Before Intervention:
Mrs. Parvati is a farmer in Akara village at Gilaula block, Shravasti. She owned a 1.4 acre land where she grew traditional crops such as rice, wheat and lentils. However, the income from these crops was not sufficient to support her family of five members, including her husband and three children who lived in a small house. Mrs. Parvati struggled to make her farming a beneficial venture for her family.
After Intervention:
Mrs. Parvati attended a training which was organized in her village by the field coordinator of GDS. She learned the methods of onion farming and knew benefits of HVCs. She heard the fellow farmers who had success with this crop. She decided to cultivate onion crop and got onion seeds facilitated by GDS. She worked hard to prepare the onion nursery. She made soil treatment and seed treatment before sowing the nursery and proper looking after the crop during the growing. The total investment of the onion crop in .4 acre land was Rs.14, 000/-.
Her hard work turned into a success when Mrs. Parvati harvested 44 quintals of good yield in 0.4 acre land. She sold the onions at Rs.15per kg in the local market and made a net profit of Rs.52, 000/-. After harvesting onion she grew groundnut in that field. She reinvested the profit in the next season’s crop and was able to increase her yield further. With the increased income from the onion crop, Mrs. Parvati was able to improve the living conditions for her family. Overall, the onion crop proved to be a game-changer for Mrs. Parvati and her family. It provided them successful cropping cycles, which helped them to come out from the low profit cycle of farming and lead a better life.