Never giving in the face of challenges, Sunita Athare has dealt with every challenge life has thrown at her. Even after her husband's dismissal, Sunita stayed stout and gave her children a good life. Sunita says she could do all this because of her faith in her farm soil.

Sunita got married to Dnyandev Athare in 1988. They lived in a joint family and her husband was the only bread earner. Everything was going well when suddenly tragedy hit the Athare family and Sunita lost Dnyandev in a tragic accident. This incident turned Sunita’s world upside down. Sunita was left all alone with a 2-year-old and a one-month-old to be taken care of. Sunita’s in-laws supported her during this testing time. Later, their joint family was separated and Sunita inherited 4 acres of land in the separation. The separation also burdened her with a loan of 8 lakh rupees to be repaid. But Sunita did not lose hope and kept fighting with the circumstances.

In 2015, She planned to set up a Vineyard on her piece of land. She bought the saplings and the farm was set. But fate was not on her side. The crop dried up due to a lack of water supply as the nearby well had dried up. But Sunita didn’t give up and decided to dig up a borewell as an alternate source of water. This time her efforts did not go in vain, the borewell was successful.

This borewell helped in mitigating the earlier losses and helped in generating revenue from the vineyard. Sunita soon bought a tractor for the farm. Her children helped in the farms, but Sunita always wished that they could do a parallel business related to agriculture. This wish was fulfilled by her sons. Realizing the market need, Sunita’s elder son started a pesticide shop in their locality in 2015. Her younger son too started his own business as a service provider for the maintenance of electrostatic machines used in grape framing.

Today, Sunita’s children are efficiently managing the farms with their individual businesses and have also started exporting grapes. Her daughters-in-law too are well educated and they take care of the financial aspect of the family business. Her children proudly attribute their success to Sunita’s upbringing and love. It takes a lot of determination, strength, and willpower for a single mother to give her children a bright and successful future. We salute Sunita’s efforts and are happy to be a part of her farming journey.