Ramdevi increased her income by using CRA practices

 Name – Ram Devi

 Spouse-Rampal

 Village- Uchitaliya 

 Block – Mitauli,

 District- Lakhimpur Kheri

My name is Ramdevi and I live in Unchi Taliya of Mitauli Block Kheri. I didn’t become part of the project as I felt hesitant and thought that I might get cheated. I didn’t use to grow vegetables earlier and no one in my village was engaged in vegetable harvest either. In July 2019, workers associated with this project organized a meeting in which they told us that one can earn a good price for vegetable harvest. Workers also told us that they built a nursery for sowing one packet of tomato seeds in the month of October. The investment for growing tomato on 1 Bigha of land amounts to Rs.11, 000. Workers also ensured the spreading of organic manures and fertilizers on the ground, which in turn will result in increased productivity of tomato harvest. Each plant produce around 5 kg of tomato and the selling price was fixed at the rate of Rs.10 per Kg. Mandi and markets were closed from 25th March after the announcement of lockdown due to pandemic. Ramdevi told that the agricultural land owned by her is 200 meters away from the main road and she sold 60 kg to 80 kg of tomatoes per day at the rate of Rs. 20 per kg to the people who travel down the same road. She also sold tomatoes to local buyers at the rate of Rs.300 to Rs. 400 per crate. She said that she was able to sell around 130 crates in 20 days at the rate Rs. 400 per crate. She also had sold 40 crates of tomatoes before lockdown at the rate of Rs. 180 per crate. She earned 40×180= Rs. 7,200 before lockdown and 130 ×300= Rs. 39,000 during the lockdown. The total sum of money she earned amounts to Rs. 39,000+ Rs. 7,200= Rs. 46,200 after investing Rs. 11,000. So, She saved Rs 35,000. After witnessing the harvest, sale, and realizing the amount of profit one can make, all the women farmers associated with this project are planning to grow tomato harvest on 1 Bigha of land each in the coming month of October 2020. Ramdevi told that workers had also suggested sowing seeds of bitter gourd (Karela) along with tomato seeds which will require an investment of Rs. 1,200 and she did likewise. So, the seeds of bitter gourd were sown in the month of March. Since the mandis were shut due to lockdown she couldn’t send the produce to market, she told. She sells 20 Kg of bitter gourd per day in the village and nearby market at the rate of Rs. 5 per kg. She told that she invested Rs. 3,000 and sold out around 7 quintals of harvest until now at the rate of Rs. 5 per kg. She earned Rs. 3,500 which is roughly the same amount that she invested. She said, if the conditions continue to the same, she will be able to sell more produce for around Rs. 2,000. As per the project, she did vegetable harvesting investing lesser amount and despite the current lockdown, no loss incurred so far. She also told that before the month of July, she earned Rs. 4,92,00 from the harvest of tomato and bitter gourd produced in 1 bigha of land. In the end, she said that she will sow tomato seeds in 2 bighas of land.