SHG as a boon for entrepreneurship in Jhalawar district of Rajasthan

Women are vital to and a major productive work force in Indian economy. Nearly 84 per cent of all economically active women in India are engaged in agricultural and allied activities. As per 2001 census 19.5 per cent women were working as cultivators and 17.6 per cent as agricultural labourers. Women's role in agriculture and food security confirms that they need to be empowered to undertake their task effectively. To give rural women visibility, they must be organized into Self Help Groups. Group approach is a viable setup to empower women economically, socially and technologically for improved quality of life. Role of Self Help Groups (SHGs) is emerging as a promising tool in this context. The SHGs are created to enable the members to reap economic benefits through mutual help, solidarity and joint responsibility towards self and sustainable development. The technological and economic empowerment of women enables them to take active part in the socio-economic progress and make them sensitize, self made and self disciplined. The self help groups can inculcate great confidence in the mind of rural women and encourage them to take-up small enterprises so as to reap economic benefits. To achieve this excellence, vocational training of farm women acts as a tool to attain, sustain and accelerate technical knowledge.

KVK Jhalawar formulated 98 SHGs in 7 Panchayat Samities of the district. The major crops of the areas are coriander, soybean, chilli, orange, maize, wheat, ground nut, mustard and mehendi grown as hedge plants on farm boundaries. Farm women actively participate in cultivation of all these crops.

Coriander, orange and mehendi are abundantly available in the area but the farm families were not making considerable profit out of it. These products are sold as such, which fetch comparatively low prices. Value addition to these agricultural products is not done because of lack of knowledge about it. Hence it was thought that value addition of these products could be done which would fetch higher prices and women would be encouraged to take up this as an enterprise individually or through SHG. The exploratory survey also indicated interest of farm women in such activities. This research was undertaken with a view to find out how farm women could be provided with greater livelihood opportunities and the economic feasibility of enterprises such as processing of mehendi, orange and coriander in the area.