THE SENTINEL DESK
Smita Addy
A correspondent

JORHAT, Jan 8: The Meleng Grant demo village selected by the Rain Forest Research Institute (RFRI) at Lahdoigarh for its lab to land transfer of research and technology under the guidelines of the Indian Council of Forestry, Research and Education celebrated one year of economic development with a bounteous crops and a feeling of prosperity among the farmers.


The celebrations organized by the villagers themselves included the ceremonious welcome of RFRI Director Mr NK Vasu, Assistant Conservator of Forests Gunin Saikia and District Forest Officer RK Das with traditional Bihu song and dance as well as a procession with colourful flags.
The farmers had greatly benefited from intercropping of patchouli with areca nut trees, vermicomposting, the technology for propagation of bamboo from nodes, bamboo treatment, etc.
Coordinator of the project Pawan I Kaushik pointed out the large fields of different vegetables which were showing luxuriant growth due to organic manure and vermicompost bedwash as well as plantations of fast-growing Australian teak (acacia Mangium) which attains a height of 12 feet and collar girth of 12 cm in 6 months and requires 7-8 years for full growth.
The villagers had also lined up bottles of bedwash and bags of vermicomposting to be sold.
Mr Aminul Islam Bakshi, owner of an aromatic oil industry at Nagaon while encouraging the farmers to take up patchouli plantations on a large scale also assured them of buying their produce when harvested.
Patchouli leaves can be harvested in four months and the oil extracted from it is used in the aromatics industry as well as for medicinal purpose.
The villagers had not only planted patchouli but had also taken up the planting of aloe vera used extensively in the cosmetics industry and citronella.
Mr NK Vasu while inspecting the progress of the village also did Vriksh Shewa by manuring with vermicompost and applying bedwash to mango trees he had planted on September 5 last year in a symbolic message that RFRI would continue to take care of and support Meleng Grant even after the project duration was over.
Training was also given to the farmers in participatory research and analysis and microplanning for both the staff and village participants.
“The purpose is to develop their skills and attitude essential for micro-planning process. We are also stressing on participatory research and analysis related to their resources and their status with time trend, preferences, problems, wealth status, seasonal calendars, local research priority, etc.” Mr Kaushik said.
In this regard center had been created for display of photographs, charts and newspaper cut outs.
The RFRI is further conducting another experiment, which proposes the preparation of a biopesticide.
Four tanks have been filled with cow dung, urine and different kinds of vegetation, which are known to be toxic.
“After they are decomposed they will be applied to plants and we will try to find out which is the most effective biopesticde,” Mr Kaushik said.
Trinayan Unnayan Committee president Jibon Bora nad member Dilip Hazarika presented the annual report on the occasion.
Villagers from nearby villages like Boloma, Phesual, Lachpur, Karigaon and Gazpuriawho had been invited showed a keen interest in replicating the means and methods of production applied here.
The Meleng Grant comprises three hamlets (Trinayan) namely Bhogpur, Govindpur and Madhupur and consists of 220 households.