Page 7 - Nai Udaan march 2023
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Kanwal Singh Chauhan
He holds a MA-LLB degree, hails from Sonepat, Haryana
and has made farming profitable through HM-4 hybrid
variety of baby corn. Wheat and paddy did not get him
remarkable returns, so he turned to baby corn farming
in 1997. Now, his village Aterna, is the largest producer
of baby corn in the country.
Kamala Pujhari
She is a tribal agricultural activist, hailing from Koraput,
Odisha. Kamala is credited with preserving over a
hundred traditional paddy varieties. She fought
against chemical farming by helping several tribal
villagers abondon chemicals and switch to
organic farming practices. She also won the best Farmer Award by Odisha
Government.
Rajkumari Devi
People lovingly call her Kisaan Chachi translating as
"Farmer Aunty". She cycles through different villages
of Muzaffarpur giving people tips on kitchen farming.
She also mobilises to form self-help groups and
become financially independent through farming and
small-scale business. In 1980s, when her husband &
other farmers of the village only grew tobacco leaves,
she toiled alone on her one-acre land and grew vegetables & local
fruits. She used low lying fields to grow paddy & wheat and rest of space to
grow Bananas, mangoes & papaya. Now she runs an SHG to make jams,
jellies and pickles by employing women.
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