Lemongrass Farming (Low Input, High Output): An Initiative for Women Empowerment by Government of India

Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) has always given the emphasis on sustainable livelihood generation and adoption of multiple livelihoods for a household.

The way of providing sustainable livelihood generation is always challenging. In order to provide sustainable livelihoods to rural women an innovative initiative under DAY-NRLM has been taken up in the form of Lemon grass farming which is an initiative under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) under the Government of India for rural women to provide sustainable livelihood. Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a scheme by the Government of India to promote sustainable livelihoods and for adopting multiple livelihoods for households. The urban population is becoming health-conscious day by day which has caused a jump in the alternative market of pharmaceuticals and therapies as more and more people developing trust in natural products.

Natural products are considered as blessing by mother nature and trusted upon for their beneficial effects on health and mind fulfilled with advantage of minimal or no adverse effects. The main objective of this initiative is to make rural women economically and socially empowered by generating Lemon grass farming as a source of income. Lemon grass is easy to cultivate and generates a good profit in the market, owing to its many medicinal and curative properties also making it a successful innovative agricultural practice among the women farmers. Alternatively, making rural women self-dependent. Due to market dominating properties of such products due to health benefits, Jharkhand State livelihood Promotion society (JSLPS) under Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) has been developing various initiatives to exploit the abundant natural resources of the state by enlisting its rural women and in the process provide them with a means of steady source of income.

As an initiative, the Jharkhand State livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) connected around 450 to 550 Sakhi Mandal members. Today, each of these women farmers is earning well with their annual income running into lakhs, just from lemongrass farming. Many distillation units for lemongrass oil extraction have been installed at the Gramin Seva Kendra for the Sakhi Mandals due to good market demand and price availability of lemongrass oil. Nowadays, the oil extraction also being done in-house supplementing to the income of the women farmers. Lemongrass cultivation has been adopted in 31 blocks of 16 districts in Jharkhand by more than 15,000 SHG women.

The lemongrass plant is being cultivated in barren lands with scientific support by ‘Krishi Vigyaan Kendra’ and Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, which ensures value-addition to the yield and distillation unit was also set up with the assistance of these PIAs. Around 1200 Vanopaj Mitras as master trainers have been trained to offer technical support and advice to the farmers. Selling Price of Lemongrass oil is Rs. 1500-2000 per litre in the local market. Initial one-time investment is Rs 20,000 and the earning is upto Rs. 80,000 per acre of land in a year for women farmers.