Udhampur women scripts inspiring success story as leader of Agri-preneur Self Help Group – Green Himalaya

Udhampur :Green Himalaya Self Help Group has emerged as a brand in village Bashat of District Udhampur for sale of value added products prepared from fruits and vegetables.
Sushma Rani, the group leader of the Self Help Group, is the person who scripted the success story of this group of agripreneur farm women. Previously, besides sharing various farm responsibilities, she used to prepare processed products only for domestic consumption. Inspired by the vast market potential of value added products, she established herself as a successful Agripreneur. Her family owns marginal land where they cultivate seasonal vegetables, fruits and staple crops.
Her real journey as agripreneur started after attending a training programme for women Self Help Groups in the art of fruit and vegetable preservation conducted by the Department of Horticulture to inform them about technologies available to enhance the shelf life of locally available fruits and vegetables for better nutrition and health benefits.
With the launch of the Central Sponsored Scheme Mission -Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), the department identified a group of 6 interested women drawn from different SHGs in village Bashat and provided financial and technical support to establish a Low Cost Preservation Unit.
The unit was established with a total investment of Rs 3.0 lakh, with Rs 1.0 lakh provided to the group as subsidy on the machinery and equipment like Pulper, Fruit Mill, Dehydrator, Hydraulic Juice Press etc. The unit successfully started working in the year 2019. The department also provided an assistance of Rs 2.0 lakh to the group for establishing a packhouse for handling fruits and vegetables in the year 2021-22. The group members were also imparted an advanced training by CIPHET Ludhiana wherein they learned the new aspects and hands-on training skills especially in product development and packaging.
The unit successfully started working in year in 2019 with certification from FSSAI and is presently engaged in processing and marketing of various fruit and vegetable products like Apple and Apricot Jams, Pickle of knoll-kholl, Lime, Dhew, Jimikand, Aonlaetc, Candies of Aonla and Ginger etc. The group also learned the art of dehydration and took up preparation of dried fruit and vegetable products through solar dehydration under an ambitious project of District Administration Udhampur. These value added products are available under the brand name GREEN HIMALAYA PRODUCTS.
During 2019-20, the production was limited to only 05 quintals with total sales at Rs 1.50 lacs with a profit of Rs 70000. The production capacity reached to 12-15 quintals in 2021-22 and touched Rs 2.0 lakh sale and Rs 1.0 lakh profit. The group is progressing leaps and bounds under the supervision of Chief Horticulture Officer UdhampurSalil Gupta and technical guidance of Manager cum Chemist Udhampur K S Sodhi.
The Green Himalaya also survived the brunt of COVID-19 pandemic. The District Administration Udhampur provided a sale outlet to the group through SRLM for sale of these products. The strategic location of the unit on Chenani- Sudhmahadev Road is helping them to earn a decent livelihood.
Motivated by the achievements of Green Himalaya Group, other SHGs of different parts of district Udhampur are coming forward for the adoption of these activities. Besides running their own enterprise, Sushma Rani’s Green Himalaya is providing direct employment to 5 other women and many unemployed youth as helpers, service providers and middle men. Sushma Rani and others from Green Himalaya Group are now master trainers for various institutions like NYK for training programmes in the district. The Group has been recognized for the achievements at various KissanSamelans and Fruit Shows.