Bhagwati – A successful entrepreneur (Income Generation)

Bhagwati Budha is a 31-year-old woman. She has been living in Talilorpa village of Patarashi Rural Municipality Ward No. 5. Her main occupation is agriculture. She can hardly read and write and she has been married for 10 years. There are seven members in her family including 5 women and 2 men. Bhagwa

      Bhagawati in her vegetable garden

ti Budha’s mother is a widow. In her family, her children are studying and all other members are engaged in farming to make a living. They have a small piece of land for farming and a courtyard.

In May, June and July they cultivate vegetables and during other months except November, December and January they harvest millet, buckwheat, sugarcane, corn etc. The annual income from vegetables and other crops amounts to Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000. They can eat only for 3 to 4 months from this income. Rest of the months, the income is enough only for clothes, support for the children’s education and household expenses. Before the start of the project, she did not produce any vegetables for sale as it was only enough for consumption at home.

She lives in a two-story thatch and has a cow, 4 goats, 3 chickens and 2 rabbits. The neighbors would not give any loan to her family because they had no other source of income except conventional farming. Because of this, they were deprived of social, cultural and income-generating areas. Despite the desire to grow commercial vegetables she did not find any agency to guide her the way.

When the campaign for Sarbodaya Nepal Jumla implemented the project in the village Bhagwati was selected as a farmer in Patarashi Rural Municipality related to commercial vegetable cultivation under the “Women Farmer Support Program for Gender Equality” conducted with the financial support of FEMI, Netherlands. She said, “10 farmers from the group, including her, received 11 types of seeds and other material support from the program at different times in training including seed support and marketing support”. She said that she earned a total of 1 lakh 21 thousand from April till October from vegetables. The increased income has made it much easier to celebrate Dasain and Tihar festivals, day to day life and children’s education.

Bhagwati Budha has deposited Rs 50,000 in the bank. She plans to expand this vegetable business in the coming days. She thanked Femi, Sarbodaya Nepal Jumla and social Mobilizer Revika Sunar, JTA Man Bahadur Budha for helping to run the business. The first child marriage-free ward in the district is Patarashi Rural Municipality Ward No. 5. It is a community that is suffering from poverty, illiteracy and suppression from male members, caste discrimination, traditional customs and inconsistencies. Malpractice like Chhaupadi custom, Balwah was the main problem here. There is a lack of women’s empowerment, a problem of women’s overwork load, lack of property and other rights. According to the statistics of the year 2018, the statistics show that 46 per cent of child marriages took place in Patarashi village. It is seen that there is 85 percent of Chhaupadi there. It depicts that the reduction of child marriage and Chhaupadi practice are the major problem which needs to be addressed in this area. During this time, various stakeholders in Jumla were also collaborating and advocating due to the severe issue.

Sarbodaya Nepal Jumla, which has been advocating against women violence for a decade, started to raise voice against social injustice, among women through the Women’s Farmer Support Program for Gender Equality with the support of Femi. After organizing monthly meetings, trainings and discussions to raise awareness among the women of the village, the discriminated women started to search for their rights. In the village, boys and girls were getting married between the ages of 13 and 16. Due to child marriage, women’s health problems were institutionalized. The problems and confusions that occur after child marriage were made aware through the relevant gender facilitators, men’s groups, ward and local stakeholders. An awareness campaign was conducted for the abolition of child marriage with the agreement and efforts of the local bodies. Also, it was warned that sitting in a shed [Chhaupadi] while menstruating would also cause problems in reproductive health. It was warned that child marriage would be unsafe in the house. Awareness was created among them by running a discussion campaign with the elders of the society and Dhamijankri [Traditional healers].

The child marriage-free ward has been declared after the facilitation of Patarashi Rural Municipality Health Office, Ward Office and social organisations like Sarbodaya Nepal. After the declaration of child-free marriage, the communities here have become aware that they are also pressuring their close relatives to avoid child marriage. The child-free marriage ward was announced with joint effort and in the presence of local stakeholders including the district coordination committee, village municipality, journalists, local community, and Sarbodaya Nepal Jumla.