Budhana Devi, wife of Sanjay Kumar lives in the Musahar ghetto, Sanjhoi village, Araajiline block of Varanasi district. She has five members in her family. Her husband rides a tractor and works as a mud carrier. He earns around 1000 to 1500 in a month. She shares, “I have also worked in a brick factory with my husband. In between that period, I felt sick so I came back home. Poor monthly income was the biggest problem to run a livelihood, most of the time we had roti and rice with salt. We always wait for an occasion or festival to have vegetables. But since we started kitchen gardening we regularly have 2kgs of sponge gourd, 1kg of bitter gourd, 1 and a half kg of snake gourd in a day and almost in total 60kgs of sponge gourd, 30kgs of bitter gourd and 45kgs of snake gourd were produced. Before, we were unknown about the process, protection method and weed sorting. Institution helps us utilize vacant place nearby our house, provides knowledge about the proper arrangement of drainage and sufficient sunlight to the plants before showing seeds and plantation of plants. Also taking care of seeds by manure and watering. I am 5 months pregnant and I feel these vegetables are healthy and tasty as well.”
Likewise, Fulchand Musahar from Sanjhoi often doesn’t feel well. His wife and daughter work on other lands. His son works as a mud carrier. Fulchand says, “Ever since I was born, I’ve never sown any seeds in my whole life and never felt it will grow. I felt so good after the production of vegetables; we are saving money from buying vegetables. My children advised me to sell vegetables in the market but I refused and give them to my neighbours who were in need. We share a lot of vegetables with our families and friends. We have kept some seeds of sponge gourd and will plant more plants in this coming year.”
People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) with the support of the New Zealand High Commission, organized a meeting with marginalized people and encouraged them to utilize the vacant places near their house. They were informed about the importance and process of kitchen gardening. In many households, there is a lack of nutritional food and pollution, people suffer from different diseases. Here, kitchen gardening can help make a fresh environment along with a supplement of micronutrients. After a discussion with the community on kitchen gardening, people decided to make a list of vegetables to be grown based on taste and interest.
Before sowing seeds, people must know about the process and place so we informed them that they should start with a small field near their house, and clean it before starting. They were told how they must ensure proper arrangement of drainage and sufficient sunlight to the plants before sowing seeds and plantation of plants.
After sowing the seeds, it is very important to care for and protect the plant. The residents were informed to secure the area with a bamboo fence or bricks wall so that animals, birds and kids couldn’t damage the saplings. Likewise, the institution also provided information on taking care of the land with the requirement of water, manure and weed sorting.
Finally, it was time to yield vegetables. Starting in July and ending in December, hundreds of kilograms of different types of vegetables were produced. Some of the vegetables were sold to the market and also shared with neighbours. The PVCHR team regularly follows up with the community.