EMPOWER & IGNITE THE YOUTH FOR A BETTER NATION

 Empowering women to sustain, creating livelihood and equity

  Village: Sadla, Tehsil: Manohar Thana, District: Jhalawar, Rajasthan

 Most of the villages under Manoharthana Talukas are small with huge employment issues. Majority of its population is engaged in marginalized work. Sadla and Manoharthana two areas in Rajasthan lie in Jhalawar district. These two areas are different in natural vegetation compared to desert lands of other parts of Rajasthan. It has substantially greener land. The area is historically rich and also blessed with monsoon rains. It is located on the borders of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, considerably at 3 Km distance from Madhya Pradesh. The nearest major Railway station is Kota which is at a distance of 200 KM from Manoharthana. The Taluka head quarter of Manoharthana is in the old fort of Bhil King. The Taluka has four main gates till date and total habitation is build-up within the fort area.

The analysis showed that this area has scarce options for higher education; the nearest college is 50 KM away. The lack of access and opportunities for livelihood forces the inhabitants for migration. Male folks are dependent on agriculture, however it is seasonal. Few are engaged into tobacco manufacturing. Few families are weavers but due to competition with modern requirements, they lack behind. Women are basically engaged into domestic chores.

 Realizing the need for development, Literacy India started its operation to offer convenience of education and also provision of sustainable livelihoods through proper training. General analysis and observations displayed that there are hidden talents for organic farming and kitchen gardening in this village and also in the neighboring villages. The community especially women just required proper training and motivation. Women already showed willingness in supporting their partners in running the house.

Kitchen gardening using Organic Farming

Conventional agriculture vis-à-vis organic farming has received increasing attention in recent times in the face of environmental ill effects of modern agriculture. In spite of it’s agreed upon positive environmental impact sustainability, rapid spread of organic farming has remained largely illusive.

To initiate the organic farming/ kitchen gardening, Literacy India selected few women from the Sadla village and motivated them to start with kitchen gardening under income generation activities.

While Literacy India is trying to promote low cost organic kitchen gardening in Sadla, interest among the rural population is also increasing day by day. The population has started periencing the benefit of organic farming.

 Impact:

• Each women of the group is cultivating vegetable for not only her house hold need but for community too
• The production from the organic field is the same as from conventional farming but as the investment is almost zero; the net profit is more from the organic field
• The pesticide attack is visibly less in the organic kitchen gardens
• The procedure of “Each One, Teach One has been inculcated among the group women; Each member supervises other’s work, rectifies each other so that the entire procedure carries out without failure
• Each household is able to save/ use of amount 1000 INR per month by vegetables

  Activities Undertaken:

• Survey and identification of group members
• Group leader identification and trainer recruitment
• Time to time meeting and guidance for group women
• Ideas exchanged by visiting other village organic field
• 10 women doing kitchen gardening successfully  
• 6 women able to produce decent yield and also selling vegetable to community. They are able to save and earn 1000-1200 per month which is decent amount for rural area
• Knowledge and motivation is high in beneficiaries for organic and kitchen gardening
• Many new male farmers also showing interest in organic farming
• Ranita Das, Suchismita Sengupta & Puja Kumari three interns from RKMVU (Agriculture university) helped to strengthen the women farmers’ group.

  Story of change

Name: Geeta (name changed)  Age: 30 Location : Sadla Rajashthan 

Geeta (name changed) is a 30-year-old, active lady who is famous in her neighborhood for her talkative nature. Her husband is a farmer. They have three children all of whom are attending govt. school in Sadla where Literacy India is operating its project Gyantantra Digital Dost.

Geeta is a humble learner who possessed basic knowledge of conventional farming. She also helps her husband in day to day faming work. They had spare space behind her home which was not being used for anything. When Literacy India started initiatives of kitchen garden, it selected ten women from the village having spare land near their homes. Proper training of kitchen gardening was imparted to these women by RKMV University Students at Sadla. 

After getting the hands on experience on the application and implementation, Geeta has come across as one of the successful learners. She is now doing organic kitchen gardening in her field behind her home. She has grown pumpkin, tori, brinjal, lemon etc. Geeta not only uses the vegetable for her family but is also able to make some money by selling out the additional stock to the community.

Sr. No. Farmer’s name Vegetables name
1 Bhuli Bai Gilki, loki, pumpkin
2 Badam Bai Gilki, loki, pumpkin
3 Barafaa Bai Gilki, loki, brinjal
4 Savitri Bai Gilki, loki, brinjal and pumpkin
5 Kunti Bai Gilki, loki, brinjal, pumpkin, chili
6 Ram Kanwari Bai Pumpkin, Gilki, loki
7 Roshan Bai Gilki, loki, brinjal, pumpkin, chili
8 Rodi bai Pumpkin, loki, Gilki, Lady finger, brinjal
9 Mohan Bai Pumpkin, loki, Gilki, Lady finger
10 Dhapu Bai Pumpkin, Gilki, loki, Lady finger

Links:

• On a wing and a prayer