Securing livelihood through growing oranges

Since the year 2008, Likha Anna, a member of Yoma Tada SHG in Yachuli Block in Arunachal Pradesh has been cultivating oranges. However, over the years due poor orchard management practices the plants were damaged by insects and infected with diseases because of which she lost interest and started planting other fruit crops.
In 2015 Yoma Tada SHG heard about NEIDAs work and approached NEIDA for support. After enrolling with NEIDA the SHG members received a series of training on rejuvenation of orange orchards and so did Anna. Initially, she started pruning the orange plants in her garden as advised and later she set up half-moon terraces for conservation of soil moisture and arrest erosion. Anna shares that she also learned how to prepare Bordeaux mixture and applied in her garden. She soon started observing healthy growth of the plants. Anna said, “The colour of leaves turned dark green. Fruit drops came down drastically in my garden”.
Before the interventions, she mentioned that total production annually was around 500 kgs through which she earned Rs. 20,000 only. After adoption of improved orange management practices, the production increased to 2,500 Kgs per season. Last year, Anna earned an income of 1, 25,000 from sale of oranges.
She utilized a part of her profit in paying school fees for her three children. Now, she plans to expand her orange orchard. She said “I wish I knew the management practices of orange garden sooner.”