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Livelihood/ Employment | UN food programme helps village grow by Santosh K Kiro

UN food programme helps village grow by Santosh K Kiro

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published Published on Jun 9, 2011   modified Modified on Jun 9, 2011

Six ponds with abundant fish, six wells, three canals, enough vegetables and paddy to feed all.

Bera, a remote village in Naxalite-hit Bundu block, about 50km from Ranchi district, got enough food for thought to come out of the rebel shadow and taste self-sufficiency, thanks to the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations.

The village — which today hosted a high profile visitor, the country director of WFP Mihoko Tamamura — not only produces its food locally, but has also wonderfully implemented the project with hopes of getting more funds in the second phase. Jharkhand Tribal Development Society — agovernment body partnering UN — is overseeing the implementation of thescheme in the state.

Today, Tamamura, along with Prakash Oraon, director of Jharkhand Tribal Development Programme, his deputy Manoj Sinha, project coordinator of WFP Purnima Mukherjee and a few other officials, visited Bera to see forherself what changes the UN programme have ushered in.

“Change has indeed come to our village. We have a large number of fish in our ponds. We have papayas, brinjals, lady’s fingers, peas and tomatoes in our fields. We don’t have to buy them from the market,” saidDulay Munda, head of the village near Sarjomdih, where rebels had burntdown a vehicle of ICICI Bank after hijacking it in 2008.

International Fund for Agricultural Development, a specialised agency ofthe UN, had given Rs 3,58,313 to Bera over the past eight years, beginning 2003.

The money directly came in the bank account of a project implementing committee of the village while the villagers took the charge of planningand utilisation of funds.

As many as 330 villages like Bera across five districts — Ranchi, Khunti, Seraikela, East Singbhum and West Singbhum — have been covered under the programme in the first phase, which will end in December this year.

A total fund of Rs 54 crore had been allotted in the first phase.

“Our goal is to bring about food security in Jharkhand villages. The villagers have created lots of assets and also learnt to produce food themselves. Now, we want them to sustain these assets,” Tamamura told The Telegraph.

She also visited Daruhatu, another Naxalite stronghold about 60km from the state capital. There too, the residents have dug three ponds, three wells and adopted fisheries.

This is not all. The villagers work on the ponds, wells and roads and get Rs 100 per day, of which they donate Rs 10 to a corpus fund created for future use.

“We have been promised more money for WFP’s second phase. The state is expected to get Rs 240 crore,” said Oraon.

The second phase of WFP will begin in mid-2012 in nine districts — Godda, Pakur, Sahebganj and Dumka, apart from the five existing ones.
 
 

The Telegraph, 8 June, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110608/jsp/jharkhand/story_14084888.jsp


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