“I’ve got 2 children and my husband is a private driver, but I always wanted to do something for myself. In 2014 I learned how to knit using a machine, making sweaters and scarfs and the like, I invested in my own digital machine and started taking orders. In a month I now earn 15-20,000 – which helps me to fix my house, pay for treatment of my health issues and support my children’s education.

“My chickens make me so happy! Where once I struggled to make ends meet with my husband’s factory job, today I can earn from home and manage all my household chores and responsibilities also – I’ve no need to go outside to earn! I’ve gone from 15 chicks in 2019 to 135 chickens in just 2 years and earn a whopping Rs. 70,000. Wouldn’t these chickens make you happy too?” - Anjana Gayen, Mohisgot, Sankrail, West Bengal.

“I grew up watching my mother stitch clothes and scrub floors till her hands were red raw, just so we could survive. I wanted to pursue higher studies but there was just no money for that. So I took a course in Smartphone Repair and a fire was lit in my belly.

“Farming is often a subsistence business and that's what it was for me! But little did I know that I was burning away cash every time I burnt the stubble from my crop. Once I understood that the waste material could actually be used as a biomass fuel, and earn me additional income, I threw myself into it. I started supplying mustard husk as biomass, and then gradually also provided shredded juliflora as a biomass – employing 15 people for 8months of the year along the way.

“Bananas are thirsty – drinking almost 50% of water as you grow them! In this water parched area I used to spend Rs.45,000 on electricity for pumping water and on labour – and the bananas were awful!

"I was completing my graduation and had my sights set on a government job when my father passed away and our family fell into financial crisis. Being an educated person, what would people say if I simply join agriculture? But with no other choice at the time, I thought let me put my mind to good use in farming and support my family of 9.

“After my divorce, I moved back home. With a house of 12 people, I was teased for contributing nothing to the household.

"Once upon a time, I used to lease this field out to another farmer, as I just felt there was no money to be earned in rice. I concentrated my efforts on vegetables and goat/cow rearing to keep food on the table. But after learning about the System of Rice Intensification, I changed my mind. I thought – let me try my hand at this and see if I can make it work.

“We used to grow maize on our land but life was hard and it just never delivered the returns. I learnt about poly-house cultivation and took a chance – building a 4000 sq.mt. house complete with drip irrigation and solar pump. Everyone thought I was mad – me just a housewife and with no experience in farming.

“I was very passionate about trying my hand at growing vegetables, but could not convince my husband to let me try it. I secretly attended a training course by Ambuja Foundation and with their guidance and support, I found a way to get through to my husband. He finally gave me 10 katha (7,200 sq ft) of land to cultivate on my own.

“Just 1 year back, Kukudsath was as ordinary as any other village. We had a lot of problems and were wondering where should we begin?

“20 years ago, we grew one crop of groundnuts a year – the crop was always poor because the groundwater we used was saline. Salinity had crept in 15 kms from the coast and we even struggled to find sweet water to drink. A government pipeline delivered drinking water to us from 30 kms away, but by the time it reached us, we had no idea of the water quality.