An inspiring tale of resilience building and grassroots entrepreneurship
This is a heartwarming story of how Bindu Raveendran, a tribal woman coming from a marginal daily wage labour household overcame a devastating flooding catastrophe in 2018, & rebuilt her life by taking up goat-rearing, fodder cultivation & natural farming. She was empowered to do all these by the Sakhi Farmer’s Group, training from SSP & funding from Community Resilience Fund (CRF). Today, Bindu is a leader in her tribal community where she advises others to follow her example.
Belonging to the Kuruma tribe, Bindu Raveendran hails from Wayanad in Kerala. She depended on her husband & her own daily wage income to support the family. Kurumbalakkotta, the area where she lived, experienced heavy flooding & landslides in the monsoons of 2018. Faced with a difficult economic situation at home, & an alcoholic husband, Bindu joined the Sakhi Farmers’ Group in 2019.
She accessed Rs 25,000 as part of Community Resilience Fund to initiate diversified livelihoods & purchased four goats & availed the MGNREGS scheme to construct a goat shed on her property.
With an increasing number of goats from four to ten, she began growing fodder on her own five cents of land, as well as on 30 cents that she borrowed from the family’s traditional community land. She increased her income to approximately Rs 30,000 in season by selling goats in the market. Having money in her hand has enabled her to participate in household decision making. She was able to purchase a smartphone and a two wheeler from her goat business & her husband’s attitude has changed positively as he supports her in the goat rearing.
Over the years, Bindu has gained confidence & now she guides other women in her community to start practicing income generating activities. She is also active in her Oorukoottam, a collective decision making body of tribal communities & Gram Sabha where she regularly raises her concerns of children’s education, as well as alcohol & drug use in the community.
Bindu now wants to scale up her organic farming & goat rearing activities with more goats & land. She is very proud of being one of the first tribal women in her community to have adopted new livelihood & farming practices. The journey of Bindu & her partnership with SSP, Sakhi Farmer’s Group & Government schemes is an inspiring tale of resilience building & grassroots entrepreneurship.
Swayam Shikshan Prayog
05th November, 2021