Sundarbans women lead the way in making dairy farms organic
Mongabay-India Contributing Editor Sahana Ghosh and I travelled to the Sundarbans to do a series of stories as part of the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network Bay of Bengal Story Grants. We met the members of the Chowrangi Women Dairy Cooperative Society for a few hours at a one-room milk collection centre. Women milk producers ranging from age 20 to 80 are important stakeholders in an organic-farming-driven rural economy. The dairy co-operative society has contributed to climate-resilient agriculture practices and has improved numerous women's financial and social lives in the Sundarban region.
Women assemble at Chowrangi Women Dairy Cooperative Society's milk collection centre in Basanti, West Bengal. This is one of 70 all-women-run co-operatives operating in the Sundarban region.
Women queue to deliver organically produced indigenous cows' milk at the collection centre.
Suparna Deb Sharma, chairperson of the CWDCS, while interacting with the journalist.
An employee at the centre follows procedures to ensure good quality milk product distribution.
The milk deposited by each contributor is tested digitally before distribution.
Madhavi Mriddha Mandal helps load the van with the milk she quality tested and approved.
Organic ghee and honey, the other products made by the co-operative, are on display outside the centre. Tourists heading to Sundarban mangroves halt here and purchase the various organic products sold by the co-operative.
Rita, one of the many beneficiaries of the dairy co-operative, poses for a photo. The initiative's vision is climate-resilient agriculture in this disaster-prone delta.