Economic Empowerment of Women
through
Vegetable Cultivation
P
atriarchal-feudal relations still dominate the socio cultural milieu in Bundelkhand, a drought prone region in Central India comprising of 13 districts in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Women here are largely illiterate, lack general awareness and have limited access to basic healthcare, sanitation and income generating opportunities. The story is similar for the women farmers in the region. Their inability to access cheap and timely credit facilities, lack of knowledge about scientific farming techniques and poor market linkages have prevented them to earn profits from their farmlands and earn a secure future for their families.In the year 2012, Development Alternatives initiated a project with women farmers in the Tikamgarh district, supported by Madhya Pradesh Mahila Vitta Avam Vikas Nigam to alleviate their economic condition by attempting to help them increase their vegetable farm productivity. The main objectives of this initiative are as follows:
• Organising women farmers into women self-help groups (WSHGs)
• Increasing technical assistance to the women farmers for technology related capacity building
• Improving marketing infra-structure to reduce transaction and transportation costs
• Emphasising on farm
education and awareness to sustainably increase the overall vegetable
productivity
Under this project, more than 300 women farmers have been associated with the women self-help groups (WSHGs). Through the WSHGs, the women have been able to access timely credit during sowing seasons and have been provided with training to increase their access to scientific and technical knowledge for increasing soil nutrition and improving farm productivity. The main vegetables cultivated by the women are tomato, cauliflower, brinjal and chilly, which have a high commercial value.
The women farmers have also been provided access to organic fertilisers (vermi-compost) and hybrid vegetable seeds that have resulted in better farm yields and reduced production costs. They have been educated about the advantages of multi cropping on their farms, which has also helped in increasing their farm yields. The women have also been taught to grade their produce according to its quality so that certain batches can get them a higher profit. Some enterprising women from one of the self – help groups invested in a solar pump for irrigating their fields as irregular supply of electricity was a major drawback for timely irrigation. Lastly, through market linkages, the women farmers have been able to sell their produce to more profitable markets instead of just selling in the local market at lower rates. The other achievements of this project have been:
• Enhanced productivity of the vegetables thereby leading to an increase in income level of the women farmers
• Establishment of an efficient supply chain which has led to better employment opportunities and incomes for other women farmers
• Improved nutritional security by promoting organic farming techniques – urban consumers get safe, good quality, fresh vegetables produced at competitive prices
• Tikamgarh district has been converted into a vegetable cultivator’s hub
Through the interventions of this project, all the women have been able to enhance their income by 30% per month, enabling them to spend more on the food and nutrition needs of their families. It is important to support and promote such initiatives of building capacities of women farmers in the rest of Bundelkhand and other parts of rural India as empowering the woman can ensure the well-being of the entire family. q
Rajesh Srivastava
and Omkar Gupta
rsrivastava@devalt.org,
ogupta@devalt.org