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20 March 2006
Shining
The wheat in the fields owned by Kanu and his five brothers shines in the sun.
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Kanu's wheat shines in the sun.
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“If the wheat shines in the sun, I am happy,” says Kanu. Shining wheat is a sign of the good moisture levels and plump grains needed to yield a bumper crop. Thanks to World Vision’s help, Kanu and his brothers now harvest four crops of wheat a year instead of the single crop they grew in the past. As well as growing wheat on their 20 acres, they also cultivate onions, mustard, mangos and roses – produce in high demand across India.
The success of Kanu and his brothers is due to agricultural training and infrastructure improvements through World Vision’s Dahod Area Development Programme. Now they can irrigate their crops year-round and they have the know-how to use organic compost and worm farming techniques in their fields. Kanu is also applying his learning to experiment with different varieties of wheat – something he would never have risked in the past.
“We have diversified a lot,” says Kanu. “It started with the well and lift irrigation, then we were able to establish the nursery, horticulture, floriculture. Because of World Vision’s interventions my income has grown by five times.
“Because of child sponsorship not only my family but my brothers’ families have come up in life,” he says. When asked what this means for his 11 year old daughter, Manisha, Kanu says “[Without child sponsorship] She would have to walk 2km to fetch water. She would be in the same state we were in five years ago. We would have to migrate to find work every year, and she wouldn’t be in school. Our income would be poor, so she would have to work to help us survive.”
Kanu is so grateful for the improvements in the lives of his family members that he is keen to see others in his village benefit too. “I want to take this scheme to the entire village, so they can do it themselves. World Vision will facilitate,” he says.
Thanks to World Vision, Kanu’s family and village have hope for the future and can make long-term plans. Manisha wants to be a teacher. The village development committee, set up by World Vision to facilitate the development activities, has established itself with the government as a permanent community-based organisation so it can continue to make these kind of improvements in the lives of the people long after World Vision has completed its time in Dahod.
It would seem that the wheat is not the only thing in Kanu’s village that shines with promise for the future.
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Dahod project profile
DAHOD STORY ARCHIVE
2007
A man with a vision
Snippets
Milking time
Counting down
2006
Country life
Snippets
Shining
Avian influenza
What a difference
2005
Snippets
2004
Snippets
Reluctant farmer
2003
Snippets
Signs of ownership
An answer to migration
View country profile Show India on map
Banswara: Snippets
Dumaria: Snippets
Gajapati: Snippets
Girideep: Good news from India
Mayurbhanj: Snippets
Mumbai West: Working woman
Ratlam: Snippets
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