Background
Ms. Nityabai Nayak, a 45-year-old woman farmer, lives in a small village named Satidarha in Ambabhona block of Bargarh district, Odisha. She has been into farming activity for the past one decade and has been growing rice on her farm. However, due to the declining productivity of her crops, she was struggling to make ends meet. In the meantime Mahashakti Foundation with the support from HDFC Bank Parivartan, introduced the FRD Project Sampurna in her block. Out of the project activities, Nityabai learned about the benefits of growing millets, such as their ability to withstand drought and their high nutritional value, but she had no prior experience in growing them.
Technical Support from Mahashakti Foundation & FRD Project
Nityabai was chosen as one of the demo plot beneficiaries to undertake millet cultivation in her 0.5 acre of land. She was provided with technical support, including training in millet cultivation techniques, access to high-quality seeds, and support in setting up a millet-based cropping system on her farm. The project team also helped her to identify potential buyers for her millet crops, ensuring that she could get a good price for her harvest.
With the technical support from Sampurna project, Nityabai was able to successfully undertake millet cultivation on her farm. She started with a small plot of land and gradually expanded it as she gained more experience. She used a mix of traditional and modern cultivation techniques, like that of using organic fertilizers, that she learnt from the POP training organised as part of the project activities.
Outcome & Future Prospective
Nityabai’s efforts paid off, and she was able to harvest a good yield of millets. The quality of her millet crop was also high, which helped her to fetch a good price in the market. She was able to produce 2.5 quintal of millet from her land and earned about INR 9000 from the sale of millets. Moreover, her success inspired other women farmers in her village to take up millet cultivation, around 200 acres of land is being cultivated for millet crop in that region and adjacent villages under the Ambabhona block. Millet food festivals are being organised at the block to popularise the consumption of millets as well as to celebrate 2023 as International year of Millets. Apart from Nityabai, other women have been contributing their efforts towards millet processing and value addition in the Bargarh district.
Mahashakti Foundation has strategic plans to capitalise on the initial year success of the project in the block, and shall establish processing centre and millet tiffin centres. This will enhance the goodwill of the project as well as the stakeholders involved in Sampurna.
