Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 31 (SocialNews.XYZ) It was not just an Onam harvest of vegetables and flowers for Kerala’s women farmers but a Rs 10.07 crore payoff, with Kudumbashree turning the festive season into a major marketing opportunity for thousands of women cultivators across the state.
The earnings came from the sale of 1,580.88 metric tonnes of vegetables and 113.17 metric tonnes of flowers produced under Kudumbashree’s 'Onakkani' and 'Nirapolima' agricultural programmes.
The produce was sold through more than 2,000 Onam markets organised across Kerala between August 20 and 25.
The Onakkani programme accounted for the lion’s share of the business.
More than 33,000 women farmer groups produced and marketed vegetables worth Rs 8.91 crore, supplying locally grown produce for Onam celebrations.
The Nirapolima flower cultivation programme saw another Rs 1.16 crore in sales, with 5,500 farmer groups marketing their produce.
Thrissur emerged as the best-performing district with a turnover of Rs 2.85 crore, followed by Palakkad at Rs 1.62 crore and Kannur at Rs 85.50 lakh.
Significantly, the money earned from these sales goes entirely to the farmers.
The figures also do not represent the complete earnings from the season, as farmers sold additional produce directly through local markets outside the Kudumbashree fairs.
For consumers, the initiative meant access to locally cultivated vegetables and flowers at a time when demand and prices traditionally surge.
For farmers, it provided an organised market at the doorstep, reducing dependence on middlemen while giving their produce a festive-season premium.
Kudumbashree, Kerala’s flagship women’s community network, was launched in 1998 as part of the state’s poverty eradication and women’s empowerment programme.
Built around neighbourhood groups and their federations, it has grown into one of the largest women-centred community organisations in the country, with women taking part in micro enterprises, agriculture, livelihoods, financial inclusion and local development.
Agriculture has emerged as an important component of this network, bringing women into collective farming and helping them move beyond cultivation to production, aggregation and direct marketing.
For Kudumbashree, this Onam appears to have brought more than flowers and vegetables to the market; it brought the women who grew them a substantially larger share of the money spent on the harvest.
Source: IANS
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