When the spirits are high then nothing is impossible
Pendra. Hemlata Kushwaha, who was once confined to the four walls of her house and is a resident of Gram Panchayat Amaru in Gaurla Pendra Marwahi district, has today become an inspirational woman of the village. After joining the Tanu Mahila Self Help Group, Hemlata changed the direction of her life. Earlier, Hemlata was an ordinary housewife who was busy with her household responsibilities. She had the skill, but lack of resources was preventing her from moving forward. She used to grow vegetables by making a small kitchen garden in the backyard of her house, but a dream was growing in her mind, “Why not expand it?”
6 months after joining the group, she received Rs 50,000 under the Community Investment Fund. With this amount, she started tomato cultivation using the traditional method and earned a profit of Rs 10,000 in the first attempt itself. Encouraged by this, she took more money from Pratham Bank Linkage and expanded the vegetable farming by adding some money herself. Hemlata started modern tomato farming in one acre of land with drip system and scaffolding method at a cost of about two lakh rupees. This time her hard work paid off and she got a net profit of 50 thousand rupees. For the last four years, Hemlata has been producing vegetables using organic methods.
Hemlata says that initially she had to face many difficulties like weather, rotting of vegetables and not getting the right market, but she did not give up. With the help of Krishi Sakhi, she got information about crop cycle and production improved. Now Hemlata is earning 40 to 50 thousand rupees every three months. She gives the credit of her success to Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai and NRLM, who have taken this concrete initiative towards empowering the women of the village. Hemlata, who has become a vegetable entrepreneur from a housewife, says that if the spirits are high, then a lot of profit can be earned from limited resources.
