Spatial limitation always poses a challenge to farming. But Sindhu from Idukki has proved it wrong by rearing quail, rabbits, fish, country chicken, cow and goats in mere 15 cents of land. The 42-year-old lady earns upto Rs 50,000 per month with hard work.
Sindhu's husband abandoned her 12 years ago. She had four young children, but she decided to not to give up. Thus she started quail farming in the house yard. There was huge demand for quail eggs and the business took off. Gradually, the number of birds increased and now she has 1,000 quails. She gets over 900 eggs a day. Quails are sold for meat also.
Apart from this, she started fish farming using advanced biofloc method. An old tank was set up to deposit the fingerlings. The water in the tank need not be changed for upto 7 months in biofloc method. After 7 months, the fish weighed 700-800 grams. They are sold for Rs 250 per kilogram.
Sindhu also maintains country chicken, goat and rabbit farming. Country chicken has huge demand. As the goats belong to hybrid breeds, the kids are mostly booked in advance. Rabbit farming is also profitable as the female rabbit gives birth to 4-12 bunnies at a time. Two bunnies are sold for Rs 1,000. Rabbits breed every 3 months.
Besides all these farming ventures, Sindhu also rears a cow for household purposes. Though she wants to buy more cows, spatial limitation comes in the way. Her children Nimmi, Niji, Jithin and Jeena also give her full support in farming and overcome the hardships in life.