P Bindu from Theni, Tamil Nadu, began farming after her two daughters joined faculty. Thru her leading edge farming strategies and enterprising nature, she nowadays sells value-added merchandise like sun-dried greens and podis (powders).
P Bindu, an natural farmer from Tamil Nadu, were given married when she was once slightly 18 years outdated. She had additionally controlled to check handiest until Elegance 10. Whilst she resigned to her destiny, she sought after to offer her daughters a greater lifestyles. Married to a sugarcane farmer, she made up our minds to step onto the sphere herself for her women.
And her efforts bore fruit and the way. No longer handiest was once she in a position to pay for her daughter’s training in excellent colleges and schools, however she additionally gained awards for her leading edge farming strategies.
Until her women have been younger, Bindu was once busy with them. However when they began going to university, the 42-year-old began going to the fields, foraying into the arena of agriculture. With years of coaching and on box enjoy in hand, she began her personal logo Pasumai in 2020 with 12 different girls underneath her.
Now she sells value-added merchandise like vathals (sun-dried greens), idli podi (powder), lemon podi, coriander powder and extra. Lately, her logo sells greater than 100 packets of those merchandise per thirty days, she proudly stocks.
So how did Bindu flip her lifestyles round? Learn on forward as she stocks her tale with The Higher India.
Sealing a greater long term for her daughters
Let’s rewind time to 1998, when Bindu and her husband, Pitchai, were given married.
Pitchai’s circle of relatives cultivated sugarcane on their 5 acre land in Bomminayakanpatti village within the Theni district in Tamil Nadu. However they have been burning their palms in protecting the farm operating.
“Sugarcane is a labour and cost-intensive crop. We’d incur a large number of bills which we paid for by means of mortgaging our jewelry. We were given about Rs 80,000 according to yr thru this, which after chopping different bills and labour prices, would no longer also be sufficient for our daughters’ faculty charges,” Bindu says.
In keeping with Bindu, maximum farmers in and round their village and Theni, develop sugarcane and cotton. She made up our minds to start out rising other vegetation, with the hopes of them yielding extra source of revenue.
“We used to develop paddy and sugarcane. I knew that I needed to do one thing other on our farm, as farming is the one factor we all know. I additionally sought after to extend our source of revenue for the sake of my daughters,” she explains. They first began rising corn and brinjal on their farm.
As this was once additionally the primary time that Bindu actually stepped out of the home and “noticed the true international”, she got here to grasp of self-help teams (SHGs) and joined one. This gave her a possibility to peer what others on this box have been doing.
“I used to be offered to many ladies who have been, in their very own small techniques, supporting their households. It was once very inspiring to peer that. Thru this SHG, I additionally went for some programmes of the agriculture division of the state and realized of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK),” provides the farmer.
The agriculture division disbursed lentil and millet seeds and in 2019, Bindu began rising sorghum (jowar or cholam), pearl millet (bajra or kambu), and urad dal. In a while after, she began natural farming.
“I attended a KVK workshop the place they informed us how one can farm with out the use of insecticides. I made a pesticide composition at house by means of blending ginger, garlic, and pepper. You simply wish to upload 100 ml of this combination to fifteen litres of water. No longer handiest does it stay bugs away, however I’ve by no means observed shinier brinjals!” says Bindu.
In 2020, she began rising bananas, which take about 8-One year for a yield. The enterprising farmer wasn’t going to look forward to see you later. She made up our minds to develop some greens thru inter-cropping, which might fetch a yield speedy.
“I began rising toor dal, tomatoes, girls finger in the course of the means of intercropping. Those vegetation may well be taken out in 4 months, and equipped us with a supplementary source of revenue,” explains Bindu.
Putting in place a small undertaking
As the primary experiment was once a good fortune, she then grew coriander seeds, sour gourd, and different greens.
Then again, because the yield higher, so did the wastage. Lots of the greens have been rotting away and needed to be thrown when the costs have been low. An try to save those greens introduced out the businesswoman in Bindu. What do you do to avoid wasting a rotting vegetable? Neatly, you are making yummy vathals.
“I underwent coaching on post-harvest processing and packaging of those dried greens and value-added merchandise at KVK. I additionally learnt how one can marketplace them. I sought after to maximize our produce and employ each product extra judiciously. I were given the entire related meals protection certificate and Udyam certificate (a compulsory registration for micro, small and medium enterprises),” provides Bindu, which resulted in her personal project, Pasumai.
She is in a position to promote her merchandise in the community, at KVKs and schools.
She now needs to scale up her manufacturing and has taken a mortgage from the district business centre to buy grinding machines. She has additionally purchased a sun dryer which might make the drying technique of the greens extra environment friendly.
Thru her efforts, her older daughter has finished her masters in engineering and her more youthful daughter is pursuing a BSc nursing path. In simply 3 years, she has arrange a small undertaking, which she is scaling up, thru her inventions.
“I simply began this out of an pastime in farming; that’s all I knew in lifestyles and I’m happy that it helped my authentic purpose of giving my daughters a excellent training. I need to educate extra other folks now and convey them ahead as smartly,” says Bindu.
Edited by means of Padmashree Pande