Promoting Gender Equity & Entrepreneurship through Custom Hiring Centre

The promotion of women entrepreneurship programme was taken up in Satyabhamapur village of Salipur block under Cuttack District through establishment of Custom Hiring Centre (CHC).Under the Banner of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the inauguration of a Custom Hiring Centre was organized on 18 July 2023 with Baba Trinath SHG (WSHG) of Nirmalya FPO under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) program. The key objective for establishing the CHCs is to enrich the women entrepreneurs through various machineries, tools and implements provided to them through ICAR-CIWA. It further aims to promote positive attitude towards entrepreneurship among the farming community especially among women farmers. The machineries, tools and other implements provided will enrich the knowledge and motivate the women farmers to take up various production and processing activities like preparation of spices, its packaging, value addition etc. It will also enhance the earning capability by renting the machineries for flour making, rice mill, chaff cutter, power weeder, etc. The women involved in various agro-based activities under the CHC will be able to attain economic stability, acquired skill set for operating the machineries leading them to social mainstream. It will enable them to be self-reliant (Atmanirbhar) and self-sufficient. The Line departments personnel were also attended the program and assured for full cooperation and support to the women farmers. The marketing of processed products will also be provided with necessary support from the concerned line departments with maintenance of quality of the products and the packaging which will help them to export the produces to other places. Dr. Lipi Das Principal Scientist ICAR-CIWA briefly spoke about the concept of Custom Hiring Centre, the innovative approach for bringing Socio-Techno-Economic changes among the women farmers. Dr. Bishwanath Sahoo, Principal Scientist ICAR-CIWA emphasized on increased cattle count in the village and shared about the benefits of scientific feeding of cattles. The programme was coordinated by Shri Suresh Kumar Tripathy, Secretary, Nigam NGO. The programme was also attended by Sarpanch, District Agril. Officer, Veterinary Officer, other Line Department Personnel, Staff of Nigam NGO, Members of Baba Trinath SHG, staff of ICAR-CIWA Mr. Atul Chetan Hemrom and they gave their support and enlightened the participating women farmers. The program ended with a vote of thanks by Smt. Snehalata Singh, Chairman of Nirmalya FPO. The programme was attended by more than 70 women farmers and other line department personnel.