At a time when the rising cost of fertilisers, seeds and pesticides is squeezing farmers across the country, one woman farmer in Bahraich has found her own answer in hard work and chemical-free cultivation. Maya Devi, who lives in the small village of Katra Bahadurganj, has become a talking point in the region for proving that farming need not be a loss-making gamble — it can be a steady source of income too.
Almost No Cost, Profit Running Into Lakhs
According to Maya Devi, when paddy is grown entirely through organic methods, the expense involved is next to nothing while the earnings climb straight into lakhs. She owns 20 bigha of land in total, and the moment the paddy season begins she plants her crop across this entire stretch. Her overall spend on the cultivation works out to just ₹10,000 to ₹15,000. Even after deducting every bit of that cost, she comfortably pockets a clean profit of up to ₹1.5 lakh. That is precisely why she has stuck to this method, growing paddy on a large scale, for several years now.
No Urea, No DAP — Home-Made Manure Does the Job
Maya Devi points out that most paddy growers stay worried about the bill for costly fertilisers and pesticides, but that headache simply never reaches her. Explaining the secret behind her success, she said she neither brings in urea from outside to spread on her fields nor uses any kind of chemical pesticide. Instead, she prepares cow-dung manure and natural plant protectors right at home. In her experience this homegrown approach gives the plants excellent growth while wiping out the entire expense of expensive market medicines.
A Lesson for Fellow Farmers
It is not paddy alone — Maya Devi is also skilled at growing maize and leafy vegetables, and she has been honoured several times for her outstanding farming work. She believes that if other farmers were to adopt the same organic method, they could not only cut their cultivation costs sharply but also multiply their profits many times over.
