When we think of rural India and the women who live there, we always think of them being orthodox, conservative, and or dependent, at least financially on their husbands. And for the most part, it is true. Because of lack of education and the rigid societal norms, these women rarely think outside the four walls of their house. Having said that, when given the right guidance and opportunities – these women can change the way they’ve been living or taught to live. For instance, this group of village women in UP has taken an initiative on making the best out of waste to be financially independent.
Recently, a woman named Sunita and her Self Help Group have received tons of appreciation and recognition for their efforts to extract banana fibers from the discarded banana stems. Praises of their work and their initiative to make the best out of waste have crossed district and state borders.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has acknowledged and appreciated the efforts of these village women to make the best use of the waste that gets produced. During his talk on Mann ki Baat on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “During COVID times, there has been a unique initiative in Lakhimpur Kheri. Here work has started to impart training to women to make fiber from the discarded banana stems, an attempt to achieve best from waste. Banana fiber is made by cutting the stem of a banana with the help of a machine, which is like jute or flax. Handbags, mats, rugs, and many things are made from this fiber. Due to this initiative, on one hand, the use of crop waste started, while on the other hand, the sisters and daughters living in the village got another source of income.”
Sunita’s journey of being financially independent started when she became a part of the ‘Ma Saraswati’ self-help group. And what motivated her to come with such a unique initiative was the fact that just like many husbands, her husband was finding it difficult to feed their kids during the Covid-19 pandemic; and so she formed a group of women that would support their own households.
The initiative of making the village women self-reliant and financially independent was first started by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government and the Lakhimpur Kheri administration. They came with the idea of making village women financially independent by teaching them how to extract fiber from the discarded banana stems. This fiber is used in many industries such as textiles, slopes, and diapers.
The initiative started in December 2020 in the Samaisa Village of Isanagar Block. This project and initiative helped Sunita and these village women to earn Rs. 400 to Rs. 600 a day. These earnings didn’t just make these women financially independent but also made them the breadwinner of their households.
On the initiative by the UP government, Chief Development Officer of Lakhimpur Arvind Singh said that they took inspiration from ‘One District One Product’ and came up with ‘One Block One Product.’ The fact is that the farmers of Isanagar cultivate bananas on a large scale and when they harvest these bananas, they tend to throw away the stem that is rich in fibers. And now that very discarded banana stems have become a source of income for these village women.
Chief Development Officer of Lakhimpur Arvind Singh also said on the initiative that “We contacted the farmers and they gladly agreed to give the stem of the banana. Discussions were held with the women of the Self Help Groups in several phases. We selected 25-30 women for the Self Help Groups and then they were given the training.”
Not only that, the initiative got a really good response from India Mart as well. Many companies have contacted self-help groups to demand yarns on a large scale (around 10 tonnes) made by these village women. And since the banana fiber is in high demand by commercial industries, the GST registration of these self-help groups is also being done.
The banana fiber that is extracted from discarded banana stems is being sold at the rate of Rs. 150 to Rs. 200/ per kg. And so the profit of this initiative is about 50%. In fact, this initiative is helping women around the country convert what was considered waste into something useful.
This initiative has helped these village women to become self-independent, financially independent, and even helped them run their own households. These women are now stepping out of their four walls and paving the way for a much progressive and developed rural India. And it is commendable, to say the least. These village women have inspired women around the country to join such self-help groups and start their own journey towards being independent.