Rural residents in Jharkhand’s Pakur have seen an increase in income, thanks to the government's 'Chas Haat' scheme. The sisters of Sakhi Mandal are receiving integrated advantages from farming initiatives under the Chas Haat project in Pakur district. A horticulture-based creative endeavour has been launched to provide a robust livelihood for the women of Sakhi Mandal.
The 'Chas Haat' project ensures that rural households' incomes are increased.
What role does Chas Haat play in helping women?
The Chas Haat plan was launched in 2021 with the intention of transforming Pakur into a horticultural hub. Work is being done to transform the lives of women in Sakhi Mandal by linking them with vegetable production, with the help of the Pakur district government and the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society.
Increasing income at a cheap cost with Chas Haat
Maya Devi, a local of Baliapatra village in the Maheshpur block of Pakur district, is earning a good living by cultivating various crops such as cauliflower and parwal using micro drip irrigation and advanced technical training on 50 decimal lands under the Chas Haat programme. Maya claims that farming could not be done correctly and profitably in the past owing to a lack of irrigation, adequate crops and fertilisers, and so forth. However, with the assistance of the Chas Haat programme, veggies could be grown at a cost of only Rs 17,000 in the previous season. Maya made a profit of Rs 55,050 after subtracting the cost of agriculture.
Chas Haat project generates 4.5 crores in vegetable sales
During the previous fiscal year, around 7830 Pakur farmers began farming vegetables on 1,712 acres of land under the Chas Haat project. These farmers have issued the sale of around 4.5 crore in a short period of time by producing approximately 266 metric tonnes of veggies. So far, the ‘Chas Haat’ Farmer Producer Company has been founded under this programme by identifying around 8,000 farmers and 5,000 acres of land in the region. All of these selected farmers are divided into 28 clusters and 112 screws for vegetable growing. One of the scheme’s primary aims is to generate three to four harvests every year. Pakur district is on its way to become a horticultural hub as a result of this programme.
According to Varun Ranjan, Deputy Commissioner of Pakur, the Chas Haat programme aims to establish Pakur district into a horticultural centre. The producer firm is tasked with increasing rural women's businesses through empowering them as part of this strategy. Women's leadership improves the company's performance, and women's earnings rise as well. Thousands of rural women in Pakur district are on the road to self-sufficiency thanks to this campaign.
Land conservation and other departments are supplying deep drilling and pump sets to solve the irrigation problem. At the same time, farmers benefit from the drip irrigation system. MNREGA is also making provisions for the 05 decimal scheme and irrigation facilities under the Didi Bari Yojna in this sequence.
