Bhojpur. Many youths of the district who had returned home after years of hard work abroad have now joined agriculture in their own village. The adoption of agriculture as an alternative to employment has given new hope to the villages.

Maniraj Rai of Khoksik of Ramprasad Rai Rural Municipality-8 is one such example. Rai, who spent around 10 years abroad, has returned to the village and has been involved in commercial vegetable farming. Rai has been growing tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, potato, radish, greens, carrot and other vegetables. He said that it has become easier to engage in farming after receiving training and agricultural tools at the initiative of the ward office.

“I have returned from abroad and started commercial vegetable farming in my village,” he said, adding, “I can earn better income by working hard in my own place.” Now I am enjoying vegetable farming with my family. ’

He said that he has been doing vegetable farming commercially since 2078 BS after seeing that he could earn good income from the vegetable business. According to him, he earns Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 a month after deducting all expenses from vegetable farming. He has no problem in selling vegetables produced in the village as they are easily consumed in the local market. “If I can become a businessman in my village, I don’t have to go out to earn money,” he said. ’

According to the ward office, the ward office has identified the farmers involved in commercial agriculture and provided them with grants, training and equipment as per their plans. Ward chair Bach Kumar Rai said that despite the limited budget, emphasis has been laid on making agriculture a model by collaborating with various organizations and organizations. “We have prioritized agriculture to make the farmers economically capable”, said Rai, adding, “We have been providing various skill-oriented training along with vegetable farming, commercial goat rearing.” ’

He said that in the future, the plan is to encourage farmers to grow crops suitable to the soil by testing the soil. According to the ward chairperson, the budget allocated to the ward has not been able to cover all sectors and works are being done to increase investment in agriculture in collaboration with other bodies.