The inspiring life of a woman farmer

BENGALURU

M. Kavitha, a woman farmer from Holenarsipur taluk, through direct marketing and value addition, has managed to not only double her revenue but also pay a salary of ₹35,000 per month to her graduate son to manage her farm.

Ms. Kavitha’s experiments with agriculture began after she was married. Her husband was working elsewhere, though the family had nine acres of land including four acres of rocky land. She convinced her husband to quit his job and take up farming.

“I tried to prepare the rocky area for farming for nearly five years by raising loans. I managed to grow sugarcane, but the sugar factory itself shut when the crop was about to be harvested,” she recounts.

This devastated her, but she remembered her father’s advise that mother earth does not let anyone who trust her. “So I decided to give one more try and bought a jersy cow by raising loans. Within three years, the number of milking cows increased to 10 and I was able to get nearly 200 litres of milk a day for some time,” she noted. Her financial position slowly improved.

“I started raring country chicken. While others sell chicken at ₹450 a kg, I get ₹900 a kg as I value add by preparing chicken dishes and selling them to hotels and factory staff twice in a week,” she said. She makes value addition to her agri produce by preparing papads, pickles and ragi malt. “I sell these products at weekly shandies directly to consumers so that I get remunerative prices,” she said. Ms. Kavitha, who is cultivating banana on four acres, is also selling the produce through direct marketing.

She has managed to convince her son, who was working in city for a salary of ₹20,000, to farming. “I pay him ₹35,000 a month for assisting me in farming,” she said.

Ms. Kavitha was on Thursday honoured at the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru’s Krishi Mela with the Canara Bank State-level best woman farmer award.