Farmer Returns From Abroad to Cultivate Fruit in Bhojpur

Bhojpur. Returning from abroad, Laxmiprasad Adhikari of Dhunge in Arun Rural Municipality-7 of Bhojpur has become an exemplary farmer by becoming active in commercial agriculture. Adhikari, who returned home after working in Malaysia for about six years, has been adopting fruit farming as his main occupation for the past five years.

Adhikari has now expanded saplings of various fruits in an area of 25 ropanis and has plans to gradually expand cultivation in the remaining approximately seven ropanis of land. He said that he aims to make agriculture a reliable source of long-term income by using the skills, experience, and capital gained abroad in his own village.

Adhikari is cultivating seasonal vegetables along with perennial fruits such as litchi, mango, pomegranate, lemon, avocado (butter fruit), and rudraksha. He expressed confidence that some saplings have already started yielding, and all saplings will be able to generate income from next year.

"Income has started only from some saplings now," Adhikari said, "Once all the saplings come into production, I aim to earn Rs 5 to Rs 10 lakh annually." He said that he got into farming with the idea of doing something in his own village rather than selling labor in a foreign land for years. "I suffered a lot abroad. Now I have a goal to show something by doing it in my own place," he said.

Adhikari had been living on someone else's land for about 26 years. He is now excited to be able to expand commercial farming on his own land. His efforts have increased attraction towards agriculture as a profession at the local level.

Along with agricultural expansion, he has also been raising goats. Adhikari said that the management of the plants is done using the manure produced from goats. He has the experience that this reduces production costs and helps maintain soil fertility.

Adhikari has made plans to further expand farming in the future, seeing the potential to create employment opportunities at the local level. He said that better income can be earned from agriculture if the state provides easy access to modern technology, market management, and technical services. "If we get help in technical services and market management, it will be much easier for farmers engaged in agriculture," he said.