Borjhar, July 17: They are young and innovative and their venture into papaya cultivation four years ago has not only changed their lives but is also set to transform Bhogdabari in Assam's Kamrup district into the first "papaya village".

Krishna Boro, Rajkumar Rabha and Rajib Boro, aged between 30 and 37 years, had started papaya cultivation on 20 bighas of land in Bhogdabari four years ago.

The trio motivated many others to take up papaya cultivation and now their success story has prompted the state agriculture department to give Bhogdabari the title of "papaya village".

At present, 14 farmers are growing papayas on 61 bighas in the village and 39 more have come forward to grow papaya commercially.

The trio has so far earned Rs 10 lakh by selling papaya produced on 20 bighas this year.

Krishna expects the profit to be around Rs 8 lakh, excluding the input cost of Rs 4 lakh.

They will start harvesting again in November-December.

"We are ecstatic that we are able to motivate other farmers. We hope more and more people will be encouraged by our success story and take up large-scale papaya cultivation. This will not only improve the economic condition of our area but also generate employment for many," one of them said.

Kamrup district agriculture officer Nawab Indad Ali said they decided to name Bhogdabari the "papaya village" as the farmers are doing wonders in production of the fruit.

"We will declare it a 'papaya village' within this year," Ali told The Telegraph and added that the department was trying to ensure market linkage.

"The growers will be tied up with farm producers' organisations. Each of them, who will cultivate on a minimum of two bighas, will be provided saplings free of cost," he said.

Assam has 10 such farm producers' organisations but Bhogdabari will be the first such organisation for papaya growers.

The organisation is an important initiative undertaken by the agriculture department to promote and strengthen member-based collective of farmers.

"A plant produces 25kg papaya in a year, which fetches Rs 1,000 for the growers, including Rs 300 as production cost," Ali said.

Ali said the department was trying to provide drip irrigation system to the farmers as there was water scarcity from December to February.