A 34-year-old villager, Dangha Kantrima Daniel Maring, from Tengnoupal district of Manipur has been cultivating oranges near his house at Konaitong village which is situated at a distance of about 15 km from Heirok assembly constituency in Thoubal district.
Daniel Maring has been working hard and his attempt to plant around 200 saplings of orange at a hill slope became a success. Following it, he's confident that most of the hill slopes of Konaitong village will be suitable for planting of fruits. He said that he had been planning for his project since 2015.
Narrating his long journey to successful farming, he said that he was inspired by a grape farm in Kakching owned by one Robinson, who gave him 100 saplings to start his project but the grape farm was unsuccessful.
He then approached the then district officer of Chandel district Horticulture department who donated 700 saplings. But owing to the district council election 2015 his project was put on hold, which then resulted in loss of about 500 saplings, he said.
He planted the remaining 200 saplings without much expertise and started producing orange fruits by 2018, he said. By 2021, his orange farm started producing about 500 kg of oranges, which earned him over Rs 40,000.
“In order to control the threat of deforestation in the state, we should encourage implementation of permanent farming areas in the hill regions,” he mentioned.
Encouraging the public to take up such eco-friendly initiatives of hill slope farming, he appealed to the state government to provide the necessary support such as loans and training etc.
Mentioning that he no longer wants to aspire for government jobs, he said that he will work on expanding his farm and produce more seasonal fruits such as pineapple, lemon, banana and grapefruit etc.
In view of the profitable potential for orange farming in the hill slope of Konaitong village in Tengnoupal district, he expressed his desire to undergo training and consult with experts and appealed for support from the authorities concerned.
