Ambika and Murugesan from Thottipalyam village in the Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu were struggling to generate adequate income from the tapioca crop their three-acre farm. They had to wait for over ten months to harvest the crop and income could vary between Rs 60,000 (£600) to over Rs 1 lakh (£1,000) per acre. However the monthly cost of pesticides, fertilisers and labour ate into their profits and there was little guarantee that they would meet their family's needs.