Rural women get into contract farming; reap a good harvest

Hubballi: On the hunt for a job in the aftermath of the government imposing a lockdown across the country, 15 women, from a cross-section of society came together and settled on an acre of land, which they rented for a year, in Mattigatti village, Kundagol taluk in Dharwad.
Contract farming, as this model of agriculture is commonly referred to as, has long been considered the bastion of men, but these women were not only bold enough to start an enterprising venture by themselves, they reaped a good harvest after sowing groundnut and millets in their field. They are continuing to work at the same land, but have expressed a yearning to work on a larger farm and expand their enterprise.
The Vinayak Stree Shakti Sangha (VSSS) to which all the 15 women belong, and under the banner of which they undertook the agrarian enterprise, was founded in 2000. “Back then, we were engaged in crushing chillies to make chilli powder, which we used to sell. But we started thinking of expanding our enterprise after interacting with members of Bengaluru-based NGO Sahaja Samruddha in 2019. In April, we leased an acre, and with our kharif crop, reaped a yield of seven quintals of groundnut, while we had also sown eight to ten kg of foxtail millet along the border. We did not sell the groundnut since the price for the crop has fallen. We are storing the crop for now, while the foxtail millet we have grown, we will use at home,” said VSSS convener Ratna Hosalli.
Paravva Alagawadi, also a member of VSSS, said that they had rented the land for a year. “We spent money for seeds, used very little fertiliser, and are certain that our income will cover up our expenses. Whatever money we make from our rabi crop will add to our profit. We decided to sow gram, and sorghum in the rabi season,” Paravva said.
Paravva’s fellow worker Sarojavva Arali said that they would have had to shell out a further Rs 8,500 for the labourers to pluck the groundnut off the ground. “Instead of this, we decided to work in the field ourselves, and even worked while shelling groundnuts in the machine. We resolved that, should one of the sangha members miss a day’s labour, she would have to pay for her labour on said day, or send someone from her family to do the job. This helped save a considerable sum of money,” Sarojavva said.
The trio said that there were plans to lease the agricultural land for two more years. “We are trying to obtain an interest-free loan from the government, and if we get it, we will scale up our operations,” the three women said.
Cluster coordinator for Sahaja Samruddha Mrutyunjay Ramani lauded the enthusiasm of the VSSS members, particularly when it involved learning something new. “We were inspired to provide them with all possible help including training them after seeing their enthusiasm,” he said.