How Women’s Groups Are Changing Rural Livelihoods: SHGs, Farm Enterprises and Lessons from Assam and Lijjat

Walk through almost any village in Assam during the planting season and you will see women in the fields: transplanting paddy, weeding, harvesting, tending cattle and processing what the farm produces. Yet when it comes to owning land, getting a loan or selling in the market, those same women are often left out.

This gap matters. Women do a large share of the work in agriculture, but they usually get a much smaller share of its rewards. One of the most practical ways to close that gap has been surprisingly simple: women working together in groups.

This article explains how self-help groups (SHGs) and other collective enterprises help rural women, and what we can learn from two very different success stories: a dairy entrepreneur from Nagaon and a papad business that began on a Mumbai terrace.

Why women’s role in agriculture matters

The world will need much more food in the coming decades. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that feeding a global population of about 9.1 billion in 2050 would require food production to rise by around 70 per cent from the levels of the late 2000s.

Women are central to meeting that need. According to FAO’s 2023 report The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems, agrifood systems employ 36 per cent of working women worldwide. But the report also found deep inequalities:

• On farms of the same size, women’s productivity is 24 per cent lower than men’s, largely because women have less access to land, credit, inputs, training and technology.
• In agricultural wage work, women earn about 82 cents for every dollar men earn.
• Closing these gaps could raise global GDP by nearly US$1 trillion and reduce the number of food-insecure people by 45 million.

In rural India, agriculture is still the main source of work for most employed women. Many work long hours as family labourers without a wage, without land in their name and with little say in decisions. Social pressures, limited education and poor access to health services add to the burden.

How self-help groups help

A self-help group is usually a group of 10 to 20 women, often from similar backgrounds, who meet regularly, save small amounts together and lend to one another. Once a group is running well, it can link with banks for larger loans and take up income-generating activities.

The scale in India is now enormous. Under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), more than 10 crore rural women had been brought into over 90 lakh SHGs by late 2024, according to a reply in the Lok Sabha. The government’s Lakhpati Didi initiative aims to help SHG women earn at least ₹1 lakh a year on a sustained basis, and by July 2025 the Ministry of Rural Development reported that about 1.48 crore women had reached that level.

SHGs help in several connected ways:

• Savings and credit. Regular saving builds a small fund for emergencies. Group loans, and later bank loans, allow women to buy a cow, start a poultry unit or set up food processing without falling into the hands of moneylenders.
• Income and independence. When a woman earns her own money, she depends less on others and has more say in how the household spends.
• Skills and confidence. Running meetings, keeping accounts and dealing with banks and officials builds skills. Many women say the biggest change is simply the confidence to speak in public.
• A voice in the community. Because groups take decisions democratically, members gain practice in leadership. Some go on to take part in panchayat affairs or lead federations of SHGs.
• Solidarity. Groups give women a place to share problems, from crop losses to family difficulties, and to support one another.

Groups are not the only collective model. Women’s dairy cooperatives and women-led Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) take the same idea further, helping members buy inputs together, process produce and sell in bulk at better prices.

The role of Krishi Vigyan Kendras

Groups need knowledge as well as money. In every district, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) run training on improved farming, livestock, value addition and food processing, and women farmers are an important focus of this work.

A typical journey looks like this:

• Awareness: explaining what SHGs are and how they work.
• Orientation: helping new members understand group rules, savings and record-keeping.
• Skill training: teaching specific skills such as making pickles, processing milk, mushroom cultivation or seed production.
• Handholding: guiding the group through its first ventures, from packaging to finding buyers.
• Leadership building: encouraging women to take on roles in the group and beyond.

KVKs also use mobile technology to reach farmers. The Kisan Mobile Advisory Service (KMAS) sends farm advice to farmers’ phones as text or voice messages. A 2021 study by Barman, Deka and Deka in the Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology examined KMAS as a tool for spreading agricultural technologies in Nagaon district of Assam. For women farmers, who often find it harder to attend training away from home, advice that arrives on the phone can make a real difference.

A Nagaon story: Rinku Dutta Saikia

Rinku Dutta Saikia, a progressive farmer from Nagaon district in Assam, shows how a group approach can grow into a livelihood for many women.

Her journey began with the Women Dairy Cooperative Society in her area. She played a leading role in getting the society registered as a cooperative, so that women in the neighbourhood could market their milk together rather than selling it individually at low prices.

With technical guidance from KVK Nagaon, she moved into value addition and food processing, turning raw produce into products that earn more. The training helped her build entrepreneurial skills, reach new markets and increase her income, and her progress has encouraged other women in the area to follow.

Her story offers four clear lessons:

• A group is stronger than an individual. Selling milk together through a registered society gave women bargaining power none of them had alone.
• Value addition pays. Processing raw produce into finished products keeps more of the value in the village.
• Training and support matter. Guidance from the KVK turned an idea into a working enterprise.
• Success spreads. One woman’s progress encouraged others, benefiting the local economy.

Turning waste into income: seed jewellery and crafts

Not every enterprise needs land or large investment. In parts of Assam, women have started making jewellery and craft items from seeds that would otherwise be thrown away, such as seeds of rice, cucumber, bottle gourd, watermelon and pumpkin, collected from their own kitchens, neighbours and local markets. Others work with locally made terracotta.

The raw material costs almost nothing, and the main inputs are skill, patience and creativity. Finished pieces can be sold at local fairs, government exhibitions, through SHG outlets or online. For a woman with limited time away from home, such work can provide an income and the satisfaction of making something original.

The Lijjat Papad model: six decades of collective enterprise

Perhaps the best-known example of women’s collective enterprise in India is Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad.

Small beginnings

On 15 March 1959, seven Gujarati women in Girgaum, Mumbai, began rolling papads on the terrace of their building. They had borrowed ₹80 from Chhaganlal Karamsi Parekh, a social worker and member of the Servants of India Society. They were homemakers who wanted to earn a living with the one skill they already had: cooking.

They insisted on quality and refused charity. Even when sales were small, they kept the business self-supporting.

Growth and structure

Lijjat was registered as a society in July 1966 and was later recognised as a village industry by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission. Its structure is unusual:

• The working women are co-owners, often called “sisters”, not employees. They share profits and losses equally within their branch.
• Decisions are taken by consensus, and any member-sister can object to a decision.
• Men can work only as salaried staff, not as owners.
• The organisation follows the Gandhian idea of sarvodaya, the welfare of all.

Lijjat today

From one terrace, Lijjat grew to about 45,000 member-sisters (as of 2021) and more than 80 branches in many Indian states. Its products now include papad in many flavours, khakhra, masala, wheat flour, chapatis and even detergent, sold under the Sasa brand. Lijjat papad is also exported.

Lessons from Lijjat

• Start with what you know. The founders used a skill they already had.
• Quality builds trust. A consistent product created a loyal market.
• Shared ownership builds commitment. Because every member is an owner, every member cares.
• Self-reliance lasts. By refusing donations, Lijjat kept its independence.

The challenges women’s groups still face

Group approaches are powerful, but they are not a magic solution. Common problems include:

• Weak markets. Many groups can produce but struggle to sell at a fair price.
• Small scale. Tiny enterprises find it hard to compete with established brands.
• Low skills in business management. Book-keeping, pricing and packaging need training.
• Family and social barriers. Household work and restrictions on women’s movement limit how much time members can give.
• Dependence on support. Some groups weaken once outside support ends.

Addressing these needs better market links, continued training, digital and financial literacy, and federations or FPOs that give small groups the strength of numbers.

Conclusion

When rural women work together, they gain more than income. They gain savings, skills, confidence and a voice in their families and communities. The journey of Rinku Dutta Saikia in Nagaon and the six-decade story of Lijjat Papad show the same truth on very different scales: a group of determined women, with the right support, can build something lasting.

For extension workers, policymakers and women themselves, the message is clear. Invest in women’s groups, connect them to training and markets, and let women lead. The benefits reach far beyond the women themselves, to their families, villages and the wider economy.