sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Bird Flu: Backyard poultry SHGs hit hard
Kajari Bhattacharya
KOLKATA, Feb. 4: Not only has their only source of income dried up, women members of self-help groups (SHG) that rear poultry to make ends meet find themselves staring at the prospect of becoming defaulters in loan repayment, as the state reels under one of the most severe bird flu outbreaks the country has seen.
Rearing backyard poultry forms a major chunk of employment generation activities undertaken by self-help groups in the state.
Poverty-alleviation programmes in the state which entail providing poultry farming and backyard poultry options to rural women entrepreneurs and self-help groups, have suffered a huge setback.
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Women, who are members of the SHG, are in a very bad condition, as they have no other means to support themselves. We are thinking of facilitating them to take up some alternative income generation activity, as they will have to repay the bank loan,” said Mr Sumit Banerjee, operational manager, micro-finance, Lamp.
The chickens reared by SHGs run by Loknath Mission in Baduria, Bongaon and Basirhat of North 24-Parganas are as yet unharmed, said Mr Arun Chatterjee, secretary of Loknath Mission. “But fear has grabbed the villagers and chicken that was selling for Rs 45 is now selling for Rs 20 per kilo. The SHG women are having to deal with huge losses. I don't know how they are going to recover,” Mr Chatterjee said.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=188966
Kajari Bhattacharya
KOLKATA, Feb. 4: Not only has their only source of income dried up, women members of self-help groups (SHG) that rear poultry to make ends meet find themselves staring at the prospect of becoming defaulters in loan repayment, as the state reels under one of the most severe bird flu outbreaks the country has seen.
Rearing backyard poultry forms a major chunk of employment generation activities undertaken by self-help groups in the state.
Poverty-alleviation programmes in the state which entail providing poultry farming and backyard poultry options to rural women entrepreneurs and self-help groups, have suffered a huge setback.
snip
Women, who are members of the SHG, are in a very bad condition, as they have no other means to support themselves. We are thinking of facilitating them to take up some alternative income generation activity, as they will have to repay the bank loan,” said Mr Sumit Banerjee, operational manager, micro-finance, Lamp.
The chickens reared by SHGs run by Loknath Mission in Baduria, Bongaon and Basirhat of North 24-Parganas are as yet unharmed, said Mr Arun Chatterjee, secretary of Loknath Mission. “But fear has grabbed the villagers and chicken that was selling for Rs 45 is now selling for Rs 20 per kilo. The SHG women are having to deal with huge losses. I don't know how they are going to recover,” Mr Chatterjee said.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=188966