Report by: BRLF Communication Team
Edited by: BRLF Communication Team
Karmila Tudu begins her story by saying, “Until recently I had never even seen or heard of strawberries, let alone tasted them. Now people travel from far away just to catch a glimpse of my strawberry fields. Some even offer to buy them at Rs. 500/kg, right on the spot”.
Reviving Farming: Karmila's Transformation Through Strawberry Cultivation
A native of Pukur in Jharkhand, Karmila, along with other farmers in her village, struggled to sustain farming as their livelihood. Consequently, they often had to work as daily wage labourers at a mining company to make ends meet. This work was physically demanding and provided minimal earnings.
“We lacked knowledge and resources to sustain our farming activities. The Jiwi Daah Hasa project team approached and encouraged us to pursue farming”, said Karmila.
The project team guided her to start strawberry farming. With hard work, she cleared the fields and dug grooves. She was provided with all the basic resources – from mulching plastic to irrigation pipes and strawberry plants. She was also given valuable training sessions on farming techniques. Soon she was able to turn her coarse fields into fertile ones.
From Doubt to Success: Karmila's Profitable Strawberry Harvest
Despite having her apprehensions about the benefits of this venture, Karmila put her best efforts into it. Planted in November, Karmila observed that in three months, the plants had already sprouted strawberries. She was able to sell them off at a good market price of Rs. 350-400 per kg, earning around Rs. 60 thousand in just 4 months while still having more strawberries left to harvest.
“I never imagined such success and earnings were possible”, Karmila said cheerfully. She further added, “Now that I have tasted success, I have committed myself to farming”.
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