Thane farmers reverse their fortunes by exporting ladies finger to the UK, where they receive double the price of the vegetable

In times of recession and farmer suicides, here is the story of one man who reversed the fortunes of his village with determination and the humble ladyfinger.

(Left) Hema Ladku Dongre holds up the ladyfinger he's grown which is later packed into boxes (top) by his family. (Above) Another farmer keeps high quality okra aside and (below) the box in which the vegetables are exported

95 kilometers away from Mumbai, is the town of Shahapur in Thane district where before 2004, farmland lay barren, save for the monsoon months when rice was grown. Debts were rising and the lack of subsidies from the government ate into any profit the farmers could lay their hands on.

Hema Ladku Dongre (55) was one such farmer, with debts to pay off that amounted to nearly Rs 70,000.

However in 2005, noticing that farm hands were many and work was scarce after the monsoon, Dongre hit upon the idea of growing okra or ladyfinger, a crop that required little irrigation and which would thrive well even in drought situations. He began planting in November and by March the following year; he had a bumper crop and a reason to finally smile.

No more debts
Four years later, Dongre has been joined by 25 other farmers in the village, has paid off his debts, owns a cell phone and sells his produce to buyers in the United Kingdom as well as locals at the APMC market in Vashi. The arrangement leaves him with two months, April and May, to prepare the soil for the rice crop in the monsoon and income from their farming activities is no longer restricted to only a single time in the year.

The farmer has also been instrumental in bringing irrigation facilities to the village. "The crop needed water every 15 days and it was a task to fetch water from the nearby river." To solve the predicament, Dongre installed a water pump near the Bhatsa damn and directed the water pipe to his farmhouse in the village of Vaphe. The pipe now distributes water to all the farmers who pay Dongre Rs 1,000 every five months for the service.

This source of income isn't the only offshoot from cultivating okra. Prakash Gore, who transports the crop to the APMC market, receives a commission plus tempo charges from wholesalers at the market for his produce.