KENDRAPARA: There has been an inspiring transformation in the lives of women of Pegarapada in Rajkanika block. In just two years, the women who used to toil from dawn to dusk to make ends meet have been freed from their drudgery and standing proud as micro-entrepreneurs.
The village women have formed a self-help group called Baba Jaleswar and taken to pisciculture in the village pond. By rearing popular fish breeds and selling the catch they are now earning money with dignity of enterprise.
Secretary of the SHG, 38-year-old Anjali Sethi said the group was formed in 2018 under Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana. They cleaned the village pond and started rearing fish with technical and financial assistance from the State Fisheries Department. The members shoulder responsibilities of feeding the fish every day, monitoring growth, managing release of fingerlings into the pond, and selling the fish, etc.
“Women sell fish caught from the pond and this has helped them become financially independent. They no longer ask for money from their husbands and more importantly, are contributing to family income,” Anjali said.
Similar success stories are being scripted in many other villages of the district. Laxmipriya Mallick, the secretary Mahaveer Women SHG at Entalapur village in Garadapur block too has benefited from pisciculture.
She said the financial condition of women in her village has improved significantly after they started selling fish caught from the village pond in the local market. “We are now able to earn `3,000 to `5,000 a month,” she said.
Pisciculture has given 30-year-old Jayanti Rout of Basantapur village in Rajnagar block a new meaning in life. A member of Maa Budhi Mangala Women SHG, she is no longer just a poor farmer’s wife. Jayanti now earns around Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per month.
As many as 389 SHGs with around 4,000 women as its members across the district have benefited from the Blue Revolution triggered by the Fisheries department. District Fisheries Officer, Kendrapara Mamata Mohapatra said the Fisheries department provides 60 per cent subsidy amounting to `90,000 to each SHG for rearing fish.