Mr.Selvam s/o Muthandi, 50 years old is a well known vegetable vendor in Singampunari. Every day he brings his vegetables and greens from his own land and sells in the vegetable market at Singampunari. Within the span of 3 to 4 hours his produces are being sold and he returns to his home. After the late breakfast he works hard in his agriculture field till the evening. Though there is consecutive drought during the past three years in and around his village and block he continues the cultivation and selling as usual.
He remembered that the last ten years are very crucial for his growth. Because of the creation of strong base for his growth, he thanked the Singampunari vattaara vayalagam which was promoted by DHAN Vayalagam Tank Foundation. During 2007 he had land around 1.65 acres in two tanks namely Periyannan tank and Thottikathan tank in his same village. He cultivated his land without having assured source of irrigation as there was not sufficient storage in those tanks. Ms.Periyammal (Vayalagam Associate) requested the group of farmers around 14 numbers belongs to the Thottikathankulam for promoting Vayalagam association. Mr.Selvam was elected as president for the Vayalagam association. The farmers jointly decided to promote AFG in the name of ‘’Uchi Karuppar Kurunidhi kuzhu ‘’ with the savings amount of Rs50/- per month.
During the year 2009, the Singampunari vattara vayalagam supported for the renovation of Periyannakulam and Thottikathan kulam where Mr.Selvam has 1.10 acres and 0.55 acres respectively. For the each tank works the farmers paid Rs20000/- contribution and the ITC funded Rs80000/- for deepening the tanks and strengthening the bund. During the same year the Federation brought the scheme of community well for the conjunctive use of tank and ground water. Mr.Selvam motivated the tank farmers to create a community well. As there was shortage of money for the contribution, the AFG supported them to get loan for their contribution. Mr.Selvam also received Rs5000/- loan from the AFG and paid his contribution for the community well. Totally Rs50000/- was collected and Rs150000/- amount was supported by ITC for creating the community well.
After 2009, Mr.selvam cultivated his 1.65 acres of land in the tank command effectively with the support of community well. The coconut in the dry land around 3.0 acres also yielded more as the water table got improved. Since from the year 2014 he started to sell his agriculture produces and became a leading small vegetable merchant at singampunari. The AFG helped to get loan for buying milch animal which also triggered his growth. He balanced the recent droughts smoothly and lead his family with more happy.