Women Entrepreneurs-Farming Sector
Abstract
The benefits of organic farming and SHGs to the local community are many. The Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) is a national development and humanitarian organization set up in 1947. CASA is a pioneer organization in promulgating sustainable livelihood, education and gender mainstreaming across the nation. The present chapter is based on CASA's experience with women farmers of Maharashtra. The reason being Maharashtra has been witnessing farmer's suicides at an alarming rate due to various reasons. CASA's intervention supported by government funds in the specific districts of Maharashtra has proved beneficial. CASA has intervened with organic farming training programs and creating Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for women to do joint farming activities like goat farming. The CASA initiative has helped to minimize the cost of farming and has yielded better results improving farmers' income. This is one of the approaches to alleviate farmer's suicides in our country.
Keywords Farmer Suicide, SHGs, Sustainable Development, Organic Farming, Organic Fertilizers, Organic Pesticides, CASA.
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