Woman Led Farmer Empowerment through Grow the Farmer Initiative - A Case Study of NGO Siruthuli

Abstract

Farmer empowerment and woman resilience being the benchmark for any developed society, this research paper analyses the activities undertaken by a woman led NGO Siruthuli in empowering the farmers through expert trainings in the domains of crop planning, marketing, logistics and sustainable farming and its impact on the economic gains of farmers. The primary data from the respondents was collected from 153 respondents through a structured questionnaire that focused on understanding the perceptions of the farmers before and after training.  The findings showed that across all the constructs, the after training mean scores were significantly higher, particularly with reference to sustainable farming support and crop planning and input support. About fifty percentage of the variation explained through the structural equation model, reveal that among the different domains of training, sustainable farming with specific focus on zero budget farming and water resource management significantly contributed to the livelihood with increased farming income and improved yield. This research paper highlights the fact that by offering customized and smaller group trainings to farmers, the NGO led by the women leader is meaningfully contributing in enhancing the livelihood of farmers in the region.