Padmawati Boro – A Tale of Challenges and Victory

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: PadmawatiBoro, a woman farmer from Chengnoi village of Nalbari district has been in the limelight for being the representative of rural woman farmers in a national TV show organized by Door Darshan National, New Delhi. A reality show “Mahila Kisan Awards” in DD Kisan channel is portraying Padmawati Boro as one of the finalists of the competition where woman farmers from every corner of the country have participated.

PadmawatiBoro (47) has begun her journey in agriculture taking sericulture as the starting enterprise. She was engaged in rearing Eri culture, spinning, dying, weaving and designing of cloths from which she had been managing her livelihood. Few years back, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Nalbari started working with her assuming the potential in agriculture keeping her enthusiasm and efforts as the capital. Gradually, she started adding enterprises like field crops, fruits and vegetables such as mango, banana, areca nut, coconut, potato, , broccoli, Capsicum and other crops, animal components viz pigs, goat, cow and poultry to her farm and finally given the shape of a complete Integrated Farm with inclusion of a scientifically managed fish pond. With these, she was not only successful to increase the farm income by many folds but also contributing to the environment through farm waste recycling. From this farm she earns a total of about 5 (five) lakh rupees a year to run her family swiftly. To increase the income, she is planning to go for market oriented production of crops and food processing for value addition of produced food items. She is also expert of coloring fabrics with natural dye and since she is weaving cloths in her own, this gives her an added advantage to work with passion and to utilize the time that otherwise would have been wasted.

All of those made her stand out from others and KVK, Nalbari finally recognized her as one of the best woman farmers of the district. In February 2018, she was nominated by KVK from Nalbari district to participate in Best Woman Farmer Award organized by DD National. She is proudly representing Assam in the national level and secured position among the top 10 finalists of the reality show. Her life, full of challenges and successes, is an inspiration to many and her story is enough to revamp energy to the section of the society who has the will to do something in their own. At this juncture, when the government is busy promoting movements like “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”, the state feels proud to have a daughter like Padmawati Boro exemplifying the actual woman power and the potential to contribute towards the economy of the nation.

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