A native of Pukur in Jharkhand, Karmila, along with other farmers in her village, struggled to sustain farming as their livelihood. Consequently, they often had to work as daily wage labourers at a mining company to make ends meet. This work was physically demanding and provided minimal earnings.

“We lacked knowledge and resources to sustain our farming activities. The Jiwi Daah Hasa project team approached and encouraged us to pursue farming”, said Karmila.

The project team guided her to start strawberry farming. With hard work, she cleared the fields and dug grooves. She was provided with all the basic resources – from mulching plastic to irrigation pipes and strawberry plants. She was also given valuable training sessions on farming techniques. Soon she was able to turn her coarse fields into fertile ones.