Koraput: There was a time when raising a small family was not too difficult for Mussuri Miniyaka and his wife, Vimala. Living in Narsi Kaipadar, a remote village in Koraput district’s Lakshmipur block, the couple sustained itself by cultivating paddy, millets, and pepper on their small acre of land near Kudiya Kad, along with raising a few native chickens.
Life took a sharp turn three years ago when Mussuri’s elder brother suffered a debilitating injury, leaving him paralyzed. The responsibility of supporting both families—his own and his brother’s—fell entirely on him. Shortly after, the death of Mussuri ’s brother-in-law, further compounded their difficulties.
Despite the added burden, Mussuri and Vimala embraced their new roles with grace, treating their brother’s three sons and daughter as their own. “We didn’t have our own children, so raising them felt like a calling,” said Vimala, reflecting on their decision to care for the children. The financial strain, however, was immense.
The cost of healthcare for Mussuri’s brother, along with school fees and other expenses for the children, became overwhelming. In search for support, the couple turned to Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), an NGO working in the area. “We saw potential in their experience with poultry farming,” explained Sudesh Sahu, a field coordinator for CYSD.
The NGO provided financial aid and technical support, enabling the family to scale up their poultry farming operations. With this assistance, Mussuri and Vimala began raising indigenous chickens, which generated an annual income of around ₹30,000. Additionally, with CYSD’s guidance, they diversified their farming techniques, using the trolley method to grow vegetables alongside their regular cultivation of paddy, maize, and millets.
With CYSD’s help, he acquired more land to cultivate maize and built a pond to start fish farming. “I’m learning modern methods in farming, and the fish farming gives us a small but helpful income every six months,” Mussuri stated.
Similarly, Sekhar Vadeka, a farmer from Chilisankha village of Burja Panchayat in Laxmipur block, also has received Rs 1.5 lakh from CYSD for construction of a house to prepare fish feed which he prepares using dry fish, maize and ragi.
Sekhar says, he was only concentrating on cultivating some vegetables prior to this assistance but now he is preparing the fish feed for about five villages in the neighbourhood and earning a good amount of financial gain out of these transactions.
Patu Miniyaka of Kendubeda village in Laxmipur block also diverted into integrated farming practice and runs a chicken coop with the assistance he had received. Earlier, he used to keep chicks at home where his family stayed.
According to Chittaranjan Gowda, Block Integrator from CYSD, in the last two years, the organization has assisted in construction of 1,235 chicken coop and 514 goat shelters apart from facilitating more than 550 beneficiaries to use modern technology in the agriculture field for better yield.
