Bagalkot (Karnataka): Widowed with two children, after her husband died of alcoholism having squandered most of the farmlands, life appeared bleak for Sunitha.
A native of Sunaga village of Bagalkot district, she was into tailoring to eke out a living after her husband took to drinking. When her husband died, all she was left with was a five-acre farm and she knew nothing of farming.
Widowed with two children, this Karnataka woman masters organic farming for self-reliance Sunitha Manohara Meti is a woman with a steely spine. In a period of six years, Sunitha has turned into a skilled organic farmer. Thanks to all the workshops and programmes organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) and agriculture department.
Sunitha has mastered the art of comprehensive farming. She is growing millet in one acre, half an acre of finger millet, one acre of turmeric, one acre of sugar cane, half an acre of vegetable, half an acre of banana, and she is planning to grow sesame in an organic method in this season.
She has created a vermi-composte unit for organic farming. Recently, she had been to Maharashtra and participated in the workshop of agriculture where she learnt the nuances of drip irrigation. "Nothing goes waste in this farm. And, I aspire to do zero-cost farming", she says with a warm smile.
Sunitha is not only a good farmer but has great marketing skills too. She found out that she can keep away middlemen if she can do some value addition to her produce. She has procured a solar machine from the Horticulture department under subsidy and grind the turmeric and millet she grows in her farm.
The powdered turmeric and millets fetch her much better price.
Her toil has not gone waste. She is now financially strong and self-reliant to put her two children into a good school, motivating them to get a good education for a bright future. She is able to lead a good and stable life with her two children.
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