Women entrepreneurs lead their families through the COVID-19 crisis

When COVID-19 struck India, the government ordered strict lockdowns on March 24, 2020 to limit the spread of the disease. But for much of India’s labor force, lockdown meant lost jobs and being stranded in towns or cities away from their families, struggling to survive.

The lockdown was particularly agonizing for Sashimoni Lohar, a 53-year-old farmer from Badbil village, in the state of Odisha. Both her sons lost their jobs as laborers, one in a town near home and the other in a city on the opposite side of the country. Her son Debodutta was left stranded for two months in the city of Bengaluru when the midnight lockdown was announced, managing to return home two months later, downtrodden and penniless. With her husband the sole earner and the family’s income and rations dwindling, the threat of hunger became as deadly as the virus.

But Lohar refused to give up. Supported by her village self-help group, she cultivated two acres of hybrid maize, selling her produce from a roadside stall beside her farm to provide for her family. With the extra income, the Lohars managed to feed their family of seven.

“Maize farming has supported us during this low-income and very critical period. I shall continue maize cultivation and hope to increase our lease in land next year,” said a visibly triumphant Lohar.

After lockdown restrictions were eased, Lohar expanded her successful maize business. She invested the equivalent of $165 in maize cultivation and erected an additional stall to sell to travelers on the highway. Making back almost double her investment from less than an acre of land, Lohar has now established herself as a successful maize farmer and entrepreneur, with plans to open a small grocery shop in the coming months.

Women from a farmer producer group sell green cobs by the national highway next to their maize farm.
Women from a farmer producer group sell green cobs by the national highway next to their maize farm.

Lohar is just one of many rural women in the tribal villages of Odisha who have led their families through the COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by projects such as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center’s (CIMMYT) Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), these women were able to generate enough income from similar roadside maize stalls when the pandemic left many male family members jobless.

The women from Badbil and the nearby villages have become well-known, in and around the district, for their high-quality green cobs and marketing smarts. The rows of industrious women selling maize by the national highway became news. These women had the courage to change their circumstances and lifted their families out of situations of uncertainty and hardship.

Many hailed their determination as a symbol of women’s empowerment in the tribal community.

Engaging tribal groups

Mayurbhanj is a district in Odisha where almost two thirds of the population are from tribal groups. During the kharif season, from June to November, thousands of hectares of upland are left fallow, as farmers prefer not to take risks against the unpredictable monsoon weather. From 2013 to 2020, CIMMYT researchers from the CSISA project, in collaboration with government departments, NGOs, private companies, women’s self-help group federations and the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), helped develop maize cultivation in the district as a sustainable livelihood option for tribal farmers.

Thousands of hectares of fallow lands are now being converted to cultivate maize, focusing on sustainable agriculture and livelihoods, and predominantly involving women. In 2020 alone, more than 100 tribal women from Badbil village had cultivated approximately 120 acres of commercial hybrid maize.

Farmer and budding entrepreneur Sashimoni Lohar proudly shows her new maize stall next to her farm.
Farmer and budding entrepreneur Sashimoni Lohar proudly shows her new maize stall next to her farm.

Support to farmers extends all the way from sowing to crop harvesting. To strengthen dry grain marketing and to avail the benefits of different schemes under the government of Odisha’s support for farmer producer groups, CIMMYT staff working under the CSISA project have formed two women’s farmer producer groups in Badbil village, which have been registered by the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS). All the women maize farmers of the village are now registered members of the groups, with twenty members each.

Lohar is a member of the Shakti Mayee producer group and has already planned to increase the area of maize farming and to cultivate vegetables for marketing through the group’s support.

CIMMYT and its partners are building on this initiative, creating market linkages to make maize farming more sustainable. As a next step, CIMMYT and ORMAS aim to form a farmers production company formed entirely by women, for joint marketing of maize and other crops.

Partners and funders

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Government of India’s Odisha state, India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

© 2021 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.

| | |

CREDITS

Editors-in-chief
Marcia MacNeil, Rodrigo Ordóñez
Project coordination
Leslie Domínguez, Emma Orchardson
Art directors
Alfonso Cortés, Nancy Valtierra
Layout and design
Nancy Valtierra
Web design
Ricardo López
Graphics and illustrations
Marcelo Ortiz, Eliot Sánchez, Nancy Valtierra
Writers and editors
Nima Chodon, Madeline Dahm, Leslie Domínguez, Alison Doody, Wasim Iftikar, G. Michael Listman, Marcia MacNeil, Steven McCutcheon, Marta Millere, Emma Orchardson
Contributors
T.S. Amjath Babu, Frederic Baudron, Hans Braun, Shiela Chikulo, Olaf Erenstein, Velu Govindan, M.L. Jat, Timothy Krupnik, Sylvanus Odjo, B.M. Prasanna, Harminder S. Sidhu, Jelle Van Loon
Photography
Francisco Alarcón, Alfonso Cortés, Wasim Iftikar, Peter Lowe, Ranak Martin, S. Mojumder/Drik, Matthew O'Leary, Love Kumar Singh/BISA, F. Sipalla, Dhruba Thapa/NARC, Szefei Wong/Dreamstime, CIMMYT Archives
Video
Silvia Rico
ISSN
0188-9214
Correct citation
CIMMYT. 2021. Resilience. Renewal. Transition. CIMMYT Annual Report 2020. CDMX, Mexico: CIMMYT.
AGROVOC descriptors:
Maize; Wheat; Plant breeding; Genetic resources; Innovation adoption; Plant biotechnology; Seed production; Food security; Sustainability; Research policies; Economic analysis; Cropping systems; Agricultural research; Organization of research; Developing countries. Additional Keywords: CIMMYT. AGRIS category codes: A50 Agricultural Research; A01 Agriculture– General Aspects. Dewey decimal classification: 630

© International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), 2021. All rights reserved. The designations employed in the presentation of materials in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of CIMMYT or its contributory organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. CIMMYT encourages fair use of this material. Proper citation is requested.

ACRONYMS

ADB
Asian Development Bank
AGG
Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat
ACIAR
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
BBS
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
BIOFOCS
Bioactive food components
BISA
Borlaug Institute in South Asia
CCAFS
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security
CIAT
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
CIMMYT
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
CMGRL
CIMMYT Maize Genetic Resource Lines
C02e
Carbon dioxide equivalent
CSISA
Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia
CtEH
Crops to End Hunger
EIAR
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research
EiB
CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform
EMT
Executive Management Team
EU
European Union
FAO
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
FACASI
Farm Power and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification
FCDO
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the United Kingdom
FHB
Fusarium head blight
IAAA
Innovative Applications in Analytics Award
ICAR
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
ICARDA
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
IFPRI
International Food Policy Research Institute
IIASA
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
IITA
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
IRD
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
IRRI
International Rice Research Institute
ITDA
Integrated Tribal Development Agency
JAAS
Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences
KALRO
Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization
KPI
Key performance indicators
MAIZE
CGIAR Research Program on Maize
N20
Nitrous oxide
NARC
Nepal Agricultural Research Council
NARS
National Agricultural Research Systems
ORMAS
Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society
PAU
Punjab Agricultural University
PROGRESS
Program for Growth and Resilience
SADER
Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural)
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
SeeD
Seeds of Discovery
STMA
Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa
ZBRF
Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund
UN
United Nations
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
USAID
United States Agency for International Development
WFP
United Nations World Food Programme
WHEAT 
CGIAR Research Program on Wheat
$
Unless otherwise indicated, all amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars

Sustainable Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations (UN) Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity, for people and the planet. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

The SDGs set the pathway for agricultural, social, and economic development. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.

CGIAR transformed its approach to ensure that its work is aligned with the ambitious goals. CIMMYT, through its research-for-development activities, contributes to empower women, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve the health and nutrition of the world's poorest people.

CIMMYT’s work contributes to the following SDGs:

About CIMMYT

CIMMYT – the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center – is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.

For more information, visit www.cimmyt.org.