A farmer woman has achieved self-reliance by taking up vegetable cultivation on a small patch of land.

It all began with Vidya Shetty of Chelyaru village near Surathkal deciding to grow vegetables on 30 cents of fallow land in her backyard. Her enterprise has become such a success that her husband has purchased an autorickshaw to transport the vegetables to market.

Vidya learnt about farming in her parental house. Overwhelmed by the initial success of her venture, she took around 20 cents on lease from her neighbour to grow vegetables. She grows basale (Malabar spinach), brinjal, okra, ridge gourd, green chilly, bottle gourd and ivy gourd. She sells around 50 bunches of basale daily and gets around Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 a month from basale alone. Five to six crops of basale could be grown in a year, she said.

Vidya said she could save on labour cost since she does most of the work. “I use only organic manure which increases the fertility of the soil,” she added.

Thimma Setty, the husband of Vidya, was driving an autorickshaw on hire to make a living. With Vidya’s tryst with vegetables turning out a huge success, Setty has now purchased an auto of his own - for transporting the vegetables to market. The produce is sold at the markets in Surathkal, Haleyangady and other neighbourhood villages.

Vidya said that since her land is situated in a low-lying area, it gets inundated during monsoon and hence she cannot grow vegetables during rainy season. Her success with vegetable farming has enabled Vidya to support her family financially and educate her children.