While the men tend to their cattle in nearby mountains and ravines, the women usually passed their days tending to household chores.
After spending a few days in the field, I talked to some women from a few villages and motivated them to develop kitchen gardens.
I told them they could use their backyards to produce vegetables for themselves as well as others.
As a programme coordinator, my team and I taught them many gardening techniques – we introduced tunnels, green houses and trench techniques of gardening.
Once we craved leafy veggies – from spinach to cauliflower, brinjal to tomatoes – now we produce those and thousands of cucumbers and gourds too.
There are some women farmers who earn lakhs of rupees now.