A tribal village branded as the state’s first ‘Aloe Vera village’ in Nagri block of Ranchi has been able to turn things around for its residents during the lockdown in stark contrast to the gloomy scenario in other rural areas.

Dewri village in Nagri block of Ranchi was rechristened ‘Aloe Vera’ village after being taken up under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)- Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) tribal sub plan (TSP) in December 2018.

Manju in her field.

“We did a survey in this village and most of the villagers expressed interest in planting aloe vera medicinal plants and since it had a majority of tribal population, we decided to take it up in our project and named it aloe vera village to motivate more villagers to take up plantation of aloe vera and other medicinal plants to boost their income, which was primarily reliant on paddy. We are happy to hear that it has given them good dividends during the lockdown period,” said head department of forest products and utilisation, faculty of forestry, BAU, Kaushal Kumar.

TSP is used to channelise the flow of benefits from the Union government for the development of tribes in the states. Areas included in the TSP are blocks or tehsils with over 50 per cent tribal population.

Aloe Vera plants in the village.

“We decided on aloe vera as it requires less maintenance and less water. We provided nearly 6,000 plants along with fertilisers and also green shed net houses with sprinkler systems. Our students regularly visited the village and helped with training and technology. Usually aloe vera takes 18 months for its leaves to grow fully and the first lot of leaves were sold during the lockdown (after being planted in December 2018). Several NGOs and entrepreneurs have visited the village and taken the leaves for processing as it is in high demand for its medicinal and cosmetic properties. However, no big agencies could reach the village due to the lockdown,” said Kaushal Kumar.

Villagers are happy with the increase in their income.

“Earlier, we used to earn around Rs 3,000 per month from paddy cultivation if we were able to get work for all the 30 days. However, this year, apart from working in paddy fields, we were able to boost our income by selling aloe vera leaves. Our income has increased between Rs 5,000 and 6,000 per month,” said Manju Kachyap, mukhiya of the Dewri village and a woman farmer.

Manju said out of the 90 families belonging to the Oraon tribe residing in their village, nearly 40 families had taken part in planting aloe vera.

“The high income from selling aloe vera leaves (over Rs 40 per kg) is prompting more villagers to take up aloe planting vera along with the cultivation of paddy to boost their income,” Manju, 34, added.

BAU expert Kaushal Kumar said setting up an aloe vera processing plant was also in the pipeline in the village as part of the TSP.