Welcome to the veggie village
The farmers of this nondescript village in Uttara Kannada district have found a sustainable source of income in vegetables. Growing vegetables seems to be a religion for the members of Gunagi community in Kadavada village, about eight km from Karwar.
Nestled in the picturesque hill ranges of Western Ghats, Kadavada is indeed a vegetable estate. You can find vegetables everywhere — farmlands, kitchen gardens and backyards — in this remote village. Initially, the villagers used to grow vegetables at the foot of the hills to meet their domestic needs. After realising the great demand for the greens, farmers took it up as an avocation. The growers use locally available seeds and purchase manure at Rs 25 per basket and on an average spend Rs 8,000 per acre on manure. The fertile soil of the village has never failed the farmers. The rich harvest fuels a parallel economy since vegetables from Kadvada constitute almost 50 per cent of the greens supplied to Karwar.
Some farmers depend on middlemen to market their produce while some enterprising women sell the vegetables themselves. Some leafy vegetables yield an income of as much as Rs 6,000 per week. The farmers of this remote village have set a model worthy of emulating at a time when the younger generation is shunning agriculture and heading to cities in search of jobs.
The farmers of this nondescript village in Uttara Kannada district have found a sustainable source of income in vegetables. Growing vegetables seems to be a religion for the members of Gunagi community in Kadavada village, about eight km from Karwar.
Nestled in the picturesque hill ranges of Western Ghats, Kadavada is indeed a vegetable estate. You can find vegetables everywhere — farmlands, kitchen gardens and backyards — in this remote village. Initially, the villagers used to grow vegetables at the foot of the hills to meet their domestic needs. After realising the great demand for the greens, farmers took it up as an avocation. The growers use locally available seeds and purchase manure at Rs 25 per basket and on an average spend Rs 8,000 per acre on manure. The fertile soil of the village has never failed the farmers. The rich harvest fuels a parallel economy since vegetables from Kadvada constitute almost 50 per cent of the greens supplied to Karwar.
Some farmers depend on middlemen to market their produce while some enterprising women sell the vegetables themselves. Some leafy vegetables yield an income of as much as Rs 6,000 per week. The farmers of this remote village have set a model worthy of emulating at a time when the younger generation is shunning agriculture and heading to cities in search of jobs.