Vadodara: A few months from now if you happen to buy organic vegetables from the market, there is a possibility that it may have been cultivated by inmates of Vadodara Central Jail on the 15 bighas of land within the jail’s premises.
Some prisoners, as a part of welfare activities, indulge in farming on land behind the jail buildings within the campus. Until recently, the inmates used to cultivate the produce for use in the jail kitchen using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. But now the inmates have started developing compost using organic waste.
Jail officials said that a lot of plant waste like dried leaves and flowers gets accumulated in the entire campus. The waste, after it decomposes, is mixed with cow dung, jaggery and wheat flour. The compost is then sprinkled across the farm instead of the chemical fertilizer.
The inmates have also switched to drip irrigation system for watering the crops. The system was donated by a company manufacturing irrigation system to save water.
The crops cultivated by the inmates are largely used in the jail’s kitchen, but a small part is also sold to the public by the jail’s welfare department.