Name : D. Vasini Bai
District & State : Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala
Category : Agricultural (General)
Award : State
Award Function : 9th National Grassroots Innovation Awards
Award Year : 2017
Innovator Profile
Vasini Bai (64) has developed ten varieties of Anthurium by cross pollination. Large and medium flowers with rare color combination (light and dark orange, magenta, green and rose color combination, dark red and white colors) are uniqueness of these varieties. She has also developed new method for raising the seedlings in limited space using corrugated asbestos sheet and for transplanting grown up seedlings she used concrete troughs instead of pots.
Farming is her main occupation in which she has been involved for more than forty years. She lives with her husband who worked as a draughtsman earlier. Their three children are professionally qualified and settled with their families. Vasini Bai’s
father was a farmer and she was inclined towards farming since childhood. She helped her father in all the activities of farming. She got married at the age of 20 and moved to her in laws place, where she started growing vegetables and raising chicken in her farm. Presently, she owns a small piece of land near her house and cultivates Anthurium and many exotic flowers including several types of orchids. She also cultivates pepper, turmeric, banana, various types of vegetables and fruits. She sells the Anthurium flowers and plants to local florists as well as florists from Pune and Mumbai through an agency at an average price of rupees 60-75 per flower.
http://nif.org.in/innovation/improved-varieties-of-anthurium-and-its-planting-method/946