1. PRESENTS

2. BEETLE CULTIVATION

3. Prepared by S.K.SAMIM CLASS VIII-A CLASS VIII-A PROJECT GUIDE EKALABYA DAS With special guidance from Jharana Sarkar (Dist Coordinator, AIF)

4. INTRODUCTION It is a good crop. Needs hard work. Gives good return to the farmer. It is done mainly in Eastern India.

5. It is a creeper. It needs a lot of water. So the farmer always digs a pond near the Pana Baraja. In earlier times they were watered through earthen pitchers. But now a days there is development and pipelines are provided up to the baraja.

6. PREPARATION To prepare the pana baraja the work starts in the month of Chaitra- Baisakha (March-April). Following items are needed to prepare the baraja:

7. Bamboo, pakhudi (stripped bamboo), tati, nada etc.

8. PROCESS TO PREPARE A BARAJA Bamboo is cut in stripes. Bamboo stripes are kept dipped in water for a few days. They are tied with ropes to prepare tati. Tati is used to cover the whole area to save the cultivation from the sun rays. As beetle creeper is very delicate it needs extra care.

9. Inside the baraja many bamboo stripes are put with each creeper for support and the creepers are tied with soft ropes with the stripes. Three times in the year these ropes are changed.

10. Soil Preparation Fertilizers, Water and cow dung (compost) are mixed together with the soil. The plantation needs to be watered twice in a week. Baraja has to be cleaned 3-4 times in a week.

11. Marketing The price of pan goes up during the winter. In rainy season as there is much rains and pan gets rotten with more water the prices goes down. The farmer’s work starts in Summer. It brings foreign exchange to our country because it is exported to neighboring countries like Pakistan.