In December 2021, Hana Sanga, 35, was introduced to a new craft that would change her fate. Like hundreds of households in her village, around eight kilometers from Jharkhand’s Khunti district, hers has been traditionally a farming family. After Oxfam India trained Sanga and other women in her village in mushroom farming, there has been a surge in their financial income. “Hamein nahi maloom tha ke kheti se itna Parivartan aa sakta hai (I did not know things can change so much through farming),” said Sanga, a mother of two.
COVID – 19 pandemic presented a new set of challenges to small and marginal farmers across the country, who were already reeling under the impact of low rainfall, price volatility, inflation, weak infrastructure and debts. Women in rural India bore the brunt of the pandemic which resulted in increased gender–based violence, limited mobility, and drastic cutdown on nutrition.
Against this backdrop, Oxfam India identified beneficiary such as Sanga for livelihood programs through organising group meetings where community stakeholders and youth collectives participated. “The best part of this project is that we don’t have to go far away and it needs only two hours a day of our time,” said Sanga.
More than 50,000 women are currently involved in collectives providing alternative livelihood activities in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
The livelihood options include mushroom farming, tailoring and running neighbourhood grocerry stores.
“Before the pandemic, we used to link the potential beneficiaries with government schemes. For examples, those in Odisha were made aware of Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society and Agricultural Technology Management Agency,” said Rukmini Panda, program coordinator, Oxfam India. “Now we are giving them input support including raw material and resources.”
After receiving basic training from Semina Agro, Sanga and other women formed five mushroom units and started mushroom farming on a trial basis, which gave encouraging results. With timely handholding, confidence of the women collective members was built up and all of them started mushroom farming as subsidiary vocation.
The producer group was thoroughly trained in mushroom cultivation, right from cutting, wetting, sterilizing of straw to final bed preparation by the technical experts through practical demonstration. The group was supplied with all inputs required to prepare mushroom bed and proper follow-up for management of beds was conducted. “Until last year, no one in the village knew what mushroom was. Now it is common for people to cook it and consume just like they do with other vegetables,” said Sanga.
Apart from financial benefits, the women collectives are changing social dynamics in these villages. Subhadra Surekha, team lead with Oxfam India, said that getting involved in these activities is giving agency to women. “Many of them never felt equal,” said Surekha. “This was the first time they were sitting next to men in community spaces. Others told us that they were akin to invisible contributors and only after the project they felt that they had an agency,” she said.
According to Surekha, the story 49-years-old Sivaratri Patra makes for a case study. Patra lives in Borbhatta village in Odisha’s Kalahandi district.
Agriculture is the primary source of income for a majority of 103 families in the village.
The small village has now turned into a model hamlet, where mushroom farming paved the way for social development and individual progress.
Patra took up mushroom cultivation from paddy straw, having received training in creating spaces program of Oxfam India under Support Enterprise Development Initiatives for Women and Girls. “This is a viable and profitable venture for women who have no extra source of income," said Patra.
Inspired by her, 15 women collective members were mobilized for training on Mushroom cultivation with the support of Odisha Livelihood Mission.
Between August-November 2021, women collective members prepared 158 Mushroom beds. There is an average yield of 1kg/bed in case of paddy straw mushroom which could fetch them Rs 250 – Rs 280 per bed at the cost of Rs.50, which was spent for raising a bed.