Hamirpur(HP), Farmers of Chaleli village of the Bijheri developmental block of the district are now growing cash crops to stand on their feet, thanks to the the JICA project. The Himachal Pradesh Crop Diversification Incentive Project, being run with the help of Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA has not only shown a new way to the farmers of village Chaleli of Samla, Gram Panchayat of the development block but also their annual income from farming is five times more than the old income. The farmers of Chaleli, who have been cultivating wheat and maize for generations, were getting very low yields for the last several years due to lack of irrigation facilities. Due to the harsh weather and low yields, many farmers were beginning to quit farming. At this moment, local agricultural development with help of the JICA crop diversification incentive project for such farmers brought great hope. Under this project, about 9.58 hectares of land was brought under irrigation facility by constructing lift irrigation scheme at a cost of about 46 lakh rupees in the village. Along with irrigation facility, about 35 farmers of the village were provided power tillers, power weeders, garlic planters and other modern agricultural implements through JiCa and trained by agricultural experts. Villagers Raj Kumar, Saravan Kumar, Nikkaram, Sanjeev Kumar and other farmers have set an example in vegetable production with the help of JICA project. They have been now planting cucumber, bitter gourd, okra, tomatoes and other vegetables along with traditional crops during the Kharif season, while peas, radishes, potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables are being planted in their fields during the Rabi season. Jaica Project Director Dr. Vinod Kumar Sharma said that due to this project, the production of food crops has increased to 28 quintal per hectare and vegetable production to 190 quintal per hectare during Kharif season in Chaleli village. Similarly, during the Rabi season, the yield of food grains has reached 26 quintals per hectare and vegetable production has reached 160 quintals per hectare. He said that the annual income per hectare of the farmers of Chaleli village has increased from Rs 74,500 to more than Rs 3 lakh 64 thousand. That is, it has increased about five times.