Planting 10,000 trees for orchard on barren land proves fruitful for this Indian man

A man from eastern India's Gaya in the region of Bihar has spent the last 15 years planting 10,000 trees to grow in an orchard.

A man from eastern India's Gaya in the region of Bihar has spent the last 15 years planting 10,000 trees to grow in an orchard.

Satyendra Gautam Manjhi started his journey 15 years ago when he met "Mountain Man" Dashrath Manjhi - a local hero who carved a road out of a mountain.

Since then he has planted 10,000 trees, mostly guava, in the barren wastelands of an island in the Phalgu River.

Footage shows Satyendra Gautam Manjhi at work in the orchard.

He said: "Dashrath Manjhi told me to plant an orchard in this area.

"At that time this place was barren and deserted and there was only sand everywhere.

"It was a lot of trouble in the beginning.

Water had to be brought from the house in a pot for the plants.

"Animals used to destroy the plants.

I brought thorny bushes from the forest and made a hedge.

The hedge still protects my orchard." "When Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar came to know about my contribution to environmental protection, I was made a member of the Child Protection Commission."