Ukhrul: Rizat Khamrang of Tanrui, Ukhrul district did not want to be a farmer. Yet, when fate gave him a chance, he did not hesitate. And after years of heartbreaks and impossible odds, he has not only remained a farmer but also excelled at it, so much so that now he is helping other farmers in his village earn additional income and plan for a better life.
Recalling his ‘past’, Khamrang told EastMojo, “I was running a business in Imphal. I had no clue that one day I’d have to leave everything behind. And grow fruits like my father. But I’m a happy man now.”
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After his father’s demise eight years ago, Rizat had to abandon his life in Imphal and return to his native village of Tanrui to tend to what his father left behind: an orange orchard and childhood memories.
The village of Tanrui is located along the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur, about 52 kilometres from the Ukhrul district headquarters and around 60 km from Imphal. This village houses about 180 families of the Tangkhul Naga tribe, most of whom are traditional paddy farmers. Unlike most farmers in Tanrui village, Rizat and his family are into orange cultivation.
Khamrang shares, “This farm I inherited from my family is one of a few orchards owned by Tangkhul clans in the village. The rest of them grow rice and other grains.”
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It is brought to light that not many in Rizat’s village believe in profiting from farming oranges. The orange-farming community of Tanrui is small. According to Khamrang, although not many grow oranges, the ones who do “share cultivation techniques” to help each other grow.
Khamrang divulges that the challenges to producing a successful orange harvest are many. Pest infestations, unusual weather conditions, and other reasons make several of his saplings “wither and die”, he adds. Explaining that he single-handedly shoulders the responsibilities of caring for his orchard, he says, “I have not participated in any formal training or consultation with the experts.” The orchard is his little empire where he says he “experiments” with techniques that often bear good results. The father of four reveals that most of his knowledge about planting orange trees comes from the period he watched his father work on the farm.
‘Still a growing market’
Orange farming is not popular in the paddy farming-dominated village of Tanrui. But Khamrang defends his vocation with an almost fervent zeal. He says, “Over the years, I have planted more than 700 saplings of orange. Almost half of them died before they could become trees. Of the ones that remained alive, 170 trees bore fruit, and I started earning.”
Rizat shares that orange farming will take time to achieve popularity. More Tangkhul families are mulling the prospect of “orange farming and other seasonal fruits, including mosambi, banana, grapes and kiwi in the village”.
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Khamrang recalls that since he started working on the farm, he has spent at least five to six days a week at the orchard to take care of the saplings right from the first stages of the plantation. He hopes that after a couple or more years, “all the orange trees will produce fruits”.
We need roads, and access to markets
The village – where farmers outnumber consumers – is not an ideal market for oranges. The orange growers of Tanrui travel to Ukhrul town, Imphal and sometimes even as far as the Senapati district.
Kanchuimi Khamrang, another orange grower, says, “Strong winds during the flowering season have traumatised young orange plants.”
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Fruit production this year is lower than last year. “So far, I have harvested only around 2,000 kilograms of oranges,” said Rizat, hoping to harvest more in the coming days. The orange growers agree that pest attacks have caused the fruits on their trees to decline this year.
Rizat and Kanchuimi were among the first who got into large-scale orange cultivation. At present, around 10-15 families in the village have started orange and mosambi cultivation. “Earlier, the villagers farmed enough for the family’s needs. That has changed: now they farm to sell,” elaborates Rizat.
In the past, harvested oranges were carried from farm to home, a process that consumed two to four hours. However, Rizat’s wife Leishipem Khamrang, says they “paid for road construction out of their pocket, so that transportation using luggage-carrying vehicles could be easy”.
Rizat also informs that citrus fruits are most suitable to cultivate in the high hills where the sunlight is ample but as their village is located on the foothills, along the Iril river, they have had to cultivate with low sunlight. “Our village normally gets proper sunlight after 8-9 am,” he said.
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During the harvest season for oranges, interested villagers buy from Rizat’s orchard and later transport the fare to neighbouring markets like Ukhrul town and Imphal to resell the harvested fruits.
“I make some money to supplement my family’s expenses,” says Valleyrose, a distributor. She and her other friends in the village buy oranges from orchard owners and sell them to their customer base in Ukhrul. Orange suppliers, sellers and transporters of the village have created an interdependent nexus.
As Rizat’s village is a remote one, proper connectivity is lacking. Torrential rains during the monsoon season add to the misery of slippery earthen roads.
Rizat reveals that there are times when rains delay vehicles. A vendor in the village who chose to be anonymous says, “We hire vehicles to take us to Ukhrul. The little profit we earn is often invested in commuting.”
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Sometimes, the orange growers have had to walk with loaded bags in the rain in search of a hired vehicle hoping to make ends meet. The other villagers add that they have no complaints. They say that as the orange business gives them a livelihood, they do not ask for more.
Although farmers have long given up their expectations from the government, it is clear that any support from the government will ensure that the likes of Rizat Khamrang do not remain exceptions.
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