In 2013, Raju Pathan, a 44-year-old farmer from Nashik district in India’s western Maharashtra state, borrowed Rs9 lakh from a national bank to lay a water supply pipeline that would bring water to his 1.1 acre farm from a source of irrigation 9km away.
Pathan wanted to shift to grape vines, a prime horticulture crop in this part of India. The pipeline was laid and Pathan took an additional Rs3 lakh as a crop loan from a cooperative bank and Rs1 lakh short-term credit from another national bank to buy saplings, manure, and insecticides. In 2016, he reaped the first harvest of more than 150 quintals (1 quintal is equal to 100kg) of table grapes and sold those to local traders for Rs25 per kg. For the second season in 2017, Pathan spent Rs1.5 lakh on inputs cost and labour. This year, Pathan sold another 150 quintals for Rs15 per kg.
“Minus the input cost of Rs1.5 lakh, I have earned around Rs4.5 lakh from two harvests. But this is a notional income because along with my brother who is the co-owner of the farm, I carry debt of around Rs13 lakh,” Pathan said in a recent interview. Read more
Pathan wanted to shift to grape vines, a prime horticulture crop in this part of India. The pipeline was laid and Pathan took an additional Rs3 lakh as a crop loan from a cooperative bank and Rs1 lakh short-term credit from another national bank to buy saplings, manure, and insecticides. In 2016, he reaped the first harvest of more than 150 quintals (1 quintal is equal to 100kg) of table grapes and sold those to local traders for Rs25 per kg. For the second season in 2017, Pathan spent Rs1.5 lakh on inputs cost and labour. This year, Pathan sold another 150 quintals for Rs15 per kg.
“Minus the input cost of Rs1.5 lakh, I have earned around Rs4.5 lakh from two harvests. But this is a notional income because along with my brother who is the co-owner of the farm, I carry debt of around Rs13 lakh,” Pathan said in a recent interview. Read more