Organic approach and new methods lead to successful and profitable tomato crops.
We first met Eswaramma in January of 2017 through Tanager’s work in the Siddipet district in Telangana, India. She and her husband Yadhagiri are from the village Ganeshpally, and both are illiterate. They have two daughters—one married and one studying nursing—and a son in college.
Eswaramma and her husband have close to three acres of land, two of which are used to grow vegetables. During our field visits to the area, we explained the Siddipet horticulture project and the services provided to the farmers in her village and district. Over the course of a few visits, she was convinced to shift towards growing crops organically. She actively participated in training sessions conducted on and off the farm and starting putting her learnings into practice.
Eswaramma now prepares different kinds of organic manure, which is used in her cabbage and tomato farming. Thanks to trainings facilitated by Tanager, she has also learned about and begun practicing tomato stacking (the trellis method) for growing the crop.
As a result of her successful tomato crops, Eswaramma is now able to supply tomatoes to Big Basket, Metro and Spencer through the Gowraram Collection Centre—getting a premium price of 8-10% more than average market prices. Last season, she was able to harvest 15 MT of tomatoes and earned more than INR 200,000 (almost $3,000).
Eswaramma’s field has been selected as a tomato stacking model plot by the Disha project, and will serve as a Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Handling Practices (GHP) showcase for other farmers.