CHITTOOR: To make ends meet after being dealt a severe blow by the lockdown, 50-year-old tea shop owner Veerathallu Nageswara Rao returned to his village and decided to cultivate his land. But on learning that he couldn’t afford to hire a tractor or oxen to till the land, he was on the verge of giving up.
However, his teenage daughters stepped in and ploughed the land, while his wife sowed seeds. In a day, they did this on 0.75 acres. Nageswara Rao, who hails from Maharajupalle village in Chittoor district’s KV Palli mandal, migrated to Madanapalle 17 years ago, and ran a tea shop there. His daughters, V Vennela, 17, and Chandana, 15, completed Intermediate and SSC respectively.
Before the lockdown, Nageswara Rao used to make about Rs 1,000 per day, but now unable to earn a living, and with his savings running dry, he and his family returned to their village in April. As the district received good rainfall, and because he had no other option, Nageswara Rao decided to take up farming on his two acres of land in Maharajupalle.
He planned to cultivate groundnut and red gram, but as he couldn’t afford to hire a tractor or oxen to plough the land, he gave up. On hearing about this, his two daughters decided to help out by ploughing the field themselves. At first, Nageswara Rao refused, but they managed to persuade him.
‘Lost livelihood due to lockdown’
“I lost my livelihood when I had to shut my business in Madanapalle town due to the lockdown. I had two acres of land in Maharajupalle, and decided to cultivate groundnut and red gram on 0.75 acres. Local tractor owners demanded Rs 1,500 per hour, and oxen owners asked for Rs 2,000 per day to plough the field.
As it was too expensive, I gave up my hopes of farming. But my wife and daughters stepped in and helped me,” said Nageswara Rao. “We are happy to support our father. I feel proud to have ploughed the field as a farmer’s daughter. Local owners of tractors and oxen are demanding huge amounts,” said Vennela, a daughter of the farmer. Nageswara Rao said that after all the hardwork by his daughters, he is expecting a good yield.