Majuli, India’s largest river island, is battered by perennial floods. This leads to uncertainty in livelihoods in a largely paddy-growing belt.
Deepti Nath from the Sonariati village says, “Many years we struggle as incessant rains are followed by prolonged dry spells. This is devastating for rice cultivation. Poverty and natural calamities impact the lives of women and children the most.”
In the early part of 2022, when SeSTA organised a community meeting in the village, an urgent need to diversify the livelihoods portfolio was articulated by the women farmers.
Deepti Nath continues, “Moreover, the control of money is mostly in the hands of men. We have very little say inside our own households.”
Facilitated by SeSTA, a Producer Group (PG) was formed in the Sonariati village. They aptly named it ‘Sadhana’ which means dedication. This particular group of 52 women farmers has been working relentlessly with full dedication to prove that in spite of many societal constraints.
Rekha Nath, a member of the PG says, “The challenges faced by women groups are different from that of men. Being a woman, coming forward to work collectively comes with a baggage of societal norms, mobility issues and skepticism inside the household.”
Training and capacity building of these women led to the grounding of backyard poultry intervention in the village. They worked together, and even the ones who could not start their own micro-enterprise helped others.
Mousumi Nath, a member of the PG says, “Our enthusiasm was so contagious that even the men, some of whom were skeptical when the PG was formed, joined us.” She sold her first batch of 34 chicks, earning a profit of Rs. 4000. Then the second batch of 100 Kuroiler (a hybrid breed of chicken) chicks gave her a profit of Rs. 5000. And in a year’s time, she has completed five such cycles.
She says, “The taste of one’s first hard-earned money is precious. My husband has his doubts but now helps me and we are expanding the shed.”
Mousumi Nath, a member of the PG says, “Our enthusiasm was so contagious that even the men, some of whom were skeptical when the PG was formed, joined us.” She sold her first batch of 34 chicks, earning a profit of Rs. 4000. Then the second batch of 100 Kuroiler (a hybrid breed of chicken) chicks gave her a profit of Rs. 5000. And in a year’s time, she has completed five such cycles.
She says, “The taste of one’s first hard-earned money is precious. My husband has his doubts but now helps me and we are expanding the shed.”
Rusimai Nath, a member of the PG, says, “It is the first step we have taken as a group. Now our priority is to maintain our PG’s fund. Once we have managed to keep a decent amount, we can further extend loans to our members and also expand our group work. After our first dig, we had a feast together!”
The group is now diversifying its livelihood engagements to pisciculture for which they have received training from the fishery department.
These enterprising women aspire to register their own Farmer Producer Company and produce diverse commodities like poultry, mustard oil, potato chips, organic rice and vegetables in bulk. This diversification will help them address the vagaries of climate on their livelihoods.
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Beyond that, they want to be financially independent and live as equal members of society.
As Rekha Nath says, “We worked on our agricultural lands and we also had some poultry in the past. Men kept track of all these activities and we remained ignorant. But for the first time, we are looking at our livelihoods beyond sustenance and as a collective enterprise for everyone’s well-being. We plan all the activities and note all monetary transactions. We will have to keep this momentum alive. Our ultimate motive now is to make every woman in our group a confident woman and a confident individual.”
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