18 January 2025, Anand: Smt Droupadi Murmu, Hon’ble President of India has invited Smt Hemaben Nareshbhai Padhiyar, Chairman and Smt Jagrutiben Sanjaybhai Padhiyar, Secretary of NDDB-promoted Mujkuva Sakhi Khad Sahkari Mandali Ltd (MSKSML), Anand, Gujarat for ‘At Home Reception’ during the Republic Day function on 26th January 2025.
While praising their achievement, Dr Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB said, “The women of Mujkuva Sakhi Khad Sahkari Mandali Ltd, first of its kind khad mandali, are emerging as torchbearers of innovative, women-led rural livelihood initiatives that positively impact the environment. The invitation extended to Hemaben and Jagrutiben, who transformed dung into wealth, marks a significant milestone highlighting the empowerment of rural women. Their leadership has driven sustainable agricultural practices.” Both of them have been instrumental in spreading NDDB’s biogas and organic fertiliser model nationwide. Their hard work is further recognised with a prestigious invitation to the Hon’ble President’s ‘At-Home Reception’ on the occasion of the Republic Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The leaders of the country’s all-women manure-based cooperative are confident as they prepare to step into the Rashtrapati Bhavan and discuss the transformative impact of smallholder biogas initiatives with the Hon’ble President of India. Smt Hemaben stated, “NDDB’s biogas and organic fertiliser model has made the dairy sector more sustainable. It has multi-faceted benefits: clean energy for cooking, income from the sale of surplus slurry, organic fertilizer, better soil health and increased agricultural productivity.” Smt Jagrutiben said, “The biogas plants not only replaced traditional kitchen fuels like firewood and LPG (saving Rs 1500 per month) but also helped the women earn additional income from slurry up to Rs 3000 per month.”
The National Dairy Development Board’s (NDDB) has been associated with Mujkuva village since 2017, when it began working through the Mujkuva Village Dairy Cooperative Society. The goal was to create a live lab near Anand where new dairy farmer-centric interventions could be tested and demonstrated. NDDB implemented several pioneering interventions in renewable energy and efficient dairy management in Mujkuva village. One highly acclaimed intervention undertaken by NDDB in 2017-18 was the efficient management of dung. Recognising the vast potential of bovine dung, which can meet up to 50% of India’s LPG needs and 40% of its NPK requirements, NDDB aimed to pilot dung-based biogas plants. The women of Mujkuva village, led by Smt. Hemaben and Smt. Jagrutiben, enthusiastically embraced the new project. With the success of the first few biogas plants, the number of installations grew rapidly and now there are 182 biogas plants in the village.
With the support of NDDB, India’s first all-women manure cooperative was established in Mujkuva in March 2020. The cooperative was extensively experimenting with slurry to produce organic fertilisers. Eventually, following the model of milk production, a slurry testing mechanism was setup and a slurry collection system was established, geotagging every biogas owning household. NDDB helped the cooperative setup the entire slurry processing system through initial grant support and continued to provide guidance for commercial operations. Gradually, another village Zakariyapura joined the initiative, with 100% of its households owning animals installing biogas plants with NDDB’s support. So, collectively 450 women farmers from these two
villages led NDDB’s manure value chain initiative. The initiative is leading to improved soil health through the use of organic fertilisers and is significantly contributing towards reducing methane emissions.
NDDB started replicating the model across the country, through various partnerships leveraging mutual expertise and over the years, has helped establish more than 27000 biogas plants across the country, with the numbers continuing to grow.
