Women Of Mali Community Are Earning Applause For Their Farming Skills

Women of the Mali community in the Dodiputt panchayat have created employment opportunities for themselves by farming vegetables. The tribal women of this panchayat take it on themselves to grow the vegetables, while the men of the village transport the produce to the different shandies (weekly markets) and open markets in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The women not only possess excellent farming skills, but also trade cleverly to get good returns for their produce.

In spite of the village lacking in proper road connectivity, clean drinking water and education facilities, the women’s farming skills are commendable. They make optimum use of the available resources, such as using waste water from houses in farm fields by diverting it through small outlets.

Dodiputt is a small village of 300 families whose main source of income is through vegetable cultivation. A variety of vegetables are grown on about 700 to 800 acres of land. The community migrated from Odisha about 150 to 200 years ago and have been teaching their children to farm from an early age. Vegetables grown by this community get transported to all government student hostels in the tribal mandals of the district, Tuni in the Kakinada district and Jeypore in the Koraput district in Odisha.