Empower Women Farmers in India

Dear Friend,

Your support has enabled us to help poor farmers get a fair price for their produce and avoid exploitation of the retail chain. These farmers are from one of the remotest villages of the region where we work. However, this area is famous for its lentil production. Since it’s a tribal area, farmers still practice indigenous farming hence they produce lentils which are free from any harmful chemicals and pesticides. However, having said that- farmers face a lot of problems in many ways. Firstly-the local dealers whom they sell does not give them a fair price for their produce. They just receive one third of the retail price (in which the lentil is actually sold in the market). Secondly – since they are very poor, a lot of farmers sell lentils in distress conditions ending up selling their produce in loss.  Thirdly- if they consider going to the main markets to sell the lentils, it involves a huge transportation cost, state taxes and requires a lot at-least a day which means loss of one productive day.

In this context, in 2008, Seva Mandir set up a community enterprise- “Lentil Processing Unit” in the village. This unit procures raw lentils from the farmers directly (thus cutting the middle man commission), hence providing them fair price for their produce, process the lentils, and find a niche market for the processed lentils.

Kundan (name changed), a farmer who sells his lentils to the Unit says “I am selling my produce at this unit since 2010. It has made my life much easier.” Like Kundan, around 10,000 farmers benefit from the lentil processing unit. This all would have not been possible without your support. Thank you so much for your trust in Seva Mandir.

With Warm Regards

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

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