Balasore: Life has changed for the women of self-help groups (SHG) at Basuli in Kamaripur, a remote non-descript village under Sadar police limits in Balasore district, after they took up self-employment and ventured into flower cultivation.
Once unemployed and dependent on the modest salaries of their husbands, these women have now become self-sufficient by engaging themselves in flower farming.
“There was a time when our families could hardly manage two square meals a day as our economic condition was pathetic. We had to depend on the earnings of our husbands who spent almost the entire money on drinking. But now we are financially self-reliant and our lives have changed for the better,” a women of the SHG group said.
This is all becoming possible because of our self-help group and flower farming, she added.
Fourteen women of the village came together in 2008 to start a SHG. When other women first heard about the self-help group, they were not too eager to join it. However, they came forward as they were in desperate need of regular income.
Encouraged by their husbands and some NGOs, these women started cultivating flowers in a land provided by a villager Amulya Behera. The women took loan from a bank and started flower cultivation on the land.
Initially, the members of the SHG were supplying one quintal flower per month. But slowly they gained confidence as their cultivation began to flourish. Soon their supply increased to more than 10 quintal, which they now supply to various places across the state.
Since then, there has been no looking back for them.
“Each member of our SHG earns a profit of Rs 2,000 per month from the business. We had initially taken loans from the UCO Bank and continued the business after repaying the entire debt,” said a member of the SHG, Pratima Behera.
“We supply flowers to many places including Balasore, Bhadrak, Soro, Bahanaga, Gopalpur, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. We cultivate the flowers on 12 decimals land. We also cultivate vegetables in the land and get good profit,” said president of Basuli SHG, Parbati Behera.
PNN