It was only later when she came in contact with some NGO group that she became emboldened enough to fight for her and other women's rights.
Preeti's journey to become a successful woman farmer has been a difficult one--more so because she was from an urban background and had no idea about what farming was. She says, "I was not educated much, but wanted to improve my economic situation. I wanted to educate my children to give them a better future. Farming was the only recourse left for me."
She had in her the drive to learn new things and slowly became adept at farming. Now, "I do everything on my own--sowing, ploughing of fields, reaping the harvest and even selling my crops in the mandi. I started by growing vegetables like spinach, carrot, radish, and peas. I would travel long distances to sell the vegetables. But now I also grow wheat and paddy. How many other women can do all this all by themselves?"
She also got trained to make organic manure and pesticides after coming in contact with Gorakhpur Environment Action Group (GEAG) and since then has been using her self-made organic manure (compost) for the crops. This has proved to be a real game changer--"Earlier we would use urea chemical fertilizers and our earnings were less. But vegetables grown organically, being healthier and tastier, are more in demand and fetch a higher price too."
"Farming has helped me a lot. I grow something or the other all the year round. The paddy that I grow feeds my family. The vegetables are money earners. I have mostly self-educated myself on farming techniques. I only took training to make manure and then taught this to other women too. I have been associated with the Aaroh Mahila Kisaan Manch ('Aaroh' is a campaign for rights and recognition of women farmers in Uttar Pradesh supported by Oxfam India) since the last 10 years and have also motivated other women farmers to become its members."
Her husband is not into farming and works as a labourer specializing in fitting marble tiles. He was given 1 bigha (0.5-0.6 acres) land as his share in his father's property. Preeti managed to take 1 more bigha from the parental property share after a long drawn out legal battle.
"I really fought for many years to get my husband's share of land. After my father-in-law died my husband was not very keen to fight for his rightful share of land. But I stood my ground and today I have this land with me. The 2 bighas of land are in my husband's name, but I think that at least all land should be in joint names of husband and wife and then the husband would not be able to sell it without his wife's consent."
Fighting for women's rights
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