Vegetable producer’s group supports 200 women to grow improved quality of vegetables & increase their income through effective market linkages
Krushikanya Bhajipala Sangh, a vegetable producer’s group from Solapur District is enabling 200 Women in Mohol Block to improve the quality of vegetables they were growing and helping them increase their income through effective market linkages. Due to the use of chemical fertilizers the farmers have been experiencing lower productivity and quality.
Moreover, if they stored the harvested vegetables for 1 or 2 days it would turn pale which made it difficult to sell them at a good price. Under these circumstances, many farmers from the community had to sell their produce at a much lower price in the nearby market. Additionally, the nearest market which potentially could have given the farmers better prices was 40 Km away and it was difficult for the farmers to leave their work and take our time to travel.
In March 2020, Krushikanya Bhajipala Sangh was formed by federating 10 Village Level Farmer Producer groups through SSP’s interventions. 200 women farmers were trained in preparing and using bio inputs for growing vegetables which improved the quality of the vegetables and enabled them to store the harvested vegetables for 1 or 2 days. Additionally, the committee made logistics arrangements which picked up the harvested vegetables from the farm, loaded them systematically in crates and transported them to the Solapur market.
“Growing with chemical inputs and selling at the nearby market, earlier farmers used to get INR 5-7 for a bundle of Fenugreek (methi). Today with improved quality and being able to sell directly the farmers are getting INR 10-20 for the same volume of Fenugreek”
The Committee is also responsible for collecting the money from the market sale through the transporter, maintaining farmer-wise records and disbursing the money to the farmers within 02 Days of making the sale. The committee retains 2% of the revenue for training and capability building of the farmers.
On scaling up, committee president Shabana Pathan shared, “We have plans to enroll more farmer members and establish market linkages with supermarkets like Big Bazaar and DMart. We have already started to work on a plan for processing tomatoes to make chutney and sauce.”