At 4 am, Sunita Nehare would begin her household chores. By 6 am, she would be working as a labourer in the field, earning Rs 200 for two hours of work. She would then head to her own farm, working until 1 pm. Every day, she set aside Rs 100 from her wages for her post office savings account.
Although her family owned 12 acres of land, Sunita had little say in how it was cultivated. Today, she manages the farm in Pachod village of Maharashtra’s Wardha district, deciding what to grow, how to manage the soil and where to spend money. Her journey highlights a challenge faced by many rural women: Working on farms does not necessarily give them the authority to make decisions about the land or the income it generates.
When Sunita married into the family, only about 3.5 acres of their 12 acres were under cultivation. Her ageing father-in-law managed the farm, while her husband, frustrated by repeated poor harvests from the rainfed land, had taken to alcoholism. The sloping fields lost rainwater quickly, and wild boars, nilgai and rabbits damaged crops.
When her daughter was four, a heated argument with her husband made Sunita consider leaving home. Her father-in-law intervened, offering her responsibility for cultivating the land so she could support the family. She decided to stay and take charge of farming.
In 2018, she began with nine rows of cotton. The first harvest yielded just five quintals. Determined to improve, she experimented with sowing patterns, manure application and irrigation. The following year, production rose to 8 quintals, giving her the confidence to continue. As years passed the production grew from 5 quintals to 25 quintals from that 3.5 acres.
Water remained a major constraint. A pit beside the farm collected monsoon rainwater, which Sunita pumped onto the cotton crop using an engine. In 2024, she dug a well with support from a state government scheme. She now spends around Rs.12,000 each season on diesel to run the irrigation engine.
“If water is available, cotton will be produced,” she said.
With support from the Climate Change Adaptation Project, implemented by the non profit Dharamitra, Wardha with support from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Sunita introduced practices to conserve soil moisture, improve fertility and diversify production.
Farm bunding and the application of tank silt helped retain soil and water. Raised beds improved drainage, while intercropping cotton with red gram spread the risk of relying on a single crop. Soil testing helped identify nutrient deficiencies, and vermicomposting and green manuring reduced her dependence on chemical fertilisers.
Sunita prepares bio inputs such as Jeevamrit, Dashaparni Ark and Beej Amrit, along with neem oil for crop protection. She applies six tractor trolley loads of cow dung manure annually across alternate plots and returns red gram and soybean residues to the soil. She said she no longer uses urea.
She has also brought previously uncultivated land back into production. After clearing shrubs, levelling plots and strengthening bunds with stones, she began growing jowar, bajra, green gram and sesame. Crop rotation helps her avoid growing the same crop on a plot year after year.
Wild animals remain a challenge. Sunita uses solar powered fencing and reflective strips to deter wild boars and nilgai, while nets protect selected plots from rabbits. An exposure visit to Nashik inspired her to plant mango, guava, cashew, jackfruit and lemon trees along the farm bunds. She sees them as a potential source of income in her later years.
Sunita’s cotton yield has increased from around 1-1.5 quintals per acre to 7.14 quintals per acre. Intercropping provides an additional 2.75 quintals of red gram.
In the last 2-3 years, her income has been more than Rs 2 lakh from cotton, red gram and other crops. Green gram, black gram and vegetables grown for household consumption saved the family an estimated Rs 14,760 in purchases yearly. Poultry sales brought in another Rs 10,000.
Together, these earnings and savings amounted to Rs 2.5 lakh. The estimate excludes income from her other livelihood activities.
Sunita also works as a Pashu Sakhi, a village-level livestock resource person who assists with vaccinations, administering medicines and maintaining records. The work earns her around Rs 3,000 a month, which she uses for household expenses and life insurance premiums.
She rears goats and poultry, collects tendu leaves during the season and participates in village savings groups, including the UMED group. These activities provide additional income when farm earnings are uncertain.
Her work has also created opportunities to learn from other farmers. During field visits, she observes crop stress, identifies gaps in farming practices and looks for livestock health problems. Other farmers in Pachod have begun adopting some of the practices she uses. Dharamitra has played an important role in her journey through guidance and support, she added.
Tarak Kate of Dharamitra said, “Sunita’s case shows that despite agro-ecological, socio-economic and climatic challenges, women can transform their lives and those of their families when empowered with decision-making authority, access to resources and proper guidance. Dharamitra’s role in this socio-transition is like an enzyme that triggers biochemical change without becoming part of it. It is a matter of pride that Dharamitra has helped empower many such women farmers.”
The changes are visible in Sunita’s family life, too. Her elder child studies in Class 12 at a military school, while her daughter attends Class 6 at the village school. The family has built a house at Pachod. While working as a Pashu Sakhi and as a volunteer she has to travel a lot and she used to walk through villages and come back at night, seeing her struggle, her father in law has bought her a two wheeler, making it easier for her to travel to fields, meetings and neighbouring villages.
Sunita said she believes financial planning is essential for households with limited incomes. She began by saving part of her daily wages and gradually built a livelihood that draws on several activities rather than depending entirely on crop sales. She now hopes to establish an orange orchard through VB-GRAM-G, a government programme.
Yet, she remains aware of farming’s limitations. Rainfall has become less predictable, she says, affecting crop production. Cultivation requires substantial labour, while farmers have little control over market prices. She does not want her son to depend entirely on agriculture, believing that farm income alone may not sustain a family.
Her concerns point to a wider challenge for rural women. Even when women contribute substantially to agricultural work, their control over land, investments, inputs and income can remain limited. Better farming practices and access to resources matter, but so does the authority to decide how those resources are used.
Observed on October 15, the International Day of Rural Women recognises the contribution rural women make to agriculture, food security and household livelihoods. Sunita’s experience brings another dimension into focus: The difference it makes when women have a say in the decisions that shape their work and their future.
For Sunita, the turning point came when she took responsibility for her family’s land. With access to water, support for sustainable farming and the freedom to make decisions, she turned underused plots into a more diversified source of livelihood. Her story is a reminder that rural women need the resources and decision making power to shape them, too.
Aniket Likhar works as regional coordinator for Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN) in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Views expressed are the authors' own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.