Neeru Ben: Babubhai Senma, Ecotourism

When Neeruben Babubhai Senma joined Shree Vanlaxmi Ganeshpura Mahila Sewa Vruksh Utpadak Sahkari Mandali Limited, the ecotourism project of SEWA on a 10 acre plot in Ganeshpura village Panchayat which was once not only barren and covered with shrubs, cactuses and wild growth and infested with snakes and other poisonous reptiles, much of the work was already in place. The land had already been made arable. But growing the saplings and crops was still a problem. And the doubting Thomas’s still did not believe that women could cultivate and grow crops.

The women would carry water from one and a half kilometres to irrigate the plants but the sandy soil would soak all the water within minutes. It was IPCL (Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited) Vadodara, which taught the women to blanket the ground with polythene covers. To conserve water sprinkling irrigation was also introduced. But the shepherds from the village would still push their cattle into it for grazing. To stop this, it was decided to appoint a shepherd as a watchman.

HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited) gave all agricultural equipments – power tillers etc – to the group. Another organisation taught them to use only organic compost. Today the land is not just green and grows colour cotton, cluster beans, caster, wheat and millet and trees are laden with ripening fruits, the place also has beautiful bamboo tents to accommodate the tourists. Neeru has benefitted as much from the growth as the other 14 active members in the green heaven. “I get paid Rs 6,000 per month. Besides, the profit gets divided among all the members. Today we have mangoes, guava, lemon, gooseberry (amla), chicku and the trees of all kinds,” she proudly declares.

Neeru has reaped rich dividends by working in the ecotourism project. For one, she is able to finance her children’s education. Her daughter is in class 10. This has helped her learn lot of new things. They’ve put nameplates on all trees for students and put up a stall in Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad during the food festival there every year. “We sell off everything there,” she informs. The 30-year lease of the land is set to expire in another five years but why would a Panchayat not prefer a green ecosystem to a barren land.