Soldiers assist in home gardening :

Jaffna, a thriving agricultural hub

By Shanika SRIYANANDA in Jaffna

If you want to repair your old wrist watch or antique clock, the ideal watch maker in Jaffna would be Mohan Kumar. He mastered the art of watch repairing, which is his first job, over 35 years ago by deftly handling the tiny gadgets that makes a watch a tick, he has now started the business once again in a small way. With watches turning digital, his business is no longer lucrative, occasionally he gets some, old clocks, to repair.

As the meagre income he earns from repairing watches and also as a casual labourer is not enough to feed a family of five, the 52-year-old is now determined to cultivate the small plot of land belonging to his wife with some vegetables enough for his family.

Though his hands, which are trained to handle tiny gadgets, are struggling to cope with the red fertile soil in his land in Manipay, where he grows vegetables, fruits to green leaves. Vegetables and green leaves in the neatly arranged beds have more fresh leaves and flowers.

His hard work is bearing fruit. Kumar and his family have turned the 20 perches of barren land into a home garden. His garden is one among 10 home gardens in Manipay, where soldiers of the 11 Singha Regiment helped them to turn their neglected lands into fertile home gardens.

Army

The Army gave us seeds and fertiliser free- of- charge and the soldiers helped us to prepare the land for cultivation. They also provided us water facilities for the land. I never thought, we would have a home garden, Kumar, who sells green leaves from his garden said.

Unlike many in Jaffna who have not experienced LTTE terror during the end battle in 2009 May, Kumar's family his wife, son and three daughters- had a narrow escape. We are lucky that soldiers saved our lives", he recalled their 'hard walk' through 'death'.

Kumar, who is originally from Jinthupitiya, Colombo, sought a job as a watch maker in Jaffna and married his sweet heart, Devambika from Manipay in 1989 amidst strong opposition from his family.

The marriage separated him from his family of eight sisters and brothers, who are now doing well in their lives, as he married a Tamil.

Kumar, who got a job in Kilinochchi in 2002 settled down with his family. Unfortunately, the A-9 road was closed and thousands of people like Kumar were stranded in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

Kumar was not allowed to return as he is a half Sinhalese (mother of Sinhalese) and he said the LTTE kept a sharp eye on him due to his ethnicity. He was lucky as he was rejected from the LTTEs Makkal padei group (military training for civilians). He earned a living as a labourer but repaired watches too.

While the battle was intensifying and soldiers capturing LTTE dominated areas the LTTE herded civilians from Kilinochchi to Puthukudiriyappu. Kumar and thousands of civilians ran from Kaiveli through the Paranthan road to Thewapuram to Puthumathalan to Pokkanei and lastly to Ampalavanpokkanei, where they were rescued by soldiers on May 17, 2009.

"My son was 17-years and schooling at the Puthukudiriyappu Tamil School when the LTTE took him. We all cried but they threatened us and took my son and all the teenagers in our area to fight. Terrorists had given grenades to my son to throw at soldiers. They had put teenagers like him to face the Army. My son said the other sons were cried and pleaded with senior terrorists to let them go home. He said one was shot dead", Kumar said in broken Sinhalese.

His son Janusha, who now studies in Hindu College Colombo, escaped and returned to his parents. "We hid our children in two barrels during the day time.

The LTTE police came to snatch children but they could not find them. During the night we take them out one by one and allow them to use the toilet. Food, mainly the boiled rice and dhal was given to them, while hiding inside these barrels. They eat once a day", Dewambika recalled.

"Kumar said the LTTE lost its popularity after 2006 as the terrorists became too harsh to civilians by taking ransom, taxing people and forcibly recruiting children to fight.

He said the LTTE a week before its defeat had burnt a massive amount of money including rupees, dollars, Euro and lots of other foreign currencies collected from people, at Mulliyaveli.

He then lived in Zone 4 in the Seddikulam Welfare Centre in Vavuniya and resettled in Manipay recently.

Now the family is living in a make-shift hut with no cement walls and a floor and with no furniture, but he said they were happy to lead a peaceful life.

"We have nothing to say as ours except this land that I got as dowry. The LTTE destroyed our future. Today Tamils are struggling to stand on their own feet", said Kumar, who buried his 'wealth', his tools used to repair watches, before they ran from Puthumathalan. He sold the little gold, his last ounce of wealth, to treat his son who was badly injured during the battle.

Being an asthmatic, Kumar struggles to give a secure future to his three girls Vaishnai, who is doing her ALs soon, Dianna, who is studying in grade 9 and the youngest Dulakshana (9) and boy Janusha. He said they are lucky parents as their children are bright students.

Kumar without waiting to earn from his dying business -watch repairing- is trying hard to improve the yield from his small home garden to save money. The chicks given free of charge by the Army are matured enough to lay eggs.

Encouragement

He thanked the soldiers for encouraging him to be a gardener, holding live hopes high to build a small decent house, as financial support to continue his children's education and to find a job.

Being a gardener he natures the desire to own a water motor to avoid water bringing from far away wells to water his garden.

Chithra Thaniasalam in Manipay has a well-grown home garden in her two acre land. Returned to her home five-years-ago, she started growing vegetables on a small scale until the Army encouraged her to develop her garden to a fine home garden, on a larger scale.

"The Army gave us seeds and fertiliser. They even prepared the land for us to grow", the 48-year-old mother of four said.

Vegetables, fruits and green leaves are grown in her garden, giving her an additional income by selling them at the small boutiques in the area.

Green leaves fetch the highest price as they are grown using compost made in the garden.

"We like to continue gardening. My children help me in the garden after school and as the vegetables are fresh and grown with less chemical fertiliser they have high nutrition and give a good taste", she said.

Chithra's husband, a toddy trapper, earns less now due to the vanishing palmyra trees in Jaffna caused by rapid development.

She is happy as she is able to reduce her daily expenses nearing Rs. 500 as she gets vegetables from her garden.

Today Kumar and Chithra are among 250 families who have developed the concept of home gardening in the Jaffna Peninsula.

Taking the government's concept of self-sufficiency, Api wawamu, Rata nagamu (Lets grow to develop the country) implemented under the Mahinda Chinthana policy into villages in Jaffna, under the directions of Security Forces (SF) Commander Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, all brigades under its Divisions 51,52 and 55 have promoted the home garden concept to strengthen the home economy and also the national economy.

Setting an example, the farm spanning over 35 acres at the SF Head Quarters was expanded to nearly 100 acres. With the monthly yield of over 60,000 kilos of vegetables and fruit, all the seasonal vegetables are grown in the farm by a labour force of 135 soldiers.

" This farm is in existence for the last 20 years but it was systematically started in 2010.

It had a monthly yield of 4,000 kilos but today we get over 60,000 kilos of all vegetables and fruit. There is a high yield as we mainly use organic fertiliser", Maj. R.N. Dharmatilake Officer-in-charge of the Farm said.

Of the total yield, over 20,000 kilos are consumed by the Army and the other 40,000 kilos are sold at the markets in Achchuweli, Kodikamam, Jaffna, Maradanamadu and Thilinaweli.

The profit will go to the development fund at the SF headquarters which is used to modernise Tal Sevana, the Army resort in Jaffna.

Rupees two million was donated to the Army's Abimansala, the welfare project for disabled soldiers, and also to construct houses for displaced civilians in Jaffna.

Vegetables that were sold at the Army's New Year pola at Panagoda were grown on this farm.

The 51 Division, which also promotes home gardening in all its brigades and villages under its purview, has a small home garden, where soldiers have grown vegetables instead of flowers. Old tyres, used gunny bags, old paint tins and whatever that can be used to grow plants have become pots of vegetables.

" We have started this in a small way. The small harvest is enough for daily consumption. As the beet root season is over now, we are preparing the soil to grow carrots. The new pumpkin variety 'watana', manioc, green chillies, snake gourd and green leaves like mukunuwenna and kankun grow well in this fertile soil", Commander of 513 Brigade, Brig. Pradeep de Silva said.

He said families who join to develop home gardens are keen to turn their gardens into successful home gardens and the rapport between the Army and villagers had also grown strong.

Prof. G. Mikunthan, Head of the Department of Agricultural Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna said that it was amazing to see sandy soil in Champiyanpaththu being utilised by farmers to grow vegetables successfully with the help of soldiers.

The progress of home gardens was evaluated to select the best home garden in a competition organised by the SFHQ by a five member board, last week.

The team led by the Head of the Department of Agricultural Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna Prof. G. Mikunthan visited 30 home gardens coming under the 51, 52 and 55 divisions areas covering Manipay to Iyakachchi and Chembianpattu and selected 15 in the final round.

Prof. Mikunthan told the Sunday Observer that it was great to see the rapport between soldiers and villagers involved in developing home gardens.

"We spoke to some farmers and they told us that Army personnel helped them a lot to start their home gardens. We learn that soldiers prepared the land, provided seeds and fertiliser to them.

We also gathered a lot of experience.

It is really challenging to grow vegetables successfully in some areas such as Champiyanpaththu in the 55 Division area, but the effort of the soldiers and the enthusiasm of farmers have overcome all difficulties. The contribution made by the soldiers is immense", he said.

Home gardens

He said establishing home gardens was in the action plan of the Department of Agriculture, Agrarian services and other non-governmental organisations but not in the Army's schedule. However, seeing the Army being actively involved in livelihoods of the people was a welcome sign. Giving priority to the 'Mahinda Chintana', army personnel are actively involved in establishing home gardens for resettled families to sustain their livelihood. We have been invited to evaluate home gardens established in Jaffna at various places where available resources are well utilized.

The Valikamam area has fertile soil and home gardens are well established. However, rocky areas have also been made colourful by growing plants in poly bags and other containers, he said. Prof. Mikunthan invited outsiders to learn lessons about home gardening said these small home gardens would definitely be the role models, which others should follow. "These home gardens will definitely encourage others to grow more in their gardens. In every home garden soldiers are involved in providing inputs and in some places even water pumps. It was very difficult to grow crops in certain areas due to the sandy soil and no water source, however with the help of soldiers villagers have grown vegetables well.

There are vegetables, pulses, leafy vegetables, fruit crops, medicinal plants, spices, ornamental plants and roots and rhizomes for their daily consumption and the excess is sold to generate an income for them", he said.

He thanked the Army for encouraging villagers to grow pesticide free-vegetables and fruits especially green leafy vegetables as no pesticides are use in home gardens. "this concept is also very helpful to families where women are the heads. Even the fisher folk are taking to gardening now as they have realised the value of the home-gardening concept", he said adding that villagers in Chavakachcheri, Palay, Thalayady, Chembianpattu, and Iyakachchi, which have sandy soil, have grown vegetables thanks to the soldiers, who provided water facilities.

Referring to development taking place in the Jaffna peninsula, Prof. Mikunthan said people in Jaffna were happy as there was a lot of support from the government to uplift the living standard of the people including the recently resettled civilians.

The winners of the home gardening competition will be given a land master tractor, 10 water motors and agricultural equipment at a ceremony scheduled to be held on July 19.