Tilak Ram is a 35 year old man who lives in Vishambhar village, Sirsiya. He lives with his wife, parents and has two young children. In the past he used to work as a
labourer outside of his village but the money he earned along with his wife’s income was not sufficient to meet all their needs. Tilak Ram has always been passionate about gardening and farming and always wanted to start his own business of selling vegetable seedlings.
After:
Tilak Ram decided to pursue his dream of starting a vegetable nursery business. With a few savings and help of GDS who provided subsidy for entrepreneur to set up High-Tech nursery, Tilak Ram started his vegetable nursery polyhouse business in Nov. 2022 with a small Nursery house covering an area of 100 square meters. He started by growing tomato, cucumber, and brinjal, Cauliflower seedlings and sold them to local farmers. Tilak Ram had noticed that farmers in his area were struggling with low quality seedling; he decided to provide them with high-quality vegetable seedlings. Initially, he faced some challenges with managing the plant in the nursery house, but with the help of a GDS field team and TATA Trusts officials & visitors, he was able to overcome these challenges.
Within three-four months, his business picked up the pace. He started selling the seedlings to nearby farmers and vegetable growers. To take a hike in his business, he also arranged a small stand at roadside where he used to sell his seedlings to the farmers travelling by the road. He sold 8500 plants to more than 150 farmers and earned Rs. 33,500 within Feb-March 2023. The net profit got Rs. 20,750. It is the starting up with the nursery business which motivated entrepreneurs for more efforts and preparing more seedlings according demands of local farmers. He decided to spend 50% of profit to enhance his business and rest 50% for meeting the household needs and wellbeing of family. His wife devoted her time from domestic work to help in nursery business. Overall, Tilak Ram’s decision to start a nursery business has had a positive impact on his family’s financial and emotional well-being. It has provided them livelihood security where there is no need to migrate for other villages to work as a labour.
Conclusion
Tilak Ram’s success story demonstrates the potential for rural entrepreneurship in agricultural in Shravasti. With the support of TATA Trusts and GDS in terms of financial and modern farming techniques, entrepreneurs like Tilak Ram can start small businesses and provide high-quality nurseries to local farmers, thereby improving their livelihoods and the overall economic conditions in rural areas.