GUMLA: Muslim youths of Basua village in Gumla have emerged as green entrepreneurs bidding adieu to past hardships as children from poor families.

Sitting idle all daylong, indulging in gambling at the village or working for others for a paltry Rs 50 - penury was their fate. Now their engagement is limited to their plots on the right bank of Baki river, which runs through the village. Now they get a price for their green produce, which is worth lakh and have changed their fortunes overnight. This has many others to come under their fold at Basua - a village with a mixed population located 17 km off the district town of Gumla. This is the result of a village strengthening campaign that has been on since last year, said Hazi Ajmatullah Ansari, one of the green entrepreneurs.

He has also decided to grow 'arvi' (yam) on 10 acres of plot and has already bought its seeds. Other youths have grown peas in over 80 acres of land and are reaping its profit.

The variety of their crops too is changing. While these youths have enriched themselves by selling green peas in Bero market, some others have cultivatedcapsicum in 8 acres of plots.

But the story of Minhaz alias Pammu is altogether different from these new breed of farmers. "I started farming with only Rs 40 in hand which was spent in buying seeds of bottle gourd. He earned Rs 8000 by selling it in the market two years ago," said Minhaz.

Then he cultivated wheat with 3 quintal seeds and sold the produce for Rs 45,000. There after he started growing peas and potatoes. "I was the first to grow peas and began to sell it in Bero @ Rs 80 per kg," he said. He had grown peas in 20 acres plot and sold it for Rs 4 lakh. What these new farmers need is irrigation pipe and effective lift irrigation units to take water to their field, Ajmatullah, Minhaz, Fidaul and others said.

