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Mr.
Jas Ram Tamang is a young and energetic person who bought
13.5 ropani of land in Ward No. 3 of Okharpauwa Village
Development Committee in 1969/70. He said "he had a
very hard time to start farming in his field since there
was nothing being cultivated before he bought this land".
There were only one or two trees. The soil was very
poor. However, he started with some local varieties
of buckwheat, radish, millet and maize but the production
was very low. He applied chemical fertilizer which was
available in the near market. After the continuous application
of fertilizers, he was able to increase the production
of his produce for sometimes but later in 1985/86, the
trend of production went down. Then he had only three
members in his family and the production was not sufficient
to sustain his family for the whole year. He had to
find some other sources of income in order to sustain
the family for the whole year. He started doing some
labor job as well as the carpentry work as an alternative
source of income. He was very innovative since beginning
and was looking for some alternatives to improve his
land. Somehow or the other, he came up with the idea
that he needs to plant some trees in his land. The basic
principle behind this was to maintain the diversity.
During the year 1986/87 he planted some trees having
fuelwood and fodder values. He came to know about CWDS
and thus got himself associated with it. With the help
of CWDS, he started organic farming in a fairly small
fragment of his land (1/4 of a ropani) in 1994/95. He
was very enthusiastic and hard working. In 1994/95 he
started growing different kinds of vegetables organically.
The production was satisfactory. After tow years, the
soil condition of his land was improved. He got motivated
and thought of continuing organic farming. In 1996,
he cultivated organic vegetable in one 1.5 ropani of
land. He started getting good results and was happy
with what he was doing. By this time there was a great
deal of improvement in the soil condition of his land.
The only problem he faced was the infestation of the
pest because he had stopped using chemical pesticides.
In the second half of the year, he again came up with
the idea that he needs to practice multiple cropping
to get rid off the pest. In the meantime, CWDS had already
introduced EM in its project area. Mr. Tamang had no
hesitation to use EM in His field. Within one & half
year i.e. 1997/98 he again extended the area of his
land only for organic farming form 1.5 ropani to 8 to
9 ropanis. He was growing different kinds of vegetables,
maize, millet and potato. He found that the rate of
production in organic farming was better than that of
chemical farming. At present, the total members in his
family are six and he does not have to rely on outside
sources of income. The production is enough to sustain
his family from his own field. At present, he also has
one buffalo and some chicken in his house. Besides sustaining
the family, he started marketing his surplus produce
in Kathmandu, and could save money out of it. During
the last few months, he marketed his organic produce
viz., cucumber, radish, pumpkin, chayote and some leafy
vegetables in Kathmandu and could earn around Rs. 8,000/-.
He concluded, "he wants to be an organic grower in the
future because it doesn't pollute the environment and
the soil". He again added, "organic farming will change
the fate of a farmer". His neighbors never knew what
he was doing in the part but now-a-days, they have realized
the importance of organic farming and its prospect in
the future. The condition of the soil has been improved
so much that only two persons will be enough to maintain
his field.
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