SYNOPSIS OF ‘THE BATATA FARMERS OF KHED’ (ETC Consultants India, 2023)

Wandering through the hamlets of the verdant Sahyadri ranges, journalist Roopa Raag finds herself in the company of potato farmers who watch the wet skies day after night in anticipation of sunshine. Meeting the indigenous people of the villages in the clusters of Khed, Satgaon Pathar and Wafgaon in the potato intense belt of Maharashtra, Roopa rides the highs and lows of the “batata” cultivating cycle, and the wavering fortunes of farmers in this rain-dependent region. With the Covid pandemic raging, the journalist ultimately returns to her hometown Bangalore in the knowledge that members of a German-funded non-governmental organisation are playing guiding angels to the potato growers of this belt… And hope rings loud and clear with uncertainties far and near…

DEDICATION

This research project, and ensuing novel portraying the efficacy of ETC Consultants India Private Limited and AFC Agriculture and Finance Consultants GmbH’s intervention with the batata (potato) farmers of Maharashtra, would not have been possible without the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)