Mushrooming the Empowerment

Caritas India management witnessed the sustainable development brought through mushroom cultivation by women members of Luku Hamkrai Resource Center at Tripura on December 7, 2019, on the 11th SHG day celebration. The event was graced by Bishop Lumen Monteiro, Chairman of Caritas India along with Fr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director, Fr. Jolly, Assistant Executive Director, Fr. Sushil Modi, Administrator of Caritas India and Fr. Jeevan from Jana Unayan Samiti Tripura (JUST).

JUST under the able patronage of Bishop Lumen Monteiro, the Bishop of Agartala and Chairman of Caritas India is involved in forming SHG for the past 18 years having around 1030 SHG among women.

Agartala has limited avenues for employment and opportunities for economic development. So, when JUST, an NGO involved mainly in community development works in the state of Tripura offered to train the women in making a federation from cultivating mushrooms, it came as a great opportunity for them.

In November 2009, JUST promoted the formation of the Luku Hamkrai Resource Center to protect the legitimate, social, economic, creative, natural, cultural and other rights and the interest of the members. The members of the group are also involved in the cultivation of vegetables, weaving, mushroom cultivation, decoration, and event management.

The key intention behind the formation of the federation is to bring rural development and improve the living condition of the members by organising them in a group to share information, mutual learnings, and get them to involve in different economic activities.

To sustain their development, a total of 100 SHG women members were trained on mushroom cultivation by JUST. Mushrooms were selected due to its high commercial demand and minimum infrastructural support for its production.

Over the years, the federation has improved their economic status by selling the mushroom cultivated collectively in the market. 50 active members are involved and earning a total profit of Rs. 40,200/- by investing a sum of Rs. 12,000/-