How women earn freedom by making organic manure in Shahapur

If you want to get to Eksal you must cross a vast expanse of forest reserves in Maharashtrarsquos Shahapur taluka The narrow road is lined with endless uneven rows of trees till you see the specks of homes a sign that the villages are not too far away We pass a saw dust mill and brick kiln A brick structure with no paint is the local Chinese food joint Yogesh Chinese Center It is also Eksalrsquos primary chicken retail center Half a kilometer away sits a vermicomposting unit thatrsquos operated entirely by womenWhen we enter there is pandemonium Three women are scurrying about in the cramped space packed with four pits each twoandahalf feet high Ten kilo sacks are lined up in one corner ldquoWe have a ratrdquo one of them declaresResidents of Eksal and other villages in Shahapur are providing additional income to their households through vermicomposting that was introduced to them by Population First through its flagship programme Action for Mobilisation of Community Health Initiatives AMCHI PicsSatej ShindeIt is impossible to guess at first glance that this tiny rectangular space in the middle of a nondescript village is the seat of an annual turnover of Rs 3 lakh Earlier in the day at his office Fazal Pathan told us how the fate of 50 villages in Shahapur including Eksal was inextricably linked to his own He is Deputy Director of the vermicompost programme by Population First PF a Mumbai based nonprofit that focuses on womenrsquos empowerment gender equality and community mobilisation to meet social and demographic goalsAlthough a growing industrial area Shahapurrsquos villages are still rooted in agrarian culture According to PFrsquos data 65 per cent of its residents are involved in agriculture and of these 45 per cent own small farm holdingsWhat began as a pilot project by Population First with ten villages in the Shahapur Taluka in Thane District has over the course of 13 years turned into a booming economy Operated entirely by women of rural Shahapur the AMCHI vermicompost project now sells organic manure earthworms and vermiwash for an annual turnover of Rs 3 lakh PicsSatej ShindeAlthough barely over two hours away from megalopolis Mumbai Shahapur the PF team realised lacked quality healthcare education and sanitation facilities The other hole the absence of community involvementldquoI arrived in Shahapur in 2007 for a training programme I was working with UNICEF at the time and Population First was offering a twoweek training module We visited a tribal village at the far end of the district Valmik Nagar Life was still primitive there I saw a woman carrying a malnourished child suffering from a bout of measles he was running high fever I asked her if she had consulted a doctor She was on her way to show him to a local tantrikrdquo Pathan a Parbhani native recallsPathan never left He says he found it difficult to ldquoturn his backrdquo on a population stricken by poverty illiteracy and embroiled in superstition He moved to Shahapur and joined PFVishakha Nipurte and Sadhana ChaudharildquoWe started the vermicompost project in just 10 villages in 2011rdquo he says It was under PFrsquos flagship programme AMCHI Action for Mobilization of Community Health Initiatives that vermicomposting a rural development intervention was adopted as a means to tackle gender inequities The idea was to allow the women to manufacture organic manure for use in their own fields and hawk surplus for additional incomeldquoThe first reaction of the villages was to laugh at us And if convincing the men to let the women work was hard convincing the women to come out was harder They had resigned to subservience and unpaid labour both in the family farm and at homerdquoDespite being equal participants in agricultural labour the women had no financial agency Making their own money would mean that they could take independent decisions for themselves their families and the communityIt was through relentless training programmes and awareness camps that PF began to change their mindset The team shared their plan The women would make vermicompost odourless natural manure produced by earthworms when they digest and break down organic waste material and wet garbage They would also manufacture vermiwash an organic tonic for crops or a variety of odourless liquid biofertilizer which is acquired after water is passed through compost made by earthwormsThe vermi beds are covered by green net over thick covers to protect the worms from ants frogs rats and birds The moisture level of the beds should be monitored regularly and water sprayed as and when it is requiredThe thought of having their own money to spend slowly got them to warm up Pathan saysThe rat that the three women were hunting for was a real one not a traitor in their midst They call rodents their worse enemies Snakes come second Imagine this A happy customer cuts open a vermicompost pouch and out pops a rat Itrsquos bad for businessFazal Pathan Deputy Director AMCHI Project Population FirstSoon the nuisance will be addressed and the women will be back to work Savita Nipurte the chirpiest of the trio tells us that the pits are filled with cow dung before earthwormsmdashldquoonly Eisinia Fetida earthwormsrdquomdashare released into the pitItrsquos jarring to hear her rattle off the species Latin biological name which as Google later tells us is commonly known as the manure worm Itrsquos best adapted to decaying organic material But Nipurte isnrsquot done dazzling us yetVermicompost is made using the Eisenia Fetida earthwormsldquoNext comes cow dung slurry Then we let the worms do their job As the worms work their way downwards the castings they leave behind turn into manure Itrsquos pure and organic and heaven for crops We use it in our own crops too and the produce has been bulkier tastier and superior in qualityrdquo A trained professor of biology couldnrsquot have explained it betterOnce PF had managed to get enough women on board they chalked out 10 plots of land one in each designated village based on the quality of the soil Ten women from each village made up a team and were in charge of a unitA shed that houses the vermi beds is made using steel poles bamboo and green netCow dung was collected from across homes and cowsheds of the villages Pits were created by hand by local masons The first set of earthworms was bought by PFWithin 15 days the first batch of manure was ready Simultaneously farmers and farmhouses were approached Free samples were handed out to potential customersThen came the waitingThe models of the vermi shed created by the first group of women to be involved in the project are now used in instructional sessions held by Population First for other groupsldquoFor the first six months the word lsquobusinesswomanrsquo was thrown around as a joke in our villages Everyone laughed at the women and at us Besides we were competing with big chemical manure brands that had an established presencerdquo Pathan saysWhen the farmers and farmhouse owners returned asking for more and were willing to pay this time Pathan and team knew they had a winner on hand ldquoOrganic manure is high in nitrogen phosphorous and potassium 25 per cent more than chemical manure And it has 120 per cent more black carbon which keeps the soil becomes fertile it is black goldrdquoIn the sixth month the units made their first sales at R500 per quintal The first unit to make a sale earned Rs 3500 with the first order and more by the end of the year Every womanrsquos share came to R700 after deducting expenses Many of them cried out of joy that dayThe products are now are sold at exhibitions and fairs The money the women make is set aside for personal and household expenses medical bills and school fees It also means that the team gets a lesson in selfconfidence running a business compels them to communicate and negotiate with a variety of peopleldquoIt is not just about the money although the money is greatrdquo laughs Nipurtersquos second in charge Sadhana Chaudhari ldquoIt is also the independence that comes with it We have our own money We can choose how to spend it We are no longer at the mercy of our men And after a lifetime of living that way this change is pricelessrdquoChaudhari agrees that she has stronger selfworth thanks to the project The women say they are confident to ask questions raise a concern before the gram panchayat and approach the sarpanch if laxity threatens to disrupt the operations of their unitProduction peaks from January to March during the Rabi crop season and dips during the summers The lull allows the women to execute repairs of the pits and sheds if needed When the rains arrive once again favourable moist and cool conditions are created for vermicompost productionIt is now a sisterhood of 500 women across 50 villages Contacts are shared surplus manure is provided to units that are facing an unusually high number of orders the women take turns visiting the units to make sure the worms are doing wellldquoI remember that none of us were willing to touch the worms oncerdquo Chaudhari smiles ldquoNow they are like our babies We can spot their speclike eggs amidst heaps of manurerdquo she adds picking up a coriander seedsized egg from the black mass to show us ldquoWe have become attached to this workrdquo adds unit worker Dakshata Patil ldquoThere is joy in it Irsquod love to stay and talk more but itrsquos green chilli season and I have to pick my producerdquoPathan explains that the vermicompost intervention was one part of the project It has subsidiary benefits like literacy ldquoThese women had never signed their names or owned a bank account They hadnrsquot discussed terms and conditions with transporters or negotiated deals We were doing everything from scratchrdquoThe women were living their dream until the COVID 19 pandemic hit The year 2020 was a double blow for them The lockdown had robbed the men of their employment and vermicompost sales had stopped And then cyclone Nisarg struck leaving widespread devastation destroying the vermicompost units PF intervened and helped crowdfund monies to save 15 units The money was used to rebuild the sheds with costeffective but durable steel poles bamboo sticks and green net Village masons help rebuild the pits Women used their own savings to buy fresh earthwormsDay by painstaking day every challenge was surmounted The women learned to sign their names with the help of the bettereducated villagers around They got pamphlets printed and distributed them across the district inviting potential clients to come see their operationsWhen 10 units multiplied to 20 and 20 to 30 word of mouth took care of the rest Not just clients but government officials too made a stop to see the change that was brewing in Shahapur The women were wise and fiercely protective of what they had builtldquoJust before the pandemic a team from the Thane Zilla Parishad came to see the operations because the government was starting similar schemes all over the state The women drove the officials away said you need to pay a fee of R500 and then let them back inrdquo Pathan chuckles ldquoThey donrsquot let any visitors even take pictures without my okayrdquoAround two years after the units were set up PF divested itself completely letting the women take overAs we ready to walk out of the Eksal unit Pathan stops us and points to NipurteldquoThis woman at one point was bogged down Her husband and his parents are alcoholics and no one from her family drinks It was a shock when she realised that she had married into this family she was slipping into depression Today she leads this unit and is a poster girl for the projectrdquo710No of women who run one vermicompost unit which includes 5 pits covered by the shedTo support the women entrepreneurs and buy AMCHI organic compost get in touch Fazal Pathan 9011973498 Vishakha Nipurte 7447369283