Santosh Devi Khedar and her family barely earned anything from their 1.25 acres of land in Beri village in Rajasthan.

But this changed when she decided to transform the chemical-laden land into a fertile organic farm

A farming enthusiast, Santosh along with her husband Ram Karan, who worked as a home guard, toiled in the field day and night.

She replaced chemical fertilisers with organic fertilisers.

However, their efforts failed as traditional crops didn’t earn them enough to make ends meet.

That’s when Santosh remembered an idea that their Agriculture Officer had suggested:

Grow pomegranates!

The couple bought 220 saplings of pomegranate for Rs 8,000.

With the help of a subsidy from Udyan Kendra and by selling their only buffalo, they installed a tube-well and drip irrigation method on the farm with the money.

Finally, after three years of hard work, in 2011, the couple reaped their first yield of pomegranates that earned them a profit of Rs 3 lakh.

They bought two indigenous varieties of cows to make organic fertilisers.

They also grow other fruits like sweet lime, lemon, kinnow (mandarin hybrid), bel (wood apple), among others.

In 2013, the couple installed solar panels on their farm to be more sustainable.

The same year they started ‘Shekhawati Krishi farm and Nursery’ selling high-quality saplings.

Today, the couple sells all the produce directly to their customers at the farm and earns around Rs 25 lakh per year