SHG women during Covid : A gender perspective

SHG women during Covid : A gender perspective

Paapad, pickles and masala are synonymous with SHGs so much that most people imagine that women from self help groups are capable of doing just that. My initial dismay at this typecast image got transformed when I accepted two facts. One, that they if they didint do it our lives would certainly be spiceless. Secondly it was important to put forth the numerous things that they were doing.
If you observe closely women from SHGs are farmers, floriculturists , small ruminant rearers and breeders, poultry farners, food processors,, entrepreneurs and much more. In fact 80 percent of the agricultural operations are done by women.
Today MSRLM holds it's head high with 4.5 lakh SHGs, 50 lakh households associated with it. It has created 5 lakh women farners, over 8000 enterprises, more than 8000 producer groups and 15 Farmer Producer Organizations.
Women have received loans of over Rs 7700 crores from banks. They have created more than 15 lakh livelihoods harnessing capital gains of over Rs. 1200 crores.
Our heart's swell with pride when we see them efficiently managing their businesses and their confidence when they speak. The 60,000 community cadre of Wardhinis, ICRP, Krishi Sakhi, Pashu Sakhi, Bank Sakhi, BC Sakhi, Matsya sakhis are leading the community in various activities of agriculture , animal husbandry, organic farming, nutri gardens, food processing, art and craft
The real spirit of individuals reflects in adversities and this proved true for our SHGs specially in the Covid crisis.
Government of Maharashtra took the bold step of declaring the two days lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid 19 on 19th & 20th March 2020. The central Government declared Janata Curfew on 22nd March 2020 and lockdown from 25th March 2020.
This disrupted the supply chain of all agricultural commodities. People living in urban, suburban and metro cities could not get their regular supply of vegetables, fruits and grains. At the same time transportation was affected and the perishable goods of farmers became a cause for worry. They were unable to transport their fruits, vegetables and other goods for sale. It was important to liquidate their production and ensure their sale on priority within the given time frame.
The constraints of the lockdown may have lessened the demand for these commodities but the production was high. This resulted in great damage of vegetable and fruits. It is beleived that in the first 2 days almost 70 % of the vegetables and fruits were damaged.
The government soon came up with guidelines on transportation of essential commodities during lockdown. However auction was not allowed in mandis in urban and suburban areas to avoid crowding.
Rural SHG women had already risen to the occasion by providing counselling services, producing face masks and actively participating in food security management.
They now stood firmly without fearing Covid 19 and started direct selling of fruits, vegetables and grains. They either sold their own products or purchased them from farmers and sold them in the local markets, in near by villages and in cities. They also started supplying vegetables, fruits and grains door to door to houses by maintaining physical distance. The revolving fund and community investment fund provided by MSRLM came to their rescue to raise funds for their working capital.
MSRLM Umed team motivated these women and facilitated supply chain for Vegetables and fruits. The SHGs as well as the farmers could get much better price for their produce. This also reduced the losses from 70 % to 10 %. The urban residents recieved fresh vegetables and fruits at an affordable price right in their homes
Over 16,000 SHGs including 48,415 Women members participated in the supply chain management and are earning through this activity. Over a thousand outlets have been opened for sale during Covid 19.
As for the groups they have sold over 1300 metric tons of vegetables, 4800 metric tonnes of fruit like Water melon ,Musk melon ,Mango, Sapota,Pomogranate, Banana, 2800 metric tonnes of food grains like Wheat, Jowar,Bajra,Rice, Nagli, Turdal,Chana dal,Uraddal, Moong dal and Groundnut which were sold in local market as well as in distant areas. In all women have sold 20,813 MT of all commodities with a turn over of Rs. 20.43 crores
Their magnanimty and charity was evident in Nanded district where SHG women donated vegetables to the Langar run by Huzursahib Gurudwara where 50000 people have free lunch daily.
In Gondia and Satara districts SHG women supplied lunch to bankers, hospitals and other government Institutions as the hotels and restaurants were closed.
The Krishi Sakhis are facilitating collective procurement of seeds and manure all over Maharashtra. In Washim and Buldhana districts they have become the channel for distribution of seeds and manure for the agriculture department. World bank aided projects like POCRA are training them in seed production, checking the quality of seeds , seed processing etc and also facilitating setting up of units through loan and subsidy.
The journey from pickles, papad and masala to becoming producers and distributors of agricultural commodities has not been easy. Till date only 16 percent of the women in India have their names on the land records. In the absence of land ownership, women are deprived from accessing institutional credit, extension services and other government entitlements including relief measures.
The National Policy for Farmers, 2007 had recommended a broader definition of a farmer, including labourers, tenants and other workers, but the government’s definition is based on ownership of land. A farmer's definition is still based on the land title records. Most schemes require the submission of land title record, limiting the beneficiary base to landowners, mostly men. Bankers also pay more attention to crop loans and other priority lending. As a result internal lending among SHG groups and microfinance remains the only funding option for women since they have no land or collaterals.
Hopefully World Bank projects like Nanasaheb Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Prakalp, POCRA and the upcoming Balasaheb Thackeray SMART project will lead to change with women being recognized as farmers and getting their due. Till then let us gorge on the papads and pickles not forgetting to work towards a truly equitable society.