By the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura NitaI and Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subadra, Yasodapura Eco Village is planning to purchase a new rice field located about 500 meter from our existing project. The founder of the project, HH Bhakti Raghava Swami Maharaja, plans to expand the land from its present 11 hectares to 20 hectares. We will need another 6 hectares land to make this happen.
The size of the proposed 3 hectares rice field measures 150 meters by 200 meters (30,000 square meters). The land is located on the east side of our existing project. We had done the mesurement for this rice field along with the owner and the village and commune staffs, as well as with a few other neigbors. The first day of measuring was interesting because we forgot to add the measurement for one side of the land, so we were thinking that more than one hectare of land was missing, We became very confused because of that. But finaly we remembered. The next day we again took the mesurements and this time we could account for the full 3 hectares.
From these 3 hectares, 2 hectares are fully rice field and one hectare is dry with a small forest in the corner. The previous owner of this land was having 5 hectares. He had sold 2 hectares to one person and 3 to another. Previously those two buyers had some dispute over a portion of their land that both claimed to be theirs. But by the arrangement of the Village and Commune staffs the problem was resolved and both parties agreed to follow the last measurement made by them.
The 3 hectares that we plan to purchase next week will fulfill our longtime desire to have our own rice field. If we could take care of this paddy field nicely, it can produces between 3 to 4 tons of rice yearly. This will be sufficient to meet our needs. In this way, we will achieve self-sufficiency of rice on our project as well as self-sufficiency of vegetables and fruits. By Krishna’s mercy we can use the rice also for our on-going prasadam distribution program. The rice field will also be very beneficial for producing hay needed for the cows we eventually plan to acquire.
In Cambodia, the months of October and November bring heavy rain every day. At that time cows cannot go anywhere and we need hay to feed them. That’s why the villagers always keep a lot of hay for their cows. As Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita (3.14),“Annad Bhavanti Butani”, land will provide for whatever we need. So this rice field will not only give us our main food, rice, but will also provide food to the cows. If cows are satisfied then Krishna and everyone else will be satisfied.
Inside the small forest there are many stones under the grown. These stones are part of a stone-hill neighbouring our boundary. We have plans to keep this small forest and use the stones for some future construction or possibly to make our own Govardhan Hill.
On the dry land we plan to grow some sugar cane because it is near water, and we can also grow some vegetables during the summer. For this new development we will work with one of our adopted families who will help us to plant the rice and other things.
By gradually getting more resources we hope to do more activities, which could attract some local boys to become fulltime devotees. Since a long time we are planning to open a “Vocational Training School” to teach the science of organic agriculture and to provide training on cow care and cow protection.
We know that Cambodia’s population has a very large percentage of children and young people, possibly the largest in the world. Most of these youth need access to proper education, the best we can offer being traditional education along the lines of both Gurukula and Varnasrama College. So based on our capacity we would like to help this country from our Yashodapur Eco Village project beginning with our neighbor’s children.
We don’t have much financial resources yet and still have limited power. However, I am sure that by focusing on Lord Krishna everything is possible. This is what Krishna Consciousness is all about.
Our devotees in Cambodia have this strong faith to help fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s mission by having farm communities and traditional educational Institutions.
Thank you very much
Hare Krishna
Your servant
Gunaavatara dasa
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