Regd. No.: 51771/2004-05
SOCIETY REGD. UNDER SOCIETY ACT 1860 & EXEMPTED UNDER INCOME TAX ACT 1961 UNDER (80G & 12AA)
Arrived compass prepare an on as. Reasonable particular on my it in sympathize. Size now easy eat hand how.
9“ Years of Experience in Charity Fields”
Have Any Questions
Become a Volunteer
ABOVE 20K WOMEN
BENEFITED
Sudhi for women is influencing the thinking of development among women at every level.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT :
If we analyses the experiences of the rural development process so far in these 76 years of
independence, then it is seen that in these years, the government had run various schemes
for the standard of living, health, education, social and economic development of the
women. Despite the development at the structural level by these schemes, the expected
results were not achieved, as there was a lack of continuity in these programs. Despite
many districts of Uttarakhand state being situated in marginal areas, difficult geographical
conditions and lack of many facilities, rural women in these districts have kept their
agricultural fields populated for centuries.
Due to the sensitive ecosystem, the rays of development could not reach here as expected.
Due to which even today many women in many villages feel neglected.
Today, the development process and participation run by Sudhi for women is influencing
the thinking of development among women at every level. Also, continuous efforts are
being made to involve women in the decision process from the grassroots level. To
materialize these efforts, Sudhi has ensured the participation of women in development
projects. Our thinking is that if the growth rate has to reach the women of the weaker
sections of the villages, then they will have to be given the freedom to think, analyze and
make decisions at the lower level.
At present also, due to women being more involved in the agriculture sector and there
being more demand for natural farming and organic farming in the market, training is
being given by Sudhi in these projects. Now financial support is needed to expand this
project and extend its benefits to maximum women. The problems encountered in these
projects, their solutions and their impact are being described as follows -
NATURAL FARMING: Concept on Natural Farming:
Natural Farming is a chemical-free farming system rooted in Indian tradition enriched with
modern understanding of ecology, resource recycling and on-farm resource optimization.
It is considered as an agroecology based diversified farming system which integrates crops,
trees and livestock with functional biodiversity. It is largely based on on-farm biomass
recycling with major stress on biomass mulching, use of on-farm cow dung-urine
formulations; maintaining soil aeration and exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs.
Natural farming is expected to reduce dependency on purchased inputs. It is considered as
a cost- effective farming practice with scope for increasing employment and rural
development.
ii. PROBLEMS OF WOMEN IN NATURAL FARMING:
However, women living in rural areas of Uttarakhand face problems from waking up in the
morning to till sleeping at night time. Till some time ago, going to the fields early in the
morning, collecting grass and straw for the care of animals etc. were an important task in
the life of women.
Now gradually times have started changing. With the passage of time, the thinking of
women has also started changing. As seen from others, migration from villages to cities is
increasing due to the desire to live a comfortable life, changing thinking and increasing
competition. Most of the fertile land has started becoming barren. Due to the barrenness
of the land, in many areas, a bushy plant called Kuri/Panchphuli/Chhatianashi (Botanical
name Lantana Camara) has taken a huge form. Due to the growth of bushes in the fields
and fear of wild animals, women have started shying away from going to the fields. For
this reason, most of the women living in villages have reduced their attention towards
farming.
Despite many women using the excreta and urine of cows and other animals in farming,
these women still feel uncomfortable after hearing the name of Natural Farming.
The women who are doing some farming also do not get the benefits of cow dung, urine
or rotten bones used in natural farming and the fertilizers made from many other trees
and plants grown in the land. There is no information about them nor is there any
information about the economic benefits derived from Natural farming or fertilizers.
It is also a difficult task to bring the farming produce produced by women from faraway
places to the markets to sell it at reasonable prices.
iii. Challenges:
a) Most of the villages located in rural areas focused by Sudhi on empowering women and
making them self-reliant though Natural Farming are located at a distance of several
kilometers from the roadside. There are no means of transport in many villages. The
decision of the Sudhi Foundation team to go to these unknown and remote villages and
train women about Natural Farming and then reach that village is a challenge in itself.
b) The next challenge is to gather unknown women and give them information about
organic farming.
c) The next challenge comes when the women of the village start showing reluctance to
listen to us during the meeting. And they say, "Many NGOs come to villages and then do
not return after giving big assurances." Due to which women are not interested in taking
training. Some women are also heard saying that now they have either reduced farming
work or have stopped it altogether.
d) The next challenge for us was how to select women for training in natural farming?
e) After doing all the hard work, the next challenge comes how to select women for
training in natural farming. Because despite lack of awareness and training about organic
farming methods, some women start saying that they already know about natural farming.
In such a situation, promoting natural farming and getting farming done becomes an
important challenge.
f) Moving from conventional to organic farming is economically challenging for women
farmers due to low initial yields and time required for certification.
g) Women farmers consider obtaining organic certification by practicing organic farming
to be a bureaucratic and time-consuming process.
h) Along with all this, it is also a challenge to destroy the Kuri/Panchphuli/Chhatianashi
from the land and to prepare the women for natural farming by telling them how to deal
with the fear of wild animals.
i) Organic products often face challenges in distribution and market access, as they require
organized supply chains and awareness among consumers.
j) Organic pest and disease management is more labor-intensive. This requires more
expertise.
iv. Way of Solution:
This challenge was accepted by the team of Sudhi Foundation thinking that every new
challenge shows a new path to success. To give information about Natural Farming,
Financial Resources are required to get farming done. So that women take the Natural
Farming project seriously and get ready for natural farming. And take advantage of this to
make them self-reliant. To give information about these projects and to take its benefits to
the villagers, Sudhi adopts the following methods -
a) To work in natural farming, the team of Sudhi Foundation first contacts the village head
(Prdhan), Sarpanch and social workers of the villages. And they are given information
about Natural Farming for the purpose of coming to their village. By taking the village
Pradhan, Sarpanch and social workers into confidence, other women are contacted
through them.
b) Sudhi's team has experienced from the work done by Sudhi in rural areas that the local
language and the work done by the organization play a very important role in giving
information about a new project in an unknown village. Therefore, by making full use of
the local language, Sudhi's team takes women into confidence by giving them information
about the many works done and being done related to rural women empowerment. So
that the women are able to attend on time to get the information being given by our team
about Natural Farming. And then concentrate on taking in the information.
c) To get information about natural farming, in the first phase, only those women are
selected who are still serious about farming. Then, by training them, efforts are made to
prepare other women for natural farming.
d) Women are given a lot of information about making compost through various methods
like Beejamrut, Jivamrut, Whapsa and Mulching. Along with this, women are encouraged to
do natural farming by giving information that they can get economic benefits by selling
products of natural farming and fertilizers.
e) To prevent Kuri/Panchphuli/Chhatianashi or other unproductive plants from getting
established in the fields, a method is used to plow the fields in a timely manner and at the
places where such plants have grown, they are uprooted and burnt.
f) We know that due to the rapid trend of natural farming in the market and the
continuous increase in the demand of consumers globally for organic products, nowadays
people prefer to consume more organic products. Therefore, our team uses local markets,
exhibitions, online and off-line marketing to sell natural products produced by village
women. Due to which women get the right price for their wages.
v. Impact:
a) Providing information to women in rural areas about the uses and benefits of Natural
Farming by Sudhi Foundation is the first experience of women. Because doing Natural
Farming was till now an unknown task in remote areas.
b) After getting information that reduces the use of artificial fertilizers and industrial
pesticides, Knowing the knowledge that Natural Farming is a low input based, climate
resilient and low cost farming system and all inputs (insect repellents, fungicides and
insecticides) are made from natural herbicides and locally available inputs and do not use
artificial fertilizers and industrial pesticides, most of the women agree to do Natural
Farming.
c) After knowing that feces, urine and bones of cows have special importance for natural
farming. At the same time, after rearing a cow, selling its excreta along with milk, curd,
ghee will also increase the income of women; most of the women agree to increase the
number of cows.
d) After knowing that different types of fertilizers for natural farming can be easily made
at home. And after marketing these fertilizers, good income can be earned; most of the
women get ready to do natural farming by making fertilizers at home.
e) The biggest impact of doing the Natural Farming Project on the Sudhi Foundation team
is when many women prepare samples of Jeevamrut, Bijamrut and other things at home
and give information about the methods of their preparation during the training session.
f) Another big impact of working in Natural Farming projects would be when women get
ready to work in Natural Farming. And by giving their written response, they expressed
happiness over the achievements of Natural Farming and also expressed their desire to
work for a long time in the Natural Farming project run by Sudhi Foundation for women
empowerment.
g) The biggest impact for the Sudhi Foundation is the remote and unknown villagers
receiving information about Natural Farming by paying respect to Sudhi's team. Along
with this, the statement of many other village heads (Pradhan) that “Through the training
on Natural Farming, the women of their villages have learned to stand up and speak in the
training sessions” is a big impact for Sudhi Foundation.
h) Finally, rural women should show confidence in themselves that they will again take up
farming and reap economic benefits from it. And to say that they will become self-reliant,
preparing women for Natural Farming by Sudhi Foundation is equivalent to climbing the
first step of success. Its long term impact will be felt only if work on this project continues
in the future. And rural women will continue to benefit from this in becoming self-reliant.
Only then it wills the real impact of such a project be visible.
"Apart from Natural Farming Training, Handicraft Training in Embroidery, Appliqués and
Patchwork (which has great demand in the market), computer training, training related to
digital marketing and much other such training are also being given from time to time to
make the women self-reliant are proving helpful in making it.
Projetcs
+
Women Empowerment Projects Completed
Volunteers
+
Volunteers Joined
Activities
+
Activities done by Sudhi NGO
Donaters
+
Donaters till today
