LINGU BAI: ENTREPRENEUR AND COTTON FARMER

“Have you met Lingu Bai?” was the question we were asked from the time we entered Adilabad district in Telangana. Lingu Bai, it seems, is a bit of a legend in her village, and with good reason. In 2007, she became a Fairtrade-certified farmer with Chetna Organic. Since then, she has not only done well with her cotton farm, but also become an entrepreneur by starting a poultry business. She took a loan from the Fairtrade Premium committee and has paid off most of it, owing to the low-interest rate and the success of her business.

The CEO of the farmers’ company is hired by the farmers’ cooperative.

Tentulipada, a small village in Kalahandi district in interior Odisha, is predominantly a dry area. Known for poverty and a harsh dry climate, the tillers there could hardly lead a comfortable livelihood.
Till some years back the entire village was cultivating cotton. The gamble on the crop was accompanied by a baggage of external, expensive, and often toxic inputs in the form of pesticides and fertilizers. But today this entire village is into organic cultivation.