Hundreds of thousands lost their livelihood in 2020 due to the Corona virus pandemic which resulted in a surge of unemployment rate recording to 23.5 per cent in May 2020. Reverse migration triggered by the lockdown has put added pressure on the rural areas.

Assam also faced the brunt of this lockdown as most of the migrant labourers returned home due to the cessation of job or livelihood opportunities. The challenge of obtaining basic amenities for survival became a question of life and death. The effect and fear of being infected by covid19 and lack of confirmed support from the Government have made the life of lower-income groups more vulnerable. Most of the people, especially the farmers were unable to sell their products in the markets as markets were closed and those people who were working in the nearby towns were unable to get jobs to maintain their livelihoods.

Tezpur Social Service Society (TSSS), supported by Caritas India under the Misereor funded FARM Northeast program extended livelihood support to the affected marginalized families in Rangajan, Borpathar, Tinsekia and Balichang villages. The program reallocated funds to support these affected families by introducing support in the setting of nutrition garden, nursery development, poultry, and Agri product processing and allied activities.

The challenge was to cater for everyone with limited resources. The organisation followed the programmatic collective approach and provided poultry support to women’s collectives. It was decided that after one year the same support can be extended to the non-beneficiary groups by the first collective for free.

The indigenous variety of 200 poultry chicks was given to four women collectives each having 20 members each in 4 villages. This support not only opens new avenues of livelihood by selling the chickens and eggs but also fulfil their nutritional requirement of a protein-rich diet for self-consumption.

There is a great demand for indigenous poultry in the market and 1-kilogram local chicken is sold for Rs.400 – Rs 600. Therefore, someone rearing the birds can easily earn a good income. Another good reason behind selecting poultry is that it does not require big space or investment to start a poultry farm; this is one way of earning a good income in a short period. So, a marginalized section of people in villages can start indigenous poultry rearing for their income and also gets quality protein or eggs whenever they need them.

Among the group supported with indigenous poultry, one group performed beyond expectation. Initially, the group named Epil reared the chicks in the Rangajan village in Biswanath district of Assam and made sure that they survive through the thick and thins.

All the chickens were kept in a house together which they built as a farm and work is shared equally and all decisions are taken regarding upkeep and management of the poultry farm. The members collectively managed the work to raise poultry chicks and within a few months started receiving results as the chickens started laying eggs.

Initially, the chickens were taken to market for selling but now the buyers come to the villages to buy chickens due to their good quality. On completing one year, the group handed over 20 chicks to the next non-beneficiary group in the presence of FARM Animator and the Preacher of the village. The preacher of the village said, “ I am happy seeing that the members of the Epil group helping other fellow women of the village and fulfilling their commitment.”

From 200 chickens, the group today is a proud owner of more than 950 chickens. The group has sold 345 chickens and earned Rs. 138,000/-, with that money the members pay school admission and monthly fees of their children and are able to buy medicine when they are sick.

Carolina Hasda, the women collective member expresses her gratitude and says, “I treated my husband during his sickness with the money I saved by selling chickens”. The women are now much more empowered in taking care of the farm and have a greater say in their house major decision making and resources.

Some members have also taken up poultry rearing at their homes to raise additional income apart from a poultry farm. Presently, the group is planning of expanding the poultry farm into every household of the village and expand to livestock farming like pig farming or goat rearing which can give them better income for their livelihood support in future.

“Happy to see the women group able to earn and support their family in whatever small ways possible through poultry rearing,” says the FARM Animator Juna Bage. “I feel immensely happy when I see their smiling faces when I visit their villages,” says Wilson Kandulna, Coordinator, TSSS.