2072 Pinnickinick Street, WA 98370
Women farmers work day and night in their fields, yet they are recognized less as farmers and more as laborers. To address this, Karn Bhumi’s bens assert themselves as ‘women farmers’ and run their own businesses too. Karn Bhumi is a women-led Farmer Producer Company based out of Bihar. The farmers of Bihar work day and night to ensure that the crop yield is sufficient, however, the outcome also depends on the quality of the seeds and plants. If the seed or plant is of bad quality, the entire crop gets ruined.
Recognizing this, Karn Bhumi decided to grow plants in a nursery, including brinjal, tomato and chili. Through this, it is hoped that farmers can get a better crop yield.
The purpose of preparing the nursery
Initially, when SEWA Bihar interacted with the women farmers, their yield was not adequate as good quality seeds could not be procured. Karn Bhumi then assisted the farmers to get good quality seeds at the right price. Despite this measure, it was seen that problems arose again in yield quantity due to crop catching diseases.
This prompted Karn Bhumi to sell the first few nursery plants as a pilot, which proved to be beneficial. After this, it was decided that an entire nursery should be set up on 10th June. In this nursery, 300 plants of different species of chilli, brinjal and tomato are prepared. Karn Bhumi has taken 2.5 acres of land in Satdhara and 1 acre of land in Baade Hasanpur on rent for one year. In both these areas, its members will plant chilli and tomato plants in the fields and sell the produce for profit. We also found that there seems to be a good demand for nursery plants among farmers
To prepare the nursery, the first step was to select a suitable place for the nursery. Following this, we had to choose a place where there is a water facility, sunlight and good soil quality. The seeds of different plant species were sown, and a caretaker was hired to look after them. She waters fertilizers and prepares new plants in the nursery, once in the morning and evening.
Some advantages of having a nursery
● Land and labor are conserved by preparing saplings in the nursery
● By sowing seeds in the nursery, it is possible to provide favourable conditions for seed germination and plant growth.
● It is easy to prepare pest and germ-free plants in the nursery.
● By preparing plants in the nursery, more time is available to prepare the field in which the plant is to be planted.
● There are many such vegetable seeds which are very expensive, so it is more cost-efficient to prepare them in the nursery.
Sulochana ben’s story
Sulochana Devi is a resident of Ibrahimpur. She is 35 years old and undertakes farming and animal husbandry. She grows vegetables by purchasing seeds from Karn Bhumi.
“I bought 200 ready-made chilli plants from Karn Bhumi. After planting them in my field, I registered a significant increase in my yield. I’m happy to share that I am now able to pluck 5 kg of chillies in a day.”