Building A Robust Kitchen Garden

Building A Robust Kitchen Garden

Ragani Devi grew some vegetables in her backyard. It was not very organised. In fact, the patch of land that she called her kitchen garden did not have an enclosure and so it was often damaged by people and animals. But in 2022 after she received assistance from the Oxfam India-HDFC project, she was able to secure her kitchen garden and improve the quality of her produce.

Thirty-two-year-old Ragani Devi is married to Shyam Babu Rai, a daily wage labourer working in the nearby market. They live in Khairvi Village in Bathnaha Block in Bihar's Sitamarhi district. They have three children—16-year-old daughter and 11-and nine-year-old sons—and all of them go to school. They inherited about 5-6 katha of land and this includes the house they live in. Ragani decided to put to use some of the unused land by planting some vegetables. While she managed to grow some vegetables on the patch of land it was often damaged as she did not have the resources to make an enclosure.

When Oxfam India started Project Utthan in Khairvi village, the Village Development Committees were formed and they helped in identifying people, from the most marginalised communities, who could be a part of the project. Ragani Devi was supported to develop the kitchen garden and make it more robust and productive.

She was provided a net, 40 kg of vermicompost, and seven different types of vegetable seeds. The net was used to cover the kitchen garden's perimeter, preventing animals from destroying the vegetables. The vermicompost helped make the soil productive and keep it largely pest-free. The project provided cucumber, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, green spinach, red spinach, okra, and ridge gourd seeds. The seeds provided her a good yield of vegetables and her kitchen garden is now a constant source of nutritious vegetables for her family. Due to the good production, she is also able to sell surplus vegetables.

Oxfam India-HDFC Bank’s HRDP initiative ‘Project Utthan’ contributes towards the socio-economic empowerment of people from marginalised communities by aiding them with sustainable livelihood options and improving access to essential services (especially women) across 15 villages in two blocks in Sitamarhi.

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