The Initiative that Changed the Lives of Fulmani Devi and Many Others

Trying every means to keep home and hearth together, struggling in abject poverty, migrating to distant places, Fulmani, like the women in her village, finally finds strength and sustenance through SHGs and poultry farming.

F ulmani Devi of Silum village in Raidih block of Gumla district, Jharkhand, is happy and proud about her newly constructed poultry farm, which has a capacity for 1,000 broiler birds. This has become possible after nine women (including her) started the poultry co-operative way back in 2002. Prior to this, her family used to harvest paddy prematurely so that it could get an early supply of food grain. She recalls, “My husband, Tapeswar Oraon, once went to Ranchi, which is about 100 km from my house on foot, in search of work as labour.”

Before taking up poultry as a means of livelihood, Fulmani Devi’s quality of life was pathetic. She and her family lived in a mud hut; she had a few utensils. She had three acres of land, of which one acre was cultivable; however, only one crop of paddy could be cultivated there because it had no irrigation facility. The family had no other means of livelihood. After selling the harvested paddy, they had food security for six months in a year. Three meals a day was a distant dream…they hardly ate twice in a day. Their meal comprised rice and vegetables and quite often they had gruel (stale rice with water and salt). The income from the paddy was just enough for other household expenses such as oil, spices, medicines and education of children. They had no income and no food for the rest of the year.