For a long time, Rozina was a struggling farmer.

Rozina lives with

her family in rural Bangladesh, where many families make a living by farming rice, vegetables, or
other crops. Day after day, Rozina and her fellow small-farmers were working hard in their fields, but
they were not producing enough food. How were they supposed to feed their families and overcome
poverty without good harvests?

Then Rozina took a brave step that changed her harvests for the better: she joined a community
farmers group organized by World Renew’s local partner, SATHI.

In this group, farmers were trained in new agriculture techniques to help them increase their crop
yields. Rozina was surprised to learn that the chemical fertilizers and pesticides that many of the
farmers were using could damage the land and make it even more difficult to produce healthy crops.

Rozina also learned about environmentally-friendly agriculture practices, such as composting, seeds
preservation and the use of organic pesticides. By using organic fertilizer instead of chemical
fertilizers, she could help increase the fertility of the soil. She also realized what a difference it would
make for her family if she could grow her own nutritious fruits and vegetables that they could
incorporate into their diet.

Agricultural training equipped Rozina to see new ways forward for the farmers in her community.
With great excitement, she started to put what she had learned into practice. She began growing
tomatoes on her small plot of land—a project that cost her about 2,800 taka (approximately $35
USD). Her husband was glad to help her with this new endeavor.

Within a few days, Rozina’s tomatoes plants were full of fruit! She was thrilled to have tomatoes that
she and her family could could eat. She could also had a new product that she could sell, and she
made a profit of about 12,300 taka (approximately $154 USD) by selling her tomatoes.

At first, many the farmers in Rozina’s community were skeptical about the new agricultural methods
she was using. Could these changes really help them improve their harvests? But Rozina was
confident in her practices and passionate about sharing what she had learned with other farmers. So
she invited farmers to come and visit her garden and see her success. When these farmers saw
proof of Rozina’s success, they were also inspired to try these new, environmentally-friendly
methods for themselves.

Today, Rozina continues to thrive and she is a strong leader. As one of trained peer farmers in her
community, she finds great joy in training and mobilized new farmers in techniques that help give
them enough food for their families.

“By applying what I learned through World Renew programs, I became a successful farmer,” said
Rozina. “I believe and hope that all local farmers will use compost and organic pesticides in their
kitchen garden one day.”

Sunita started by growing tomato, peas, radish,

eggplant, and chilly and green leafy vegetables. Now, she employs five other farmers in her field
regularly to make the field clean and to pick up the vegetables. She grows tomatoes,
cauliflower, cabbage, pumpkin and chilies throughout the year and sells them in her local
market.

Her income has to stretch to feed four adults and two children. Four cows are also part of the
household and help Sunita with their substantial driving force and valuable manure. Now she is
able to make a regular income of NRs 34,000 per month from agriculture and NRs 14,000 by
selling milk.

Her income has to stretch to feed four adults and two children. Four cows are also part of the
household and help Sunita with their substantial driving force and valuable manure. Now she is
able to make a regular income of NRs 34,000 per month from agriculture and NRs 14,000 by
selling milk.

She explained that now she has learned the techniques of farming off-seasonal
vegetables in the training organized by WCS and 25 women in the village have been
motivated to also grow off-seasonal vegetables. Sunita says: “The soil plays a big role
in cultivating good vegetable farming.” According to Sunita the spray needed for vegetable
production will depend on range of factors such as, weather, temperature, rainfall, and quality
requirements for the vegetables. Sunita uses pesticides on her vegetables if the crops require it
but in a appropriate amount, and she is sure to follow the procedures properly, as there are
legal requirements that you need to apply with when using chemicals. These include having the
appropriate chemical user certification, adhering to withholding periods (length of time after
spraying that a crop can be harvested) and strict rules on recordkeeping.

Right now the women living in Thimi visit Sunita’s farm to learn the technique of agriculture and use
of pesticides and in that way she is seen as a community leader.

Sunita proudly says if anyone is interested to learn and observe farming from her farm they are most
welcome, and she especially gives preference to teaching other women.

The exposure visit at Sunita’s farm was a huge success, it now allows them to show value to
farming, they also learned how to plan a farm business and ensure the financial success of
the operation and small farming can be enough for a family of five to live a good life.

Mr. Sushil Kumar Bind is a marginal farmer in village

Bahuti, block Marihaan District Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. He has about one hectare land for
cultivation. Earlier, he was a worried farmer and was unable to fulfill his family’s
requirement. A transformation happened in his life when he attended Kisan Mela at the
Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi and interacted with the vegetable
scientists. He came to know about early varieties of vegetable pea matching very well in
rice-wheat cropping system prevailing in eastern parts of UP. Further, a help was provided
to him under NAIP Sub Project- livelihood security in disadvantage districts of Purvanchal.
Under the project, he obtained quality seeds and fertilizer.
He initiated vegetable cultivation under the supervision of scientists of IIVR. Scientists of
IIVR told him to cultivate pea in his whole land, he agreed. He began with land preparation,
first of all he examined his land and did deep ploughing of the farm land. He applied
organic fertilizer (Gobar Khad) and irrigation of his land to destroy unnecessary weeds and
pest. After land preparation, he did seed sowing of Kashi Uday and Kashi Nandini in the
last October. Seeds germinated very soon. He started taking care of plant and destroyed all
unwanted weeds. After one month, flower blooming started and fruiting started profusely.
Mr. Sushil Kumar Bind started picking of peapods in month of December and sold to the
market @ of 25-35 Rupees per kilogram. In the month of December, he earned about Rs.
40.000 by sale of 1200 kilogram of pea pod.
In the month of January, production of crop was very high and through four picking of
pods, he collected about 3500kg fresh pea pods. At that time that time he earned about
57,500 rupees by selling produce @ Rs.15-20 per kg at Mandi.
In the month of February, price of pea pods declined, so he did only two picking of pea
pods. He harvested about 1500kg and sold it @ 5-10 Rs. per kg and got about 11,250
rupees. After that he left the crop for seed production. At last, he collected about 2500 kg
in the form of seed. He earned another 15,000 rupees by the sale of seed.
peaMr. Sushil Kumar has earned approximately 1,23,750 rupees by sale of pea. He spent
5000/- on seed, 10000/- on transportation, 1000/- on irrigation and 2000/- on land
preparation and 5000/- for fertilizer. In brief, he spent about Rs. 23000/- and earned
about one Lakh Rupees in a short time period by cultivation of pea. Now, he is planning to
cultivate sweet pea in his whole land. He is regularly in touch with vegetable scientists for
getting more information. He also motivates other farmers for vegetable cultivation.
Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi has brought prosperity to Purvanchal
farmers through cultivation of vegetable pea. Scientists of IIVR have done rigorous
experiment on vegetable pea and developed two high yielding varieties Kashi Uday and
Kashi Nandini. These varieties are not only early but having high yield also. Kashi Uday
gives production about 750-900 kg/hectare whereas yield potential of Kashi Nandini
isabout 900-110kg/hectare. These varieties possess high degree of diseases resistance
also.
 Pramod Gautam

Meet Pramod, a former automobile engineer who switched to farming in 2006,

and now gets a yearly turnover of a crore, after implementing a radically
different method of cultivation.

In 2006, after feeling unsatisfied in his job as an automobile engineer, Pramod

abandoned engineering and decided to give farming an earnest shot on his
26-acre ancestral land.

Initially, Pramod faced his share of challenges. He planted white groundnuts

and turmeric but reaped no benefits.

Availability of labour was another big issue as workers preferred to migrate to

cities and work in factories. Pramod decided to switch to other crops and
modern farm equipment, which were not so labour intensive. An example of
such types of equipment used by some Indian farmers is the driverless tractor
technology – developed by Mahindra for such situations.

Incidentally, farmers like Pramod can make such choices now since, unlike
before, they do not have to buy all the equipment. Even with a low budget,
they can rent farm equipment using apps like Tringo.

In 2007-08, Pramod switched wholly to horticulture. He planted oranges,

guavas, lemons, sweet limes, raw bananas and Toor Dal. Pramod also
decided to start his own mill.

Pramod sells the processed and unpolished pulses under the brand name of
‘Vandana’. He has an annual turnover of about Rs. 1 crore from his dal mill
and an additional Rs 10-12 lakh from horticulture, which is much more than
what he was earning as an engineer!Sachin Kale
Like Pramod, Sachin is a mechanical engineer from Nagpur who started his
career by working at a power plant and rapidly rose to the top over the years.
In 2013, Sachin left his luxurious life in Gurgaon, where he was working as a
manager for Punj Lloyd and getting a hefty salary of Rs 24 lakh per annum.
He shifted to Medhpar to become a farmer.

Talking about challenges, Sachin says: “Everything was a challenge, as I had

absolutely no clue about farming. I had to learn everything from tilling the land
to sowing the seeds.”

Sachin invested his 15-year-old provident fund in setting up a clean energy

model where his farm was useful all year round and gave a maximum of profit.

In 2014, Sachin launched his own company, Innovative AgriLife Solutions Pvt.
Ltd., which helped farmers with the contract farming model of farming. Today,
Sachin’s company is helping 137 happy farmers working on 200 acres of land
and drawing a turnover of approximately Rs 2 crore.

Harish Dhandev

Another engineer, Harish left his government job to take up Aloe Vera farming
in Rajasthan – which proved highly successful, earning him crores.

Once he decided to farm on his ancestral land in Jaisalmer, one of the first
things that Harish did was to get his soil tested by the agricultural department.

“The agriculture department suggested I grow crops like Bajra, Moong or Gawar –
crops that require less water. They did not suggest growing Aloe Vera, in spite of
 the fact that we were already cultivating it, because of a lack of market
opportunities for the crop in the Jaisalmer area,” says Harish.

However, Harish did his own research online through resources like MyAgriGuru, which
connects farmers with agri-experts across the country to allow an exchange of ideas.
Harish discovered that if he set his sight further afield and used online portals to get to
national and international markets, he could easily sell his produce well.

Harish’s initial 80,000 saplings quickly grew in number to seven lakh. Within six months
Harish managed to get ten clients for his Aloe Vera within Rajasthan itself. But soon
discovered that they, in turn, were selling the extracted pulp at much higher prices. So
he trained his farm labourers to extract the pulp, giving them all some extra income.

Over the years, Harish has bought more land and now grows Aloe Vera over a hundred
acres. His company, Dhandev Global Group, is located in Dhaisar, 45 kilometres from
Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and his turnover ranges between Rs. 1.5 to 2 crore.

Through the above three stories, you may believe that only educated farmers can be
successful. But that is hardly the case.

Vishwanath Bobade

A farmer from Bahirwadi, Vishwanath’s village is in the drought-prone Beed

district of Maharashtra. However, he has earned Rs 7 lakh from farming on
just one acre of land!

Vishwanath decided to give multi-cropping a try, and he also figured out that
he could increase his crop by building a wire fence and planting creepers and
climbers on them.
Vishwanath also installed a pipeline with his first-year profits to ensure
sprinklers watered his plants. He has also picked up farming methods like
raised-bed farming and mulching over the years, which has proved to be
beneficial.

Indeed, Vishwanath takes help of only two labourers at his farm. He and his
wife work day and night to take care of the plants and hence the cost of
production is less, giving them better profits.

Rajiv Bittu
Rajiv is a part-time Chartered Accountant and a full-time farmer. And according to him,
he earns more from farming than his chartered accountancy firm!After his three-year-old
daughter refused to mingle with farmers during one of his visits to his ancestral village,
Rajiv decided to take up farming to change her views. His first step was to lease some
land in Kuchu village, 32 km away from Ranchi.

As he did not have the funds to pay rent for the land, he offered the landlord 1/3rd of the
produce he grew. And thus his journey into agriculture began. He made use of the latest
technology, like drip irrigation and mulching, to get a maximum yield at his farm.

“Drip irrigation is the best way to reduce water wastage and labour cost, while
mulching is nothing but a thin layer of plastic in which holes are made to put the
seeds. This restores the sun rays for a long time and retains humidity of the soil. It
also restricts the growth of weeds around the main crop,” Rajeev tells us from his
farm.
Halfway into 2014, Rajeev had a good harvest of watermelon and muskmelon. But the
profit did not do justice to the investment.

He then divided the land into small segments and calculated the investment made,
labour cost, and the profit gained from each part. This gave him a clear idea of the
economics of the farm. Rajeev planted different crops in each segment to calculate the
exact ‘investment versus profit’ ratio of each harvest. This helped him to decide what
crops should be planted next.

Rajeev has now taken 32 acres of farm on lease and is growing brinjal,
cucumber, watermelon, muskmelon and tomato and earns a profit of around
Rs 15 to 16 lakh every year.

Oliar Rahman Firoj has been farming summer tomatoes

in southern Bangladesh over the past three years. He dedicates his acre of land to
cultivating this high-value crop, which commands prices four-to-five times higher than
winter tomato varieties. However, the initial investment for this crop is also higher as the
farmer needs to purchase heat-tolerant varieties of tomato seeds, install raised beds
and rain shelters, and learn integrated crop management techniques, such as pruning,
staking, sanitation, and curbing disease and pests.

Sourcing enough money for this up-front investment has been Oliar’s primary challenge
in previous years. In his first year of planting summer tomatoes, Oliar received credit
from traditional money lenders. But these loans came with high interest rates that cut
into his profits. Oliar considered purchasing inputs on credit, but that can cost up to 30
percent more than paying cash and would have reduced profits.

USAID and BRAC Bank agreed to launch a new pilot agricultural loan program
specifically for farmers working in the country’s southern river delta region. This product
provides farmers with a single installment loan at an interest rate of 11 percent per year.
Farmers have three to six months to repay the loan, versus the weekly loan repayment
plans set up by traditional money lenders. As a test case, BRAC disbursed 50,000 taka
loans (approximately $640) to seven tomato farmers including Oliar.

Seven years ago, Amar Chandra borrowed Rs. 4000 (approx. 52 Euros) from a local
moneylender for farming with a hope that he would be able to return the amount after
the harvest. But due to a drought that year, his crops didn’t do well. His inability to pay
the debt and the mounting interest on it forced Amar Chandra to migrate to Delhi, nearly
580 km away from his village. He began to work there as a labourer.

But the job was irregular. Tired of an uncertain future, he came back to his village, a
year later. However this time he wanted to do something new. “Through the agriculture
department and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, I found out about organic farming methods.
Gradually I adopted some of the organic practices, but was not successful initially,” he
said.

Around the same time, Amar Chandra came in contact with Parmarth Samaj Sevi
Sansthan, Welthungerhilfe’s partner in the region. During a discussion, organised by
Parmarth in his village, on organic farming and its impact on environment and health, he
shared his concerns. Parmarth began to provide him guidance and technical support on
organic farming. The project team also gave him a five-day training on planning and
management of organic farming.
Amar uses biopesticides and biomanure on his farm. Today, Amar Chandra does
farming using System of Vegetable Intensification (SVI), a technique that provides
higher yields while using less water and inputs. He practises organic farming methods
such as green manure, biopesticides as well as adopts techniques like Integrated Plant
Nutrient Management (IPNM) to enrich the soil and Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
to repel pests. “I have learned to make organic manure like Jeevamrit and organic
pesticides (Amrit Pani) on my own using locally available materials like cow dung and
cow urine and I use these on my farm now,” he said.

Further, he has adopted drip irrigation, a technique that uses water efficiently. He also
does mulching and staking and grows crops in the greenhouse and that has resulted in
a good quality yield.

In the current year, Amar Chandra has sown tomato crop on his field by SVI method
and earned a profit of more than 3 lac rupees (approx. 3900 Euros). He firmly believes
that if any farmer seriously adopts organic farming with SVI technique then s/he will be
able to earn a substantial profit and will not have to migrate to cities.

He now actively promotes organic farming and provides training and handholding
support to other farmers.
 CARAGA STATE UNIVERSITY

AMPAYON, BUTUAN CITY

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRI- INDUSTRY

COMPILATION IN ABM 150

TEN SUCCESSFUL FARMERS

RHEA ROSE SINADHAN

STUDENT