The villagers themselves produce almost everything they need for their own consumption. The food they produce is primarily rice, dal (lentils) und also potatoes. The landscape is characterized by paddy fields. Artificial irrigation during the dry season in winter enables two harvests per year.
Ecological cultivation of fruit and vegetables
In 2002 a three-year project under the auspices of agricultural expert Srikantha Mondal got underway with the aim of supplementing the unbalanced diet of rice and dal with more vitamin-rich and nutritious types of food. In Ghosaldanga and Bishnubati hundreds of crop trees have been planted according to organic principles, i.e. without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
Since then fruit trees have been planted and vegetable gardens created on a large scale, principally in the close vicinity of the RSV school grounds. The nearby pond offers good conditions for the provision of water in the dry season to the developing ecological orchard.
Potential for development
Although the soil - especially in the dry season - is very hard to cultivate, fruit and vegetables were at first grown solely by hand.
In 2011 a mechanical device - a novelty for the villagers - was purchased to help work the soil better and more easily: a power tiller. Since the beginning of 2011 there has been a storehouse in which the harvested produce can be better stored, processed and marketed.
The ecological garden and the development of agricultural methods and forms of use are the responsibility of Monotosh Das. The next project which is being planned is a refrigerator plant for the storehouse which will be driven by solar power.
Re-afforestation
Re-afforestation was one of the first and at the same time one of the most important projects when Sona Murmu and Martin Kämpchen initiated the village development programme in the 1980s. Every year they planted several trees along the lanes and roadways and on uncultivated dry land. In the meantime the trees have grown tall and have changed both the countryside and the ecological structure of the villages.
This project was more or less free of charge for the villagers, which also meant there was no financial dependency involved. In this way the village community was able to prove that both economic and human progress were possible without spending money, just by making use of their own resources.