Working together
Kavita and Shantappa from Jalahalli
Smt. Kavita from Jalahalli is an example of how families work together.
Kavita belonged to a large joint family of 36 members. When her joint family broke, Kavita was uncertain how they would survive on her husband’s share of 20 guntas of land. They did not even have money to buy seeds. recalls Kavita.
Kavitha from Jalahalli is one of the members of the “Sanjana” JLG group.
“I took a loan of Rs 20,000. I spent Rs 5000 on different seed varieties and spent another Rs 5000 to clean the farm. Another Rs 10,000 was spent on fertilizers. In our 1/5th of an acre, we started to grow palak, methi, radish, coriander and other vegetable varieties. And we sold these vegetables in the Jalahalli and Devadurga weekly shandy. This season, I was able to save Rs 4 to 5000 after deducting the expenses.
“My husband has been my support system and cooperates in every task that I do. Today my three kids are going to school. We are able to run our house and also repay the loans. This season I have planted brinjal and in the coming years I want to take loan to start an income generating activity along with agriculture.
“When we started on our own, the local money lenders wouldn’t give us a loan because they didn’t think we had the capacity to repay with just 20 guntas of land. We’ve proved to them and to ourselves that we have the capacity to live successfully.”