Name: Kesar Devi W/O Prempal Ninama

Village: Bori

The KKS-supported SIFS farming and nutrition project that is run by the organization Vaagdhara aims to support the nutrition and livelihood of tribal households, starting with educating the women through targeted training in the Saksham Samooh. One such member of this village-level women’s group is Kesar Devi, a 32-year-old female farmer in the Bori village. This is her account:

“For 4 years the program has been going on in our village, under which there is a group of 20 women that I am also a member of. We are given training on different types of farming interventions every month by the organization. Furthermore, many types of Agri-inputs have been availed to us by the organization to increase the livelihood and nutrition of women throughout the project. As a part of this program, Vaagdhara supplied 14-15 types of vegetable seeds to me 2 years ago, for the purpose of planting a Nutrition Garden. Due to this, I became self-sufficient in vegetable production, and do not need to buy vegetables from the market to feed my family anymore. At the same time, there was a discussion in the group on promoting local seed varieties of all types of crops which are used for cooking at home, and how to grow them using the traditional HANGADI farming methods.

Keeping in mind livelihood and nutrition, I was encouraged by the organization to set up a poultry unit. For this, 30 chicks were provided to me, of which 15 chicks were of the Pratapdhan breed and 15 of the Kadaknath variety. We were also told how to nurture them well and how to get good income and nutrition from them. For 2 years, I did not have to buy chicken for personal use from outside and was also able to sell 13 chickens of Kadaknath breed, from which I got an income of Rs.18600. Through this process, I also learned about chicken rearing, which I am still doing to this day. Right now, I have a total of 12 Chickens of the Pratapdhan breed, and 15 small chicks which I am raising at my home to support income and nutrition.

We all use the training which is given to us by the organization in the meeting every month at our home as learning. Outside of the meetings, my success has also inspired at least 5 other women to adopt these practices, allowing them to increase their nutrition and income. With this knowledge, the lives of many women are changed.

After joining the organization, I have learned many things about agriculture-related work, which I have all included in my practices. My husband also helps me in farming and I have 2 children who are 6 and 3 years old, out of which one goes to school and one goes to Anganwadi center.”

Kesar Devi says that in the future, she will try to take what she has learned from the organization to every family in the village so that no family in the village has to go away from the village for wages.