Bees, millets & more: How rural Punjab women are climbing the success ladder

Often called ‘man of the house’ by villagers, Harjinder is a popular face not just in her village but in the entire district. Donning a kurta pajama or sometimes even a half pant, she is mostly seen working in fields. However, there is a painful story behind the now confident face. “My father died in 1999 and my two brothers passed away in 1997 and 2000. We are a house full of mostly women — my mother, sister — and her teenaged son. I have been doing all the farming myself on our 5 acres for years now to reduce the input costs, except for paddy transplantation. I use natural manures and very less urea. I plough the fields with tractor, do harvesting and even take my crop to the mandis,” she said, adding that her sister takes care of the cattle and her son.

Harjinder, who posts all her activities on her Facebook page, has completed her graduation and now earns around Rs 7 lakh per year from the fields. “My 65-year-old mother Mukhtiar Kaur has seen more bad days then me and now all I want is to see her happy. I want to give her a good life. No work is less and nothing is particularly for men,” she said, adding that farming has now become her passion.

Karamjit Kaur (39), Dangarkhera, Fazilka

For 39-year-old Karamjit Kaur, age was just a number to start a new venture. She underwent a training on making products using millets in June last year and by November, she had started selling Bajra pinnis.

“I have studied till class 8 and used to sew clothes and do a little bit of embroidery for a couple of women in my village. I liked making suits and salwars and wanted to learn more of stitching but I was told that I need at least pass class 12 for that. But I didn’t lose hope and one day went to Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Abohar district and got to know about classes on millets cooking. I got myself enrolled and since then, there has been no looking back. The entire winter I have sold millet products such as biscuits, mathi, sewian, bajra pinni, haldi pinni and methi dans pinnis. I also sold my products at the Maghi Mela in Muktsar. In just two days of the mela, I earned around Rs 10,000,” she said, adding that the mela not only helped make money but people from far of villages got to know about her products and still come to her house to collect orders.

“I sold bajra pinnis for Rs 500 a kg, haldi pinnis for Rs 700 per kg and methi dana pinnis at Rs 900/kg. For summers, I am planning to sell bajra and ragi biscuits, and ragi sewai through a self helf group ‘green Patti’,” she said, adding that her husband, two daughters and son help her with the packing.

Sukhpal Kaur (39), Panjawa, Fazilka

When her husband took to the bed after a spine problem, Sukhpal had to undergo training at PAU to keep the family’s beekeeping work alive. “I took the reins of the family in 2012 and now I am an expert. I had started with 25 boxes and now I can handle around 300 myself. My husband is better now so we both handle the work together,” Sukhpal says, adding that boxes have to be taken to Ganganagar, Jammu and Kashmir, Bharatpur, Hoshiarpur and Abohar.

From October onwards, boxes are shifted to Kesari Singhpura area in Ganganagar, which is around 70 km away. “Flowers of berries, mustard and eucalyptus in that area helps in generating honey. I mostly travel alone on weekends to supervise the bee boxes. Honey from mustard is for export purposes only. We give most of the honey to private companies and the rest 10-12 quintals (of tahli and eucalyptus ) is sold for Rs 300 a kg from home. Boxes are shifted from Ganganagar to Abohar in March and are taken to Bharatpur in July-August and in May-June to J&K as well,” she says, adding that now she even gives classes on beekeeping to other women in her village and from evrything earns up to Rs 7 lakh per annum.

Sarabjeet Kaur Chaina (58), Chaina, Faridkot

Sarabjeet, who is an expert in millet cooking, is popular in Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) — an NGO that promotes natural farming. She often sets up stalls at melas or even organises small cooking classes for women. On February 4, she Sarabjeet along with a few other members of KVM had also put up a millet stall at a wedding in Faridkot

“We served millet tikki, bhalle, soup and biryani at the wedding. We will be attending a flower show in Bathinda next where we will sell bajra and ragi cutlet, dahi bhalle, pakode (of ragi and smaak ka aata), ragi husk tea and kodra soup, all cooked in organic mustard oil,” she said.

Her journey, however, started around 14 years ago when she was a physical training assistant in a government school. She has also worked in a private school briefly.

“In the past nine years with KVM, I have taught women organic kitchen garden, got myself associated with self help groups and now for the past 3 years, I am focused on millets cooking where we make biscuits, pinnis, sewian, papad using millets. These are sold at Kudrat Kisan Hut of KVM at Jaito in Faridkot,” she said, adding that she has grandchildren now but still she doesn’t want to retire. “The work keeps me going,” she said.

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