Shingkap apple grower anticipates bumper harvest
Source: Chronicle News Service / R Lester Makang

Ukhrul, March 02 2023: Life took a dramatic turn for Acreah Jajo, a native of Shingkap village in southern Ukhrul, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 .

He had to leave Ukhrul town and return to his native village during the pandemic-induced lockdown in 2021 as there were no other means of survival for his family in the town where life almost came to a grinding halt then.

The 45-year-old Jajo had to leave his job as a cab driver in Ukhrul town when the lockdown was announced as his cab remained idle and there was no business.

His income soon vanished and found himself struggling to make ends meet.

It was not an easy decision for Jajo to leave the town for good and start a new life in his village.

But the pandemic changed everything.

It gave him a new lease of life and a new purpose.

There, he took up apple farming and today, he is a proud owner of a flourishing apple orchard with 500 plants of which around 300 are in bloom this year.

In an interaction with The People's Chronicle on Thursday, Jajo narrated his inspiring story of how he persevered and overcame adversities and took a turn to flourishing apple farming in the midst of the pandemic.

"I didn't know it but it was the pandemic that changed the whole situation.

In Ukhrul town, I used to work as a cab driver and also reared Broiler chicken to supplement my income.

But things became hard after lockdown was announced over the pandemic.

With no means for survival, I had to leave all that things, took my family and relocated my family in my native village," he said.

Shingkap village is located around 65 km and a two-and-half hour drive south of Ukhrul district headquarters.

In 2021, Jajo soon reached his native place with his family in tow but was still left with no viable means to support his growing family.

"That year, a team from National Innovation Foundation (NIF), India, visited our village and provided training on apple farming.

I took part in the training along with many of our villagers, and also purchased apple saplings from them at the cost of Rs 130 per unit," he recalled.

He said that it was the HRMN-99 variety of apple and that the climatic condition of Shingkap village was found conductive for the variety during a soil test conducted by KVK, Ukhrul and Imphal.

Soon, the locals formed a farmers' body christened 'Shingkap Organic Apple Farm' comprising around 80 local farmers who planted more than 40,000 apple saplings across the village.

He said that each farmer planted about 150 to 500 saplings in their respective areas.

"This is how I started apple farming in 2021," he said, adding that in the following year, he had his first harvest of around 50 kg of apple from his own farm located at Koteiram, a spot in-between Shingkap and Tangkhul Hundung, where he planted 500 saplings.

He explained that only around one hundred plants bore fruit in the first harvest.

"But this year, most of the plants, around 300 of them are currently blooming since last February.

And I am looking forward to a bumper harvest in June this year," he anticipated.

He said that he did not make any sales of the first harvest and this year, he is planning to take his fruit to market, while adding that a uniform market price would be decided by the local farmers collectively.

On being asked if he received any assistance from the government, he replied in the negative and explained that he has been running the farm on his own limited resources like all the local farmers.

"So far, I have invested about Rs 2 lakh since I started the farming which included the cost of saplings and requisite tools for crafting and pruning the saplings and also labour," he said.

According to Jajo, Hariman Sharma, the proprietor of HRMN-99 apple nursery farm, also visited Shingkap village in 2022 to oversee the progress of apple farming there.

Normally, apple harvest is done after two years of plantation.

So, during this period, Jajo also took up extensive Papaya plantation to generate extra income before his apple could be harvested.

He said that he planted more than 300 Papaya saplings in-between apple trees which were planted about 15 feet apart and has harvested the fruit for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Stating that Papaya is planted in April/May and could be harvested in January, he said that the turnover this year is about Rs 1.5 lakh but it reached Rs 4 lakh last year.

"But now as most of the apple trees have started blooming, I will have to stop the Papaya plantation to focus on apple," he said.

Comment