proceedings of the programme. A working lunch was sponsored by Farmers’ Cell and various vegetable seeds were also distributed free to the farmers courtesy of Farmers’ Cell. The BioControl Laboratory, Medziphema also sent Trichoderma powder and liquid, Trichogramma cards and Pseudomonas for free distribution to the farmers in Yongam. It may also be mentioned that 10 farmers from the neighbouring Nian village trekked two hours to Yongam to attend the two day training-cum-demonstration programme.
(J. Longkumer is Coordinator, Farmers’ Cell, NU: SASRD Medziphema Campus)
