Landless woman successfully establishes her food business

AMRITSAR: In the times when land-owning marginal farmers are finding it difficult to make both their ends meet, a landless woman from Thathgarh village near here has set an example for others by successfully establishing a food business, namely F-Pure.

Members of a self-help group formed by Ranjit Kaur of Thathghar village in Amritsar. Tribune Photo

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 21

In the times when land-owning marginal farmers are finding it difficult to make both their ends meet, a landless woman from Thathgarh village near here has set an example for others by successfully establishing a food business, namely F-Pure.

The entrepreneur, Ranjit Kaur, is only matriculate but her zeal and hard work compensates for her lack of formal education. “It all started in 2009. At that time, I and my husband used to sell religious books at religious fairs,” she said. Ranjit said during one of these events, a horticulture official, who came to buy some books, advised them to include processed food products at their stall.

“Initially, acting on his advice, we kept honey, purchased from a farmer, at the stall. The response was encouraging and I along with my family decided to try new things,” she said. Presently, Ranjit along with other women from the landless community have formed a self-help group and are selling products such as pickles, sharbat, murabba, aloevera juice, Kerala juice and honey.

At present, the family is focussing only on food products and the business of selling books was shut down many years ago. She said, “The advice given by the horticulture officer has changed our life for good. We could not have expected to earn what we are earning now.” She claimed their monthly income stood at around Rs 50,000 per month.

Ranjit said they received orders in bulk from various organisations. “Till date I have been purchasing vegetables and other ingredients to make pickles from farmers. We do not own any land. But we do produce honey,” she said.

Ranjit said she never missed a training course organised by KVKs, PAU or any other government organisation working in food-processing business. “Training in food processing does help. I think more women from rural areas should get trained and set up their businesses,” she said, adding that the demand for home-processed food was increasing and people could use it to their advantage.