Sangeeta joined grape farming after the death of her husband. She faced many difficulties with a loan of 30 lacks. She earns 40 lacks every year.
Sangeeta joined grape farming after the death of her husband. She faced many difficulties with a loan of 30 lacks. She earns 40 lacks every year.
Grape farming business
Sangeeta Boraste is a grape farmer from Niphad taluka, Nashik. But when she handled the business of farming there was a 30 lakh loan on the business. Her late husband took this loan to run the business but when there was time to harvest the crops, he passed away. In the critical situation, to deal with the financial crisis Sangeeta Boraste had to take care of everything. She decided to join the business of grape farming and take good care of it.
Her story started years ago when she was just fifteen and got married to Arun. She moved to Niphad. This particular region is well famous for grape cultivation. But life was not so easy for her. She states that due to some disputes in the family, her family was divided in 1991 and her husband received 10 acres of ancestral cultivation land after the division of her family. Here the struggle of the couple started with the grape farming business.
Starting a business of grape farming
Arun used to work in the bank but he has to quit is a job to learn farming from scratch and take care of the land which was famous for the cultivation of the grape vineyards. Cultivation and farming are not that easy and at the start, they have to face the loss. Indeed, they have to sell the 2.5 acres of the land to repay the loan amount as Sangeeta told. They did this to continue with the grape farming business.
A tragic turn in life
Years after struggle a good time was about to come and fresh plantation of the grape about to bear the fruit. This could help them a lot and resolve the issue of financial loss. But fate was something else and they were about to see the darkest phase of life. Her husband passed away before the harvest season and there was a question of survival for them. They started thinking about the three daughters and one son who was the sole responsibility of the Sangeeta now. Only seven acres of the land as left for grape farming but there was a pending loan of 30 lakh as well.
Take care of business
She had not to option left than taking everything in her hand and she jumped into the business of her husband. Now she was there in the field with the labor but with no basic knowledge about farming. She started working and she recalls now that she struggle really hard and started learning everything related to grape farming. One Diwali night she was stuck in the field with the tractor and spent hours there.
In the starting, there were many family members and friends to help her out but after a certain point of time, only her younger son and nephew were there to help her out in the grape farming. Gradually they worked hard and tried their best to improve the situation.
Weather is a challenge too
Grapevines are very sensitive and thus high level of care is required. She mentioned that during the year she faces great weather challenges. From drought to heavy storms she faced everything. She also mentioned that sometimes she had to stay on the farm to keep the grapevines warm with a bonfire. All these things related to grape farming were quite challenging for her. She took the help from Sahyadri Farms to sell her grapes in the international market as well. She worked hard and improved the quality of the grapes to make sure that her harvest gets export clearance. Now she has paid her debt with the income and early forty lakh Indian rupees every year with it.
