Empowering Women, Transforming Farming
In rural Meghalaya, women transform their lives & livelihoods through organic farming under the leadership of Trinity Saioo, 2020 winner of the Annual Balipara Foundation Award
The caption of a photo of Trinity Saioo on the Facebook page of Spices Board of India reads “Trinity Saioo spearheaded the women-led turmeric farming movement in Meghalaya, enabling women farmers to triple their income.” It is precisely for these sustained efforts over the years that she was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the Padmashree in 2020. Each of the press reports carrying this news starts with effectively the same opening — Trinity Saioo is a name synonymous with turmeric of the Lakadong variety in India.
It is the success story of a women-led community initiative that has caught people’s attention. Tucked away in a village called Mulieh in the West Jaintia hills of Meghalaya, Trinity, 52, a former schoolteacher and now farmer by profession started planting and farming Lakadong turmeric in 2003 and saw that it yielded a considerably good income, given the abundance of natural resource, good soil and climate of the state. This she realised could be a solution to the kind of economic problems faced by her community and urged the women to join her and take this up as an added income source, that would pave the way for socio-economic development and upliftment of their community.
How It Started
In 2003, Trinity started her own experiment with turmeric. When she started planting the Lakadong variety ,which was not a traditional crop in their village, she saw that the harvest from the fields doubled the income as compared to the other varieties of turmeric, such as Lachein and Ladaw. This led her to believe that farmers in the state could push towards the cultivation of the Lakadong turmeric, and with the right support from the government of Meghalaya, the women who joined her could increase their skills and income from the fields. She then took up training with the state’s Horticulture and Agriculture departments on the agricultural techniques to increase the yield of Lakadong turmeric, while learning effective solutions to challenges like pest management, increasing the valuable curcumin content of the turmeric, and helping others of the village switch to this high yielding variety.
According to the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, Lakadong has two percent higher curcumin content than other varieties in the Indian market. Curcumin is known to be an extremely useful medicinal spice, with anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic and anti-diabetic properties, and has gained much popularity among the health-conscious populations worldwide in recent years. Lakadong turmeric has come to be known as the gold standard in commercially-sold turmeric. This high curcumin content is what gives it it’s brilliant yellow colour and characteristic taste that has led to its indispensable place in Indian kitchens too.
This Lakadong movement started by Trinity spurred multiple positive waves of social change in the village where it started and soon spread to more communities of the area. With her guidance, about 800 women in Meghalaya have joined and turned to farming Lakadong, and their award-winning mentor has been silently leading them to their own paths of success. The government has now launched Mission Lakadong, started in 2018, prompted by the success of these women, to increase and expand the scope of turmeric farming in the Jaintia Hills.
Network of Support
With the aim to increase social mobility, keeping in mind the matrilineal structure of society in Meghalaya, but with its own challenges faced by the women in the villages, Trinity offered Lakadong farming to the women as an alternative to traditional agricultural practices, in a bid to work towards added income and skill development. With a firm network of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in place to carry forward the agenda of women-led farming practices, Trinity has pushed to avail the implementation of existing schemes and policies to strengthen the network of SHGs in the state.
Choosing to be certified organic is also a conscious choice for the women farmers, who face pests and infestations in the fields, but rely on organic manure, vermicompost and other organic means of pest control and fertilisers. They believe that the strength and solidarity they find in each other’s support will also help tackle competition from private industries, while the traction from Mission Lakadong by the government will help boost their economic status. Trinity’s successful experiments and belief in empowering others has elevated her to a beacon of hope for the community. She is hailed as an ‘unsung hero’ by the community and the nation now looks on as one woman teaches the value of hard-work, innovation and resilience to the community of women behind her.
Trinity Saioo was the recipient of the Annual Balipara Foundation Award at the 8th Balipara Foundation Awards 2020. Watch her special message on her vision for the future of women farmers and Lakadong cultivation. Explore the other winners of this year’s awards.
This piece was written by Ruella Rahman Khound for the Balipara Foundation.
