Women in Farming - Saraswati Bai, Director of Sampurna Women Crop Producer Company

Sampurna Women Crop Producer Company

“She is a woman, she shouldn’t go out of the village”, these were some of the obstacles that Saraswati Bai of Barjorpur village, Shahpur Block of Betul district, the Director of Sampurna Women Crop Producer company had to overcome. All of these trials and tribulations were before she became a strong pillar and an epitome of women's empowerment.

She began her journey as a strong member of Narmada Mahila Sangh. The Sangh used to aid women farmers with the help of PRADHAN by improving their agricultural practices and also training the farmers to attain better yields.

 But all the training still lacked in seed selection, disease management, and marketing cases. Saraswati Bai along with 480 other women thought of bringing “Ek Chat ke andar Kheti ka sab samadan” into practice by registering their Sampurna Women Crop Producer Company in 2014.

As she says “The retailers in our community prioritize making a profit over supporting our farms. Every time a farmer goes to their shop to buy input or to sell, their ultimate goal would be to rob us and put us into an endless cycle of debt. However, via the advancing agriculture training, we realized that the first step in raising the income of our fellow farmers is to open up shops where the farmer's well-being and knowledge-sharing are prioritized alongside the business.  Sampurna has been and is the main node for the changes that we have made in our area”. Sampurna started by renting a small piece of land and collectively arranging farmers' needs.

With the help of the Corteva Agri Science CSR project, the Farmer Producer Company has expanded its business, established post-harvest storage infrastructure, and developed the capacity of FPC functionaries and the board of directors. Owning their own land and having a capable board of directors are now key factors in the FPC's improved business procedures.

This herculean effort by Saraswati Bai has brought a befitting change to the area. Now they have helped educate more than 1500 women farmers to adopt better crop production technology, particularly in maize.

Saraswati Bai and her other board members envision climbing into the realm of processing products such as dal mill and oil processing this fiscal year to enhance their competitiveness and increase the farmers’ income.

In the words of Saraswati Bai, “Let any obstacle try to chain me up I will not stop and I will also make sure that my didis also don’t stop.“