Bottle Gourds on Pond and Hydroponics on Barren Land

Dear Reader,

On my first visit to Jehanabad in Bihar nearly 18 years ago, I was surprised to see bottle gourds growing on almost every rooftop. Most houses there are double-storied, and the roofs are usually dotted with vegetable plants, such as gourds, brinjals, and chillies.

The bottle gourds fascinated me because of their sheer size and abundance. While urban gardeners carefully feed their plants with organic manure and biofertilisers, the gourds there seemed to grow almost on their own - nearly wild.

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The memory of those gourds returned last week when my colleague Malay wrote a story about Hirod Patel, a farmer who grows bottle gourds on trellises over his fish pond. I wanted to give it a headline that conveyed Hirod’s innovation effortlessly. So here’s what I titled it as: ‘Bottle gourds above, fish pond below: Odisha farmer’s model earns Rs 8 lakh a year.’

The 35-year-old farmer’s low-cost innovation garnered unprecedented readership from across the world. I suggest you read it too, because it shows how thinking outside the box can help one earn more and stand out from the crowd.

My colleague Riya also wrote about a young vegetable farmer, Balram H. Kelna, who has built a direct sales model, bypassing mandis and middlemen. His USP: organic certified vegetables. He sells 3,000 kg of vegetables every month to retail stores, stalls and companies, earning Rs 70 per kg in retail and Rs 40 per kg in bulk. He also saves native seeds on his farm in Haryana.

Do look up his story. It is a good example of smart marketing for farm products.

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Last week, I spoke to Sona Mishra, a trained biotechnologist who grows hydroponic vegetables on three acres of saline, barren land in Mathura. She began with a rooftop experiment at her home in Noida in 2019 and then moved to a defunct polyhouse spread over half an acre.

Sona knew half an acre was not enough to cater to the increasing demand for lettuce varieties, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, pok choy, coloured bell peppers and other exotic vegetables. So she bought land cheaply in Mathura because it was known to be ‘good-for-nothing’.

Sona told me in detail how she converted it into a smart hydroponic farm, which has an annual turnover of Rs 15 lakh per acre (over Rs 45 lakh annually) with a 50 percent profit margin. Her story shows how education and awareness can rewrite the rules of farming.

Though 30Stades celebrates women and their stories throughout the year, Sona’s piece was timed just ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8 (today) to reiterate what we firmly believe — women are outstanding planners, decision-makers and executors. Kudos to them!

My colleague Anu has also put together an article on five women who quit high-paying jobs to build businesses that now earn in crores. What sets these women apart is not just courage, but clarity. Each identified an opportunity, leveraged corporate experience around strategy, branding, operations, and finance, and applied it to their startups.

Happy Reading!

Warmly,

Rashmi

Bottle gourds above, fish pond below: Odisha farmer’s model earns Rs 8 lakh a year

How this farmer sells 3,000 kg of vegetables monthly at premium rates without middlemen

Woman biotechnologist turns saline barren land into hydroponic farm, earns Rs 15 lakh per acre

Five women who quit high-paying jobs to build crore-earning businesses