( from left ) Richa Mishra, Resident Editor, Hyderabad, businessline; Aruna Debbarma, Lakhpati Didi, Tripura Rural Livelihood Mission and Vaishali Gugre, Member, Swayam Shikshan Prayog, at the session
| Photo Credit:
BIJOY GHOSH
Their stories of how they ignored taunts, balanced housework and care duties and trained to become successful farmers brought the audience up on its feet, clapping hard. When Aruna Debbarma, a “Lakhpati Didi” from Tripura under the Tripura Rural Livelihood Mission, said, “Earlier I used to hear taunts for going out to attend training and work, but now I get compliments. Today I train around 400 women on vermi-compost, and agricultural techniques for natural farming,” the applause became thunderous.
Equally powerful was the way Vaishali Gugre, Member, Swayam Shiskhan Prayod, shared her struggles to a success story and how she started with zero, “but today I have a business of around ₹60 lakh with a turnover of around ₹12 lakh in a year.”
Gugre and Debbarma were speaking at a session, “From fieldwork to Enterprise” at the businessline Agri & Commodity Summit 2026, moderated by Richa Mishra, the paper’s resident editor in Hyderabad. Their stories revealed how women no longer plough a lonely furrow in the fields. And how natural farming and women-led collectives are gathering momentum across rural India, leading to the soil ceiling finally being broken.
Need for better markets
The session, however, brought to the fore the challenges women face. Both of them rued the absence of assured markets and fair pricing. “Production is not the main problem anymore,” said Debbarma, stressing, “We need better markets and structured support for our groups.” Besides, she noted that much of the produce is still sold locally, with limited government procurement or supply chain backing.
Similar concerns were raised by Ghuge from Maharashtra’s Dharashiv district, where she helped launch a women-led Farmer Producer Company (FPC) in 2017. At present, nine such women-led FPCs operate across eight blocks in the district, enabling collective buying and selling. “Market access, price stability, supply systems and low-interest loans — these are the four pillars we need,” she said, adding that scaling up remains difficult despite rising output.
Both agripreneurs pointed out that most rural women do not hold land titles in their own names, making it difficult to secure formal loans. Ghuge said that when their FPC was formed, many women had to obtain holding letters from male family members to access credit and complete formalities. Both the agripreneurs called for easier access to low-interest loans, formal recognition of women as farmers, and stronger institutional backing for collective enterprises.
Role of SHGs
Beyond policy gaps, both agripreneurs highlighted the transformative role of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in their journeys. According to the two entrepreneurs, their transition began with small monthly savings through SHGs and access to modest loans, which enabled them to start farming, livestock and allied activities on a limited scale before expanding into organised enterprises.
They added that training interventions through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) have improved productivity, with the primary constraint now shifting from production to post-harvest market linkages. In addition, they noted that increased financial participation has enabled women to take on leadership roles within collectives and train other farmers.
Published on February 27, 2026