Transformed Covid pandemic into opportunity: Women entrepreneurs

PILIBHIT: Over 60,000 women entrepreneurs in rural UP have succeeded in achieving self reliance on the economic front by embarking upon projects of "single bud and bud chip nurseries of sugarcane seed". According to them, their effort led them to transform the difficult period of Covid pandemic into an opportunity for income generation.

Many of them who belong to villages with small farmlands said that they had almost run out of food ration due to few work opportunities for male members of their families. The findings came to light after a recent review of the current status of women entrepreneurs in rural areas by the state sugarcane department. Official records suggest that over 60,000 of them in 37 sugarcane-growing districts across the state have earned over Rs 40 crore in three years.

Deepa Rai, president of Radhey women's self-help group at Mala village in Pilibhit, had to discontinue the education of her children.

"My husband, Viplab Rai, owns an acre of farm. Income generated from there was not sufficient enough to meet our monthly expenses. So, I decided to form a group of village women to work on a sugarcane nursery. I began to grow single buds and the bud chip seed of advanced varieties of sugarcane under a government scheme," she said.

Logistic support, including training, coco peat, pesticides and insecticides, were provided to the group for free. Her group has managed to sell about 2.75 lakh buds and chips since 2020 at a rate of Rs 3 per bud/chip and earned a net profit of Rs 1.75 per bud/chip. The group of 11 women thereby made a net profit of over Rs 4.80 lakh. This came as a huge help for my children's education, she added.

Kvita Singh of Mahila Vraddha Kisan group in Baghpat said that after achieving remarkable success in bud and chip production, she is planning to manufacture organic jaggery and vinegar for health care and enhancing the activities as well as the incomes of her group.

Additional chief secretary of sugarcane and sugar industry in state government, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, said, "The women self-help group contributed a lot towards making cane seed of advanced varieties available in bulk quantity. At present, about 3,148 women groups are functional in the state with membership of over 60,000 female entrepreneurs. They have so far produced 31 crore seedlings and generated 448,120 work days, and with net earnings of Rs 40 crore."