Teaching farming to over 1,000 families in India

Jhunu (aged 50) lives in a tribal village community in Ganjam District in the state of Odisha with her husband Prakash and their four sons who all work in the local fields as daily-wage labourers. They have a small plot of land where they cultivate vegetables but the output was very low as they were using lots of chemicals in the field.  This also required a lot of labour which increased their costs. They could consume vegetables from their fields for only few weeks but after that it was quite challenging for them to buy vegetables from the market as they could not afford them.

Jhunu attended a community meeting where our field team was explaining the benefits of Agri-management Services. She enrolled in the programme and underwent various training sessions on developing an organic kitchen garden and was very keen in adopting the techniques in her fields. She also prepared the bio-fertiliser and bio-pesticides as per the training and instructions. She developed the organic kitchen garden, tending to it regularly with the help of our Livelihood Service Provider. She was thrilled to see that the harvest was very good compared to the previous years.

She acknowledged that the use of bio-fertilisers increases the yield of the vegetables and also protects them from pest attacks. She said that, because the yield has increased so much they can now sell the excess vegetables in the local market after consuming enough for themselves. She earned Rs. 1500/- (c. £15) in this season by selling her pumpkins. 

She thanked the Shivia team for their support and for transferring the knowledge of sustainable agriculture through the training programme. She has become an inspiration for other farmers in her village. 

“I am happy with the kitchen garden in my backyard. I am able to get fresh vegetables from my garden which not only helps me and my family get a nutritional diet but also saves my expenditure on produce.”

Thank you for supporting Shivia so that we can help women like Jhunu develop kitchen gardens and earn a decent income with dignity.

Best wishes from,

Joe