Thousands of rural and impoverished women involved in cow dung production in the Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh have received government support and now their products are entering a wider market through e-commerce platforms after a growing demand from other states, according to officials.
Officials said that with government help, more than 4,000 women from 354 self-help groups (SHGs) made cow dung products, cow dung cakes (used for fuel), diyas (lights) and flower pots, and other cow manure products, which are now available in e-commerce platform with the administration help.
Rajnandgaon has become the first region in the state to sell products made from cow dung in an online platform. So far, manure & other products made of cow dung worth Rs. 5 crore have been sold to help the women in the district.
The online sales that began a few days ago have sold products worth Rs. 1 lakh till now. The goal is to further increase the profits of manufacturers by expanding the market and increasing production. Online sales have increased in recent days,” said Taran Prakash Sinha, Rajnandgaon collector.
The collector added that approximately 365 Gauthans or cowsheds are involved in this work using 66,400 quintals of cow dung purchased by the administration as part of a state government program this year.
Chhattisgarh had recently started a scheme called "Godhan Nyay Yojana" to purchase cow dung from dairy farmers at a price of Rs.2 / kilogram to provide financial support.
"So far, 53,000 quintals of vermicompost worth Rs. 1.5 million made by women's self-help groups have been sold. In the past, manure was being only sold from the cowsheds but due to the rising demand for manure in other states, it is now sold online on platforms such as Amazon. So far, we have received orders worth lakhs of rupees from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and other states," the collector said.
Mehtareen Yadav, a woman who works with the Jai Maa Vaishnavi Swayam Sahayata Samuh self-help group, claimed to have earned Rs.8, 000 in the past 6 months selling products made from cow dung.
"Someone told me that the government is now selling our cow dung products online. We hope we can win and earn more now," she said.
