Women scripting success through Kudumbashree

KATTAPPANA: Self-reliance and empowerment had been a much-debated subject in the case of women every time. But a group of women from a small village named Saniyasioda near Nedumkandam has a different opinion about it. The seven women of the Kudumbahree unit have become an example before others about self-reliance and earning money by themselves.These women have a success story to tell. The unit has been engaged in a unique venture of producing and supplying a nutritious food item ‘Amrutham’ for the children of more than 200 anganwadies in the district. The unit today has a powdering mill and a factory of their own, which is nearing completion.“We started this venture in 2006 with 20 members. But initially, when the projects were not successful, many of them left the team.  Three years ago we took up the project to produce ‘Amrutham’ for the anganwadies in the district. We worked hard and the project turned out to be a successful one. ‘Amrutham’ contains all kinds of cereals, soya bean and sugar which is recommended by the government for the children of anganwadies. We get an order for around 2,000 kg of the product every week. Each member of the unit earns around Rs 8,000 every month,” says unit president Susamma Baiju.“Two years ago we availed ourselves of a loan of Rs 10 lakh to buy a powdering machine. The money was remitted within two years. Now we have got another loan of Rs 15 lakh to buy land and to construct a small factory. The construction work of the factory building is nearing completion,” says Susamma.The unit is looking forward to producing more new products in the coming days. “We are going to start another project of producing rice and wheat powder and market them. We know that the work load will increase but we can earn more income from it,” says Usha Balachandran, unit secretary.Each member of the unit gives credit to Kudumbashree Mission and their family members for their success.