Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a virtual programme on Thursday, interacted directly with the Master Community Resource Person (CRP) Agriculture of Anuppur district, Sushri Champa Singh, associated with the self-help group of Madhya Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission. After hearing Champa’s experience, Prime Minister Modi suggested her to sell organic fertilizers, pesticides and other products through online website so that it can reach more and more people. This will not only reap profit but also help people get the benefits of her experience for low cost and advanced organic agriculture.
Champa Singh told that after the death of her father when she was still a child, her mother brought her up and got her married with great difficulties. Unfortunately, she lost her husband too after just two months of marriage. Livelihood mission came to her rescue at this critical juncture. After joining the group, she got training in more than 100 things, based on different topics. One of these was Krishi Sakhi training. After her training for Krishi Sakhi, along with other states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, she gave training to 5500 women farmers.
Champa informed that initially a loan of Rs. 75 thousand was taken from self-help groups and Rs. 1 lakh from Mukhyamantri Swarozgar Yojana. With this amount, she started a Krishi Kisan Seva Kendra and started selling organic fertilizers, organic pesticides, neemastra, brahmastra, Agni astra at the center. All these are organic and homemade. Earlier, mother and daughter together could not generate and income of even Rs 50 thousand a year and it became difficult to manage household expenses. Now they generate an income of about Rs 2.5 to 3 lakh a year. The Prime Minister lauded Champa for self-confidence and impeccable replies during the discussion.
Modi interacted with self-reliant women belonging to groups from five states of the country namely Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Manipur. This virtual programme was telecast live on Doordarshan, along with which arrangements were also made to watch the telecast in district, district and gram panchayat headquarters. A large number of group members in rural areas watched the live programme on TV and mobile.