A Day in the Life of a Rain-Fed Farming Family

In the dry country of Rayalaseema, most fields have no canal and no borewell to fall back on. Farming follows the rain, and the day follows the farm. This is how a typical day looks for a rain-fed farming family during the growing season — a general picture, not the story of any one household.

Before sunrise

The day starts in the dark. Cattle are fed and milked, water is fetched and the hearth is lit. Breakfast is often something filling made from the family's own harvest — ragi sangati or jonna rotte (jowar roti) with a little chutney or dal.

Morning in the field

Work in the field is done in the cooler hours. Depending on the season that means sowing along the furrows after a good rain, weeding between the rows, mending field bunds so that every drop of rain stays on the land, or walking the rows to look for pests.

Midday

When the sun is at its hardest, everyone rests in the shade of a tree near the field. Lunch is carried from home and shared.

Afternoon and evening

The afternoon brings more tending and gathering fodder for the animals. Eyes keep going to the sky — in rain-fed farming, when the rain comes decides how the whole season will go. By sunset the family is home, the cattle are tied up and tomorrow's work is planned.

Harvest weeks

When the heads turn golden, days get longer. The crop is cut, bundled and carried to the threshing floor (kallam), where grain is separated from the stalk, winnowed in the wind and dried in the sun. Straw is stacked to feed the cattle through the dry months — nothing goes to waste.

Where 1grains comes in

Once the grain is dried, we buy it directly from the family at a price agreed upfront — no commission agent in between. From there it travels a short distance to our unit in Badvel to be checked, cleaned and packed for your kitchen.