Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare organizes Awareness program for Farmwomen and Female business owners of Punjab

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 29 March 2023

A one-day "Awareness on Agripreneurship cum Exhibition for Farm Women" was held at the PAMETI campus in collaboration with the Punjab Agricultural Management & Extension Training Institute (PAMETI), Ludhiana, and the Department of Agriculture Farmers Welfare, Punjab.

It was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, the Government of India, and the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad. The event's goal was to educate farmwomen and female business owners about the potential for entrepreneurship in the agricultural and related industries as well as how to use digital media to expand and market their businesses.

The program attracted more than 350 farmwomen and female agribusiness owners from all 23 districts of Punjab. Over 20 female farmers from various Punjabi areas also held an exhibition. The exhibition put on by the female entrepreneurs was opened to the public to kick off the event.

The women exhibited a range of goods like pickles, masalas, honey, handmade jewellery and kantha dresses, crochet bags, muffins, cake, printed suits, candies, amla products, painted suits, phulkari dupatta, jam, squash, murrabba, chutneys, soap, candle, hair oil, millets' cookies and other millet products, moringa powder, cocopeat, vermicompost, planters, and nursery products, jute bags among other farm-based products.

The exhibitors learned throughout the interaction how to advance and market their business utilizing digital media platforms and the assistance of the Center and the state governments.

Deputy Director of PAMETI in Ludhiana, Bharti Madan, offered a description of the programme. The welcoming talk was given by Dr. Veenita Kumari, Deputy Director (Gender Studies), MANAGE, Hyderabad.

In his speech, the event's chief guest, SR Ingle, Joint Director (Extension), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, emphasized the importance of the G20 side events and major events and provided a summary of the G20 activities the ministry organized.

He continued by pointing out that just 14% of all Indian entrepreneurs are women at the moment. He emphasized the requirement for a suitable marketing plan and product labelling to scale up their infrastructure.

He also discussed how the MoA&FW, Government of India's Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) plan may help these women entrepreneurs construct and expand their primary and secondary processing businesses. He emphasized the advantages of FPO creation for advancing their businesses further.

Cluster Head for Ludhiana, Davinder Singh, spoke about NABARD's initiatives to support female entrepreneurs. Dr. Ramandeep Singh, professor, and dean of the Department of Business Studies, provided information on successful marketing tactics for female business owners.

The participants were made aware of digital marketing for branding and business promotion by Dr. Veenita Kumari, Deputy Director (Gender Studies), MANAGE, Hyderabad. She also gave them information on the agripreneurship programme for women.

Dr. MIS Gill, Director of PAMETI in Ludhiana, addressed the audience and stressed the need for women's empowerment for improving their capacity for making decisions. He also praised the goods that the female entrepreneurs had on show at the event and recommended that they charge more for premium packaging and labeling.

In her speech, Dr. RK Dhaliwal, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, recommended that female farmers and agribusiness owners improve their capacity for decision-making by empowering themselves via resources including money, knowledge, and talent. She went on to say that they needed to improve their entrepreneurship abilities by using their experiences.

On the occasion, subject specialists gave speeches to raise awareness among farmwomen and female business owners. How women may develop their businesses in the food field was highlighted by Dr. Poonam Sachdev, Head of the Department of Food Science & Technology at PAU.

Gurdev Kaur Deol from Global SHG, Pooja Rikhi from Kneatknit, and Sukhwinder Kaur from Jeet SHG are a few progressive women entrepreneurs who shared their experiences on their entrepreneurial journeys and inspired other female participants to use social media and digital tools to expand their businesses.