Imagine Earning 25 Lakhs From 1.25 Acres by Growing Pomegranates And Apples in Arid Lands

In 2008, a joint family in the village of Beri of the Sikar district, Rajasthan, broke up. Of the three brothers, two had good jobs. However, the older brother, Ram Karan Khedar, was a house guard and earned a meager salary of 3,000 rupees. Although Ram Karan and his wife, Santosh Devi, used to work on the five-acre ancestral farm before the division, however, there was almost no income from it.

Now, with only 1.25 acres of land, things were sad.

Santosh Devi Khedar's journey began with this nearly barren 1.25 acres land that produced just enough to cover the cost of seeds, fertilizers and labor every year.

But now, your family income is Rs 25 lakhs and all from the same land of 1.25 acres!

When we parted, someone said that my children could only eat because my brothers-in-law earned well, or they would die of hunger. It was then that I decided to take over the farm and show them that agriculture can be a profitable business, which can provide my children with more than enough, says Santosh Devi.

Santosh, who was born into a family of farmers in the village of Kalasiya in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, went with his family when his father got a job in the Delhi police department.

However, she wanted to return to the village. Therefore, when she was in class 5, she asked her father to take her back to her village.

"My father wanted me to study, but I loved being in town. Mera manh toh kisani me hi lagta tha tabhi se (My heart has always belonged to agriculture), he says in conversation with The Better India (TBI).

In her village, Santosh had always seen her 10-acre farm flourish and had learned all about agriculture when she was 12 years old.

He married Ram Karan in 1990 at the age of 15 years. She loved agriculture and was always willing to work on the farm with her in-laws as well. However, things were very different here.

"At our grandfather's farm we never used chemical fertilizers, and even then, there was always a good yield, but here the farm was almost infertile due to the use of chemical products over the years." There was no water source around, and only the traditional yield was cultivated like the jowar and the bajra, "shares Santosh.

For many years, Santosh continued with the traditional method that Ram Karan was following. But when the family separated, and they mocked them for not contributing to the family's finances, she decided to take things with her own hands.

The change

While Ram Karan continued to work as a house guard, Santosh began to work harder on the farm. First, she cleared the farm of weeds. It also stopped supplying chemical fertilizers to the soil and replaced them with organic ones. Ram Karan also contributed to the farm after his work hours. However, their efforts were not enough. Traditional crops did not earn enough to feed their children.

It was in this dark hour that Santosh remembered an idea that Sikar's Agriculture Officer had suggested to Ram Karan.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://www.thebetterindia.com/179678/rajasthan-woman-farmer-earns-lakhs-grows-pomegranate-apple/