Bharatpur (Chitwan). Vehicles have not yet reached the remote Kanda of Chitwan. The Chepang community, which is located in the area, has to travel for more than two hours on foot from the place where vehicles reach.
However, even though it is carried, the Chepang community here has brought a hand tractor to the village for the first time. They are amazed when a tractor for plowing the fields arrives for the first time. Sita Bahadur Chepang, president of the Miteri Farmers Group, said that all the locals are happy when the hand tractor arrives in the village. He said, “When the youth go out to work, only the elderly and children remain in the village. The tradition of raising cattle is also declining, and the farmlands are becoming barren. Now it is easier to plow with a hand tractor.”
Kanda, located in Rapti Municipality-13, is also the most remote place in Chitwan. Kanda, which does not even have electrification yet, is a two-hour drive from Bhandara on the East-West Highway via Chepang Marg to Bhanjyang. From there, it is only possible to reach Kanda after walking for about two hours. They carried the hand tractor to Kanda on Saturday.
All the villagers were present to carry the hand tractor. Eight members of the same family died in this place 15 years ago while eating wild mushrooms. After that, transformation work is being done in this place with the help of various organizations. The Chepang community here, who have been living by eating wild tubers, have recently been earning their living by farming themselves.
Chairman Sita Bahadur believes that this hand tractor will help a lot in making agriculture a professional profession. Local farmer Krishna Bahadur Praja said that he felt like he had entered a new era when he saw a tractor in the village for the first time. He complained that the state has not paid attention to Kanda, which has been lagging behind in everything. The hand tractor has reached the remote Kanda with a 50 percent grant from the Agricultural Development Office and 50 percent support from Bharatpur’s Central College.
Farmers are engaged in agriculture through a Miteri farmer group in Kanda, which has sixty-five houses. Similarly, agriculture is also being done on the land of the hostel of Kandeshwari Basic School in the same place. The vegetables and grains produced there are being fed to the Chepang children who live and study in the hostel.
The hand tractor will be used by both the farmer group and the hostel, said Balkrishna Thapaliya, principal of Kandeshwari Basic School. He said that once the hand tractor is available, it will help the farmers here to plow their fields and increase production. “We have been connecting the Chepang children studying here with agricultural production,” he said, “Parents are also being attracted towards this through the children themselves.” Yagya Vilas Poudel, Principal of Central College, said that he was happy to help the backward Chepang community.
He said that transformation can be brought to the Chepang community only through cooperation and support from the state and the private sector. Ramesh Kumar Poudel, Chairman of Miteri Foundation and journalist who has been working in Kanda for a long time, facilitated the provision of hand tractors. He said that since the Chepang community has been farming using the traditional agricultural system for a long time, the initiative to make hand tractors available was taken to facilitate professionalism by seeing the condition of the farmers.
“Even if the farmers wanted it, the financial situation would not have allowed it. We sought help after we could not raise 50 percent of the amount even for the tractor under the grant,” he said. He said that the living standards of the Chepang community here can be improved through agriculture and that the state bodies should pay attention to it. The farmers here have been cultivating maize, millet, fenugreek and vegetables. In terms of climate, this place has a cold season and can grow seasonal fruits.
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