On ten biswa the interesting decision is not what to grow. It is when.
Geeta Devi, a member of Karikot Maiya Aajeevika Adhikar Sangathan, documented two crops in 2025: Bhima Red onion and a bitter gourd recorded as “Pali,” each on five biswa. Read together they describe diversification, not a single bet.
The onion nursery was prepared on 3 November 2024 and transplanted on 2 January. Harvesting ran from 26 April to 5 May - a 174-day cycle producing four quintals and eighty kilograms. Cash costs were ₹350: ₹150 land preparation, ₹200 irrigation. Land and labour were the household’s own; seed came through the programme. Gross income ₹7,200, net ₹6,850.
For the bitter gourd: nursery 2 December, planting 15 February, first picking 5 March. Three quintals and thirty-five kilograms. ₹100 for an input recorded as “tank manure.” Gross ₹3,500, net ₹3,400.
The two together return ₹10,250 after cash costs. Her labour and her land are not priced into that, and they are the largest inputs she made. What the figure does show is two separate revenue streams off ten biswa, opened for ₹450 in cash.
The agency is in the work. She ran two nursery and transplant schedules, carried two crops and brought both to harvest. Her membership of the AAS put her in a network where farmers compare techniques. DEHAT facilitated seed and the learning; she converted it.
The staggered harvest is the climate-relevant part. Two crops on two clocks spread weather and price risk, and vegetables give both cash and food. One season proves none of this. The useful follow-up is how the crops behaved under stress, what was eaten and what was sold, and whether she did it again.
Asked about the year, she says she was happy with the harvest. What she would tell another woman farming ten biswa is more specific: do not choose between the two crops. Choose the two dates.
Two crops on two clocks spread weather and price risk.
Seed, Training, and a Group to Compare Notes With
Programme seed and a learning platform were the whole of the outside input here. Everything else was hers. That ratio is why smallholder support is among the cheapest work DEHAT does.