Views of some farmers participating in the project are given hereunder:
“For years we had been practising traditional farming of rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables and were earning Rs. 25,000 per acre on an average basis. We heard about this project of ASF launched in collaboration with RCDS that had organized us to form a FEG. We were informed about the economic benefits of off-season farming and were also provided with the opportunity to visit some of the existing green house farms in the region. This increased our awareness and after our reluctant members were satisfied by ASF and RCDS, we decided to plant cucumber on an area of one acre under the green house. I am proud to say that we earned Rs. 450,000 from one acre which is 18 times higher than what we used to earn from the same area previously. We could not believe it first. It was like earning from running a factory. We are so pleased with the ASF project that we have already decided to increase the green house area from 1 acre to 5 acres in the next season. We will definitely serve as an example for other farmers in our area. Thank you ASF for all this support.”
Haji Muhammad Hanif,
Farmer / President, Jawaharpur Vegetable Development Group (FEG)
“Though we had some knowledge about off-season farming in green houses, but we, being farmers with very limited resources, could not even think of erecting a green house (tunnel-farm) on our lands. It was a day of happiness for all of us, when we erected a green house on 1 acre with matching grant support from ASF. We planted tomatoes on this area and would you believe, we earned more than Rs. 450,000 from this 1 acre which is many times higher than what we used to earn before. We have become an example and model farm for all the farmers in the area. Even some Government departments and NGOs have visited our farm. Officials of Sindh Rural Support Program, Punjab Rural Support Program, Agriculture extension department, and fruits and vegetables development program have visited us so far. Next year, we will definitely increase the area under off-season farming and we plan to increase the area to 7 acres. This would have not been possible without the support of ASF.”
Khawar Chohan,
Farmer / President, Hamdard Vegetable Development Group (FEG)
“Off-season production of vegetables being a totally new technology for us, we all were reluctant to invest in this project as we feared losing all our money instead of earning something. ASF and RCDS helped us by providing technical details and arranging exposure visits to successful green houses. This really motivated us and finally we erected a walk-in tunnel on 1 acre with ASF support and planted bitter gourd. Believe me the yield we got from this area was equal to what we used to get from 8 acres under traditional methods of farming. We all were surprised when we earned Rs. 440,000 from this project. I can tell you something here; no crop can earn you that much money in 6 months- what has happened to our project is really unbelievable. Next year, we will increase the area under green house to 14 acres which will fetch us even better returns as we are now confident enough to have the technical skills needed to run this project. This is the best thing that ASF could do for small-scale farmers.”
Muhammad Iqbal Saifi,
Farmer / President, Amman, Vegetable Development Group (FEG)
The commercial off-season farming project launched by ASF has already been successful in promoting the culture of off-season farming among small-scale farmers. The fact, that more and more farmers are now willing to adopt this technology, provides a factor of sustainability to this intervention of ASF. The project has not only achieved significant success in the context of poverty alleviation but also increases the availability of fresh vegetables in the markets at reasonable prices. |
