Daitari Naik’s Talabaitarani village in Kendujhar district is no longer the parched land where people were forced to drink muddied water. The 3km canal he dug almost single-handedly ensures lush crops all year round.
The silence blanketing a woody, tribal village in Odisha is broken by the chirping of sparrows and farmers shooting the breeze while drawing water from a canal to irrigate their fields.
The sight of lush farms starkly contrasts the Talabaitarani village’s parched past and a happy right-now reality — all because a man dreamed big and pursued it doggedly. Daitari Naik spent four years digging a 3km canal from a stream in the Gonasika mountains with just a hoe and an iron bar to bring water to his village: to drink and hydrate his barren farm.
Daitari’s canal now irrigates round the year about 100 acres of rolling land where farming was earlier possible only during the rains, but the runoff was high.
The yield from the fields was low and people often migrated to cities for work and exposed themselves to exploitation. When the rain failed, which often was the case, they were forced to source water from muddied pools for washing and drinking.
Driven to despair and desperation, Daitari set out on a Herculean mission in 1996 and completed it in 2000. He was 51 then. On World Agriculture Day this March 20, Daitari is a little under a fortnight shy of his 78th birthday.
He smiles and cracks wise about the feat he’s pulled off.
“They thought I was mad, but madness helps. Sometimes,” he said.
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As he dug away on his project, villagers joined him in ones and twos, lending a hand in what they thought was “impossible for a man to move that mighty mountain”, which is the source of Baitarani, one of the six major rivers of Odisha.
It was a matter of time when almost everyone got involved and the authorities pulled in their bit too. In 2019, the government presented Daitari the Padma Shri, the country’s fourth-highest civilian award, for his inspiring service to society.
He became the “Canal Man of Odisha” — and he didn’t see that coming.
The tribal village of Talabaitarani in Kendujhar district now conjures up a vastly different image from its past.
“There’s no water shortage now. I earn around Rs 3,500 a week selling vegetables in the summer, and about Rs 2,500 in the winter,” said Alekha Behera, a farmer.
His wife Laxmi remembered a time when people migrated to other states during the long dry spells of summer in search of livelihood, because there was none in the village.
“No one goes out from our village to work elsewhere these days,” she said.
The canal irrigates crop parcels of around 50 farmers, who mostly grow vegetables, pulses, millet and tubers. The situation now is a far cry from crops being damaged by delayed or erratic rain.
“I was able to cultivate once a year during the rainy season,” recalled Chandra Patra. “This canal is a huge blessing. Our land is no longer fallow. It is always covered with crops.”
Fellow villager Hema Naik saves Rs 500 a week because she doesn’t have to buy vegetables anymore.
“Also, our children eat fresh green vegetables regularly,” she said.
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There’s healthy, nutritious food at the table, and a regular income too as the surplus produce is sold in local markets. This is having a direct impact on children’s education as parents are sending their kids to school, rather than forcing them into chores or menial labour to squeeze out a little extra money to make ends meet. Many borrowed from money lenders and got into a vicious, never-ending trap.
Ranjit Naik recently enrolled daughter Swapna in Class 8 at a government residential school in Bansapal block. He said he can afford it now, unlike when their income was meagre and often irregular.
Although illegal, many underage girls were married off because of poverty, lack of education, and social norms.
“But with a regular income from agriculture, we are able to support their education,” Ranjit said.
Daitari knows what it takes to retain soil fertility.
“Soil is a living being,” he said.
But heavy rainfall and excessive irrigation often robs the land of nutrition. He said it took five years since the canal was built for the villagers to adopt soil and water conservation measures, such as building bunds, multi-cropping and mulching.
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He said such cost-effective traditional techniques must be applied for efficient water use and better crop yields.
His wife Samari Naik chipped in: “We encourage farmers to grow crops suitable to our climate and terrain. Kima mandia (finger millet) is one such. It matures in about 130 days and yields 10-12 quintals a hectare. It is resilient to pests and infestations.”
Plus, residues from the harvest become livestock fodder. Villagers have a ready supply now because of year-round farming which is being done on a larger area, said Dinabandu Patra, who rears cattle and goats.
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The cultivated area has increased by 60 percent after the canal was dug, according to Satyaban Soren, the block agriculture officer of Bansapal.
“The cropping pattern and intensity has changed in Talabaitarani,” he said.
The lead image at the top shows Daitari Naik pointing towards the Gonasika mountains from where water for irrigating about 100 acres of agricultural land is sourced (Photo by Abhijit Mohanty)
Abhijit Mohanty is a journalist based in Bhubaneswar
